Beyond Reasonable Doubt

Former Seattle prosecutor Keera Duggan is now a defense lawyer in her family law firm, Duggan & Associates. The firm was founded by Keera’s father, Patrick (Patsy), but Patsy’s alcoholism has taken a toll, and he’s stepped back from trial work. The other family members at the firm are Keera’s sisters: Ella – the managing partner; and Maggie – the office administrator.

As a break from work, the Duggan clan has a family dinner once a month, which is sacrosanct to Keera’s mom. When Keera is assigned to bring the salad, she puts lettuce into a large wooden bowl, and prepares separate plastic bags with grape tomatoes, chopped walnuts, hard-boiled eggs, and fresh bacon bits because “her family members couldn’t agree on the time of day if they were all staring at a stopped clock, let alone what they liked and disliked on their salads.” This, in a nutshell, depicts family relations, which are fractious but loving.

Keera is enjoying a much-needed staycation when she gets an urgent call from Maggie, asking her to come to the office. There Keera finds Patsy waiting with Jenna Bernstein, the former CEO of a biotech company called Ponce de León Restorative Technology (PDRT). PDRT imploded five years ago, when its product – which was supposed to alleviate deadly diseases – was shown to be a fraud. At that time, PDRT’s chief scientist was murdered, and Jenna was tried for the crime. Patsy got Jenna off with a SODDI (some other dude did it) defense, and Keera hoped to never see Jenna again.

Keera and Jenna have known each other since they were ten years old, and Jenna has always been narcissistic, self-centered and mean. On the girls’ first meeting, when Keera tried to pull herself up onto a trampoline, Jenna jumped on Keera’s fingers, pinched and scratched Keera’s hands, and pushed Keera off with her foot. This foreshadowed the girls’ ongoing relations, wherein Jenna jealously thwarted Keera whenever she could, all the way through college.

Now Jenna once again needs help from Duggan and Associates. Jenna and Sirus Kohl, her former business partner (and boyfriend) at PDRT, were indicted for fraud, because they misled PDRT’s investors. There were rumors that Kohl was going to make a deal, and throw Jenna under the bus. Now Kohl has been murdered, and Jenna is a suspect again.

Violent Crimes Detective Frank Rossi and Prosecutor Walker Thompson have a strong case against Jenna. She left her apartment – in a baseball cap and large sunglasses – on the night Kohl was killed; she was caught on a CCTV camera near Kohl’s home; and she owned a 9-millimeter gun like the one that killed Kohl. Moreover, Jenna had a powerful motive if Kohl was going to testify against her.

Since Patsy is semi-retired, he convinces Keera to take Jenna’s case, though Keera is VERY reluctant. Keera thinks Jenna is a sociopath and a liar, and she believes Jenna might well be guilty. Nevertheless, Keera vows to give Jenna the best possible defense, and she engages the law firm’s private detective, J.P. Harrison, to investigate Kohl’s murder. Harrison tries to find alternative suspects for the homicide, like PDRT employees who were fired and PDRT investors who lost money.

When Jenna goes to trial, the prosecution puts on a strong case, and Jenna must use her smarts, and the strategies she learned as a chess champion, to craft a defense. The resolution of the case is a bit too forced and complicated, but this is a good courtroom drama, recommended to fans of the genre.

Thanks to Netgalley, Robert Dugoni, and Thomas and Mercer for a copy of the book.