Court of Lies

March 4, 2019
Attorney Spence (Police State: How America’s Cops Get Away with Murder) makes his fiction debut with this enthralling courtroom drama set in 1954 Jackson Hole, Wyo. The integrity of Judge John Murray, a fair and thoughtful man, comes into question when he presides over the case of Lillian Adams, who’s on trial for the murder of her rich husband. Murray has known Lillian since she was a child, and he and his wife look upon her as the daughter they never had. “Yes, he was in conflict... But such was the challenge of every judge in the thousands of small one-horse towns across the land.” As the case unfolds, episodes from the lives of the protagonists—the judge, the defense attorney, the prosecutor, and the defendant—reveal their tangled histories and the genesis of their animosities and loyalties. This witty and insightful novel also raises questions about the true nature of justice. As the judge observes, “Justice must find ways to trump the law.” Spence is off to a promising start. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency.

December 1, 2018
Lillian Adams might have killed her husband. It sure looks like she did, and the prosecuting attorney is confident, but so is the defense attorney (at least, that's the position he takes publicly). The trial judge is trying to keep the case on an even keel, but he has a not-so-slight conflict of interest: he's known the accused for most of her life and thinks of her like a daughter. As if that isn't enough, he has long histories with the prosecutor and the defense attorney, and both of them have their own long history, too. Spence's new novel is about a big case in a small town. Its courtroom scenes have the ring of truth (no surprise, considering the author's long career as a prosecutor and defense attorney), as do the characters. This can't have been an easy novel to write, what with the characters' interlocking backstories and its tricky murder-or-suicide plot. But it sure is an easy novel to read and a difficult one to put down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)