What happens when a judge orders you, an attorney, to do something that you cannot possibly do without putting yourself in even greater legal jeopardy? What happens when you’re threatened with contempt of court for failing to follow the judge’s demand? That’s the crux of the legal issue faced by Sacramento trial attorney Mike Zorich in Contempt of Court, the first novel in writer Ken Malovos’ series about the Sacramento, Calif. lawyer.
The threat of contempt is only one piece of the troubles that surround Zorich. He’s mugged, his home is broken into, his computer is stolen, a stranger tries deliberately to run him off the road, and even more weighs on his shoulders.
Why is this happening to him? And could all these issues be related? Is this punishment by a former client for unsuccessfully defending him when he was a legal defender? Maybe someone in a current civil case he’s representing has strong enough reasons to want him harassed. And why does the judge in that complex case present him with an impossible issue: to hand over documents that another judge in the same case has ordered to be kept under seal or face contempt of court, including jail time?
This is a good novel for readers who enjoy legal fiction told with a a deep dive into the law.
Contempt of Court offers an intimate view of the everyday world of a working attorney. Readers get an insider’s glimpse of Zorich’s law practice as well as how he as an attorney works with a colleague who is defending him. One of the strongest parts of the book is Zorich’s recollection of how he dismantled a hostile witness in court through skillful interrogation. It’s a close-up look of how an attorney operates in court that is not often given enough time in TV shows and other legal dramatizations.
Zorich is an emotionally compelling protagonist, struggling as he copes with the loss of his late wife to cancer, his relationship with his college-age son, and with a girlfriend who must walk the difficult line of being the new woman in his life after his tragic loss. But primarily this is a book about the practice of law and how those who serve learn how to abide by and pervert the causes of justice.
There is a point in time when what is done cannot be undone. That’s a tough lesson to learn for the attendees at Fairfield’s Auction. Most of them are residents of Witherston, a rural town in Georgia. The items up for auction represent the history of a divided community. After all, what is the community? Is it property to be bought and sold and owned, as the white settlers viewed it? Or is it land not to be divided but shared as the original Cherokees believed? And the historic items that are on display to be auctioned, is it right that the tomahawks and Cherokee blowguns stolen from the tribes be sold at high prices by the settlers’ descendants? Who really owns the history that is on sale? And is ownership worth killing for? Disagreement can lead to murder.
Brock Harker, World War II fighter pilot returns home to the Pacific Northwest on leave. He’s searching for a little peace once he finds his half Japanese wife who vanished while he was away. What he finds is Murder Beside The Salish Sea by author Jennifer Mueller, who artfully pulls Brock into an intriguing plot that hides the darkest of secrets.