A third nail-biting legal thriller starring Deputy DA Samantha Kincaid - from the author of Judgement Calls and Missing Justice
When Officer Geoff Hamilton shoots Delores Tompkins, an African American woman, during what should have been a routine traffic stop - all hell breaks loose on the streets of Portland, Oregon. Hamilton claims justified force, but the community want him prosecuted. After a day of intense rioting, things really start to spiral when a local investigative reporter, Percy Crenshaw, is found beaten to death at his home. Crenshaw was loved in the black community and with tensions running high, the DA's Office wants someone on the case from the very start - Samantha gets the job. To begin with, it looks like an open-and-shut case. The night of the riots, two young men went on a massive crime spree near Crenshaw's home. Their baseball bat is found smeared with Crenshaw's blood. But a few details just don't fit - Crenshaw's phone has been tapped and his notes suggest he was in the middle of an investigation into police corruption. When another community activist winds up dead, Sam begins to think there might be a connection. The trail leads back to the North Precinct, where cops operate under a code of secrecy and where DAs are anything but welcome. Samantha is forced to question the behaviour of the local police, which puts her cop-boyfriend in an impossible situation. But Sam can't walk away from a fight, anymore than he can walk away from the force. She must battle to solve a case that seems more dangerous at every turn before the man she loves decides she's more enemy than friend.
Promotion info
Rave reviews for JUDGMENT CALLS: 'Quite unlike James Lee Burke's own work, but exciting, individual and unreservedly excellent' Literary Review; 'Burke comes out of the gate with a first novel that proves she's got what it takes and will be sticking around. This is the most telling of legal thrillers' Michael Connelly; 'A bold, brash entry into the world of crime fiction, JUDGMENT CALLS is strong, smart and shocking' Linda Fairstein; 'Burke handles the various threads of her story with aplomb, her characters are believable, her plotting is right on the button, and in Kincaid she has created a sympathetic protagonist' Irish Times Alafair Burke has the perfect pedigree - as James Lee Burke's daughter, her name will ensure review coverage.
Author description
A former deputy district attorney in Portland, Alafair Burke now teaches criminal law at Hofstra School of Law and lives in New York City. She is the daughter of acclaimed crime writer James Lee Burke.
