A couple of repeat freebie legal thrillers from David Kessler -
It started out quite simply.
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Formerly NO WAY OUT
When Bethel Newton, a 19 year old white girl, accuses black TV talk-show host Elias Claymore of raping her, America is deeply divided. In his youth, Claymore was a Black power militant and convicted rapist who escaped from prison and fled to north Africa. But after undergoing a road-to-Damascus change, he came back to America to serve out his sentence, reinventing himself as a neoconservative, born-again Christian and pillar of the establishment.
Now, accused once again, publicly vilified and portrayed as a national pariah, Claymore turns to his friend Alex Sedaka for help. However Alex is pressured into sharing the defense with a law firm appointed by Claymore’s insurers and finds himself working with Andromeda (“Andi”) Phoenix, whose black lover Gene works at a rape crisis center. And when Andi makes an issue of the under-representation of African-Americans on the jury, she starts receiving anonymous threats and finds her lesbian relationship under an intense strain that stretches her divided loyalties to the limit.
Meanwhile Alex must battle his way through DNA evidence, jury tampering and malicious computer hacking. And while all this is going on, Alex’s on-again/off-again girlfriend - TV reporter Martine Yin - is covering the case and putting herself in danger...
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Hello darkness, my old friend.
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Previously published as MARKED MAN
SWITZERLAND - the Jungfrau Region: A young man, from an extremely wealthy and powerful Middle Eastern family, dies in a skiing accident. The incident is captured by a lone photographer who cannot believe what he has just seen.
SAN FRANCISCO: A few months later, two homeless men stagger into a bar. One of them leaves, but minutes later the other is stabbed by a one-legged homeless man - George Stone.
Arrested at the scene and charged with murder with special circumstances, Stone asks for Alex Sedaka to represent him. But Alex is met by a wall of evasiveness from his own client. Even the identity of the victim is a mystery - the only clue being a tattoo on the dead man's torso.
However, it soon becomes apparent that this is anything but a straightforward case of violence between homeless people. After all, how many homeless people have $2000 on them. And why would a homeless killer leave such a large sum on his victim? More significantly, why is the British Prime Minister taking such an interest in the murder of a homeless "John Doe" over five thousand miles away?
But when Homeland Security become involved and an attempt is made on the accused man's life, both Alex and the DA realize that matters are running out of control. And as powerful forces up the ante, Alex also has to face the fact that his client isn't the only one in danger. And the threat reaches all the way across the Atlantic from the most powerful family in the United Kingdom - leading to a stunning showdown!
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Chester D. Campbell has another freebie from a different series -
The Surest Poison (Sid Chance Mysteries).
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Three seemingly unrelated murders crop up during the investigation of a decade-old chemical dump that plagues a rural community west of Nashville. PI Sid Chance, former National Parks ranger and small town police chief, takes the case and finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of lies, deceptions, and threats. Who is tailing and warning him to back off? Is the man responsible for the pollution dead or alive? When ex-cop friend Jaz LeMieux offers her help, she is awakened by an explosion behind her mansion. Is it related to the abduction of her employees’ grandson, or Sid’s case? As the tension mounts, Sid finds himself confronting the unsavory people responsible for his past troubles.
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