From the Grave

by Jay Brandon

Overview

"You want me to represent the most hated man in Houston?"

Disbarred Texas lawyer Edward Hall returns to the courtroom after accepting an offer from the District Attorney to represent the most obviously guilty defendant in town. It's a poisoned chalice. Not only is his client charged with kidnapping the DA's sister, he is already well-known for the previous kidnapping of a celebrity's son.

But if Edward handles this well, he has a chance to regain his law licence. And Edward understand that by 'handling the case well', the DA means he needs to lose. Labouring under this impossible conflict of interest, Edward prepares for the trial with the help of his resourceful girlfriend Linda. But as the trial approaches, Edward finds himself having to solve and prove a completely different case: one of cold-blooded murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727889003
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Series:	An Edward Hall Case , #2
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.71(w) x 8.66(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Jay Brandon is the author of 19 novels, including the Edgar Award-nominated Fade the Heat. As an attorney, Jay has practised at the Court of Criminal Appeals, which is the highest criminal court in Texas, as well as at the Bexar County District Attorney's Office and the San Antonio Court of Appeals.

Editorial Reviews

11/11/2019

Edgar-finalist Brandon’s lame sequel to 2018’s Against the Law, which introduced Houston attorney Edward Hall, who lost his law license and did time after burglarizing a judge’s chamber to steal cocaine, offers more improbabilities. Donald Willis, who recently finished a prison sentence for kidnapping a football star’s child, stands accused of abducting socialite Diana Greene, who told the SWAT team that rescued her that Willis had forced her to come with him to an abandoned shack. Since Greene’s sister, Julia Lipscomb, is the district attorney for Houston, Lipscomb recuses herself, but only after arranging for Hall to represent Willis. Despite being disbarred, Hall is allowed by the State Bar to act as defense counsel. Hall finds his client’s story—that Greene’s husband hired him as a bodyguard for her—unconvincing, but pursues a vigorous defense nonetheless. Unmemorable prose and characters only reinforce the unreality. Nothing in the courtroom scenes will make the reader forget Scott Turow. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2019-10-14
A disbarred Houston attorney is offered one more chance at the gold ring if only he can manage to lose the case that's his ticket back.

And it looks like an easy case to lose. Donald Willis, whom the police caught inside a house in which socialite Diana Greene says she was held against her will, has already served eight years for kidnapping a football player's son. He's eager to have Edward Hall, whose performance in that earlier case he believes won him a light sentence, represent him again. Even though Edward has since lost his license over his defense of his sister on a murder charge (Against the Law, 2018), Harris County D.A. Julia Lipscomb makes him an offer he can't refuse—to reinstate his credentials for this one trial, with a more definitive return contingent on his performance. And Edward knows exactly what kind of performance the district attorney, who just happens to be Diana's sister, would like him to give: One that ends in resounding failure. The case seems so hopeless that losing it should be a cinch. Donald's story that Diana's husband, wealthy River Oaks developer Sterling Greene, had hired him to serve as a bodyguard for his wife's trip to a dubious neighborhood to pick up some equally questionable jewels sounds weak from top to bottom, and the evidence against Donald can be measured in tons. Edward's only hope seems to be to tie the alleged abduction to another possible crime that very day: the fatal shooting of Antonio Alberico, the painter who'd recently completed a portrait of Diana Greene. Putting together the pieces, a task so difficult for Edward, should require considerably less effort from most readers, who are well advised to stay the course anyway for a satisfying double twist at the very end.

Highly accomplished midgrade work from a pro.

Kirkus Reviews

An outstanding mix of courtroom maneuverings, evolving characters, and razor-sharp plots

Booklist on Running with the Dead

A fine, tense legal thriller with an offbeat plot

Booklist on Against the Law

"The pace is brisk and the writing elegant... Fans of legal thrillers should give this priority"

Booklsit