Blood defense

Samantha (Sam) Brinkman is a Los Angeles defense attorney with a dark past and her own sense of justice. To promote her practice (with a longtime friend as office assistant and an ex-con hacker as investigator), she takes on the case of the hour: defending the accused murderer of popular actress Chloe Monahan and her roommate, Paige Avner, in their apartment. Initially the murders seemed a burglary gone bad, since the apartment had been robbed two months before, with expensive jewelry stolen. Then LAPD Detective Dale Pearson, with whom Chloe had broken up the night she was killed, is charged. Sam is skillful at dealing with the press, but a leaked report of Pearson being accused of raping a prostitute, who then turns up dead, threatens to sink her case. Having Pearson be more than just a client to Sam is a bit of a stretch, and the windup (courtesy of Brinkman and Associates) is somewhat hasty. But Clark, author of four Rachel Knight legal thrillers, has the start of another successful series in this page-turner featuring a ballsy protagonist with a secret past.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2016 Booklist

Former L.A. prosecutor Clark (The Competition) kicks off a promising new series with this top-notch whodunit leavened with gallows humor. LAPD Det. Dale Pearson turns to Samantha Brinkman, a gifted criminal defense attorney who's struggling to make ends meet, when he's charged with a sensational double homicide. Chloe Monahan, a near-superstar actress who overcame a drug addiction to resurrect her career, and her roommate, Paige Avner, were fatally stabbed in their apartment. The police originally believed that the burglar who hit the residence some months earlier was responsible, but they abandoned this idea when they learned that Pearson, who investigated the burglary, was dating Chloe-and was heard arguing with her shortly before her death. Samantha accepts the high-profile case, despite her skepticism that Pearson is being straight with her. Clark sprinkles jaw-dropping surprises throughout and impressively pulls off a shocker that lesser writers can only envy. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

On the heels of FX's blockbuster television series, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, which began in February, Simpson prosecutor-turned-author Clark offers not only an updated ebook version of Without a Doubt, her best--selling account of the 1995 trial, but also launches a new legal thriller series. Unlike in her well-received Rachel Knight books, which featured an L.A. prosecutor, Clark's latest calls on her earlier career as a criminal defense attorney to fashion protagonist Samantha Brinkman. With the aid of her office manager, Michelle, and criminal-turned-investigator Alex, -Brinkman is struggling to build a successful practice when she's asked to defend a veteran LAPD detective charged with the murder of a popular TV star. Despite a personal dislike of the police, Brinkman is convinced that she can't pass up such a high-profile case. However, she soon learns there is much more at stake for her than the advancement of her career-accepting the request to defend Detective Pearson quickly sets her on a course that will force her to deal with the truth of her past. VERDICT Clark's deft handling of her characters through a multilevel maze of conflicts delivers an exhilarating read.-Nancy McNicol, Hamden P.L., CT © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.