Blood Defense by Marcia Clark

Book Title
by Marcia Clark

Paperback: 398 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (May 1, 2016)
ISBN-13: 978-1503954007
Kindle: 3738 KB
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (May 1, 2016)
ASIN: B0146LBFIE

Available on Amazon

New Murder Mystery Series

I had not realized until recently that Marcia Clark, the prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case*, is a fiction writer. She has a series featuring a District Attorney, Rachel Knight, that is up to 4 books now. Her latest book is the start of a new series, this one featuring a Defense Attorney, Samantha Brinkman. I picked it up at the library out of curiosity.

Samantha Brinkman is young, with a struggling new practice in Hollywood. She has an unpaid gig as an occasional commenter at a cable news show but does not have many clients, and the ones she gets are mostly small time crooks.

A high-profile double murder occurs, and the suspect, a detective, asks her to defend him. She doesn't much like cops, and she's usually on the other side of court cases from them, but she can't say no to a big case. Samantha is a defense lawyer, which means she's not out to solve the case, just to cast reasonable doubt. But events conspire, bodies pile up and what follows is a fast-paced mystery full of twists and unexpected turns.

I enjoyed this book. Samantha is smart, rather cynical, tough, has a sense of humor, and is unexpectedly complex. She's kind of a toned down feminine Saul Goodman. I think readers will agree that she's an interesting character, and I'm interested to see where her character goes from here. The twists were mostly unexpected and I won't spoil them here. It's a good summer read. Lots of violence.

*Marcia Clark wrote about the Simpson case in Without A Doubt.

Reviewed by VM on June 29, 2016