Special Circumstances introduced an exciting new voice in legal fiction - a talent so original, it drew comparisons with the very top tier of courtroom thriller writers. Now Sheldon Siegel delivers a new challenge for defense attorney Mike Daley - ex-priest, ex-husband, ex-public defender - and it's a high-profile zinger: a case he doesn't think he can win for a client he can't stand. It starts with a phone call Mike Daley never expected to get, from District Attorney Prentice Marshall Gates III, San Francisco's chief law enforcement officer and front-runner candidate for California attorney general. Friends they're not; Skipper Gates had led the charge to get Mike fired from his job as a partner in a prestigious law firm. But Gates needs Daley now - and needs him badly. He's just been arrested.
It seems that a couple of hours earlier he woke up in an armchair in his hotel room and found the dead body of a young male prostitute in the bed. The details that continue to emerge from the crime scene are tabloid heaven. The SFPD is certain Gates did it. The prosecutors are already talking the death penalty, and there's nothing in the mounting evidence, and certainly not in Gates's unpersuasive denials, to convince Daley and his partner (and ex-wife) Rosie of his innocence. But even if he's lying, it's their job to defend him, and that means finding out what really happened.
Sure enough, the deeper they dig, the seamier their findings. An array of influential power brokers is all too ready to cover questionable activities that may - or may not - connect with the victim. There's a campaign manager with his own dirty secrets, a shady Internet entrepreneur who trades flesh for cash, a prominent businessman who uses muscle to keep his enterprise prospering. Mike and Rosie chase down trails that take them from the lowest depths of the Mission District, where drugs and bodies are always for sale, to the gated mansions of Pacific Heights, all the while contending with a trial that gets under way even as they are frantically trying to piece together what is really at stake in the case against Gates. Its riveting blend of inside knowledge, powerful suspense, courtroom intrigue, and ironic humor makes Incriminating Evidence an edge-of-the-seat novel that will hold readers from the very first page to its startling denouement.
The Sexy Nerd's Review
Wow!!!! The dynamic duo ex-spouses, Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez, are at it again in this explosive legal thriller that had me on the edge of my damn seat! Yassss, this novel had everything in it to tantalize all the legal reader connoisseurs out there.
Mike was settling into a decent groove with his meager legal office he shared with ex-wife, Rosie. Their legal offices weren’t like some of your more upscale law offices, but it’s what they did behind those four walls that clients were more interested in. Money was tight, but they were making due and as luck would have it, or as some might view as a curse, a new case was about to slap them both to attention.
Skipper Gates, the law partner that got Mike Daley fired from his previous job, which landed him renting space at his ex-wife’s legal practice, calls him in need of his services. Mike is shocked to receive this call from his ex-boss. And of all the people in the world needing his assistance, Skipper Gates wants to hire him. Hmm? Why? Unfortunately, Skipper found himself in hot water when he was awakened by a hotel employee and across from his chair on the bed, was a young man lying on his stomach unresponsive. What the hell? Was he dead? Skipper had no idea. As he examined the body more closely, there was duct tape on his eyes, nose and mouth. The young man was in fact dead.
Skipper immediately asks the hotel employee to call the police. Of course, once the police arrive, it is automatically assumed he committed the murder. And what makes matters even worse, Skipper doesn’t have a viable excuse as to how this young man ended up in his hotel room dead.
Needless to say, Skipper needs the best legal defense team he can think of and the first person that pops into his head is Mike Daley. The same Mike Daley that he was instrumental in getting fired from his old law firm. Will wonders ever cease? Mike was up for the challenge, but before he agreed to take Skipper’s case, he wanted some assurances.
Like over a hundred thousand dollars to get the case started. There wasn’t any way he was taking anything less. He also wanted to make sure he would be first chair in trial and that he’d be the only attorney calling the major shots. Once Skipper agreed to those terms, Mike and Rosie became Skipper’s legal trial counsel. First things first, Mike tried as he might to get the Prosecutor to realize this was all a horrible misunderstanding and that his client was innocent. Of course, she laughed in his face!
Mike and Rosie had an uphill battle in trying to get Skipper off. It also didn’t help matters none that Skipper wasn’t that very forthright where his own case was concerned. Even though he, too, was a lawyer, he just wouldn’t give Mike and Rosie anything to work with. Skipper’s bottom line was that he was being setup. Well, a blind man could see that, but give your attorneys something to work with. When I tell you that they had to work for all the little blessings they received throughout this trial, that is truly an understatement.
OMG! This book was so damn good! I could not put it down! This book had all the ingredients for a great legal thriller. Murder, politics, lies, lust and greed! Man oh man this was smoking hot! I could not get enough! Siegel is a mastermind at writing legal novels. He’s one of my all-time favs. This is the second installment in the Mike and Rosie series and I’ve got a long way to go to get to the finish line with this awesome series. It was such a pleasure revisiting the legal duo handling their business.
The Sexy Nerd gives Incriminating Evidence five bangs of the gavel. With a story this good, you’ll never want to go to sleep. I had a hard time doing so. I couldn’t wait until I had a free moment to start reading the next day. Awesome read! If you love legal thrillers as much as I do, get ready to sink your eyes into this story. It reads like a Law & Order episode. Grab a snack, pour your favorite drink and sit back and watch the sparks fly! Until next time, Nerds, open a book and get mind blown!
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