What I liked here was how quickly the book stopped feeling like a standard courtroom puzzle.
It is interested in people, assumptions, and the weird local pressure that builds when everybody thinks they know the truth.
The courtroom pressure matters, but so do the whispers outside it. The Southern setting is more than scenery, it affects how everyone sees the case.
I also like that the book never forgets the human stakes. The accusation at the center of the story matters, but so do the pressures surrounding it: grief, class, reputation, disability, and the way a community can decide what it wants to believe before the evidence has had a fair hearing.
Bequette gives readers enough atmosphere to feel the dust and tension of Barton, Georgia, while still keeping the plot moving. If you like legal mysteries that balance suspense with empathy, this one has a lot to offer.
Book description:
Oakland defense attorney Joe Turner heads into a small Deep South town to defend an autistic teenager accused of murdering the local high school football hero. As the trial tightens, the jury wrestles with its own assumptions, the town closes ranks, and Joe, his girlfriend, and his investigator have to sort rumor from fact in a place where secrets travel faster than truth.
Where to buy:
Grab a copy on Amazon
San Francisco Book Review listing
About the Author:
T.L. Bequette is a criminal defense attorney turned writer from Lafayette, California. He writes about the South, where he spent many childhood summers. His mysteries have won an Independent Press Award for Crime Fiction, a Chanticleer International Book Award, and a National Indie Excellence Award. He holds a law degree from Georgetown Law School and serves as an assistant coach for the UC Berkeley Law Mock Trial Team. Follow him on Facebook at T.L. Bequette Author.