Improved Lies
Non-series
Brian Kennedy
Durban House (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-9779863-5-7 (0977986357)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9779863-5-4 (9780977986354)
Publication Date: February 2008
List Price: $19.95
Synopsis
(from
the publisher): Ken Edwards was going nowhere fast. Then murder steps
up to the tee at Lake Pointe. Edwards has the defense of the
“Country Clubber” and his shot at redemption. But
his dream
case is rapidly becoming a nightmare.
Amanda Armbruster was the darling of the country club set. Long, lithe
and lovely, she was the queen of many hearts. Her brutal murder ignites
a firestorm of public passion. Even before a jury can be seated, a
lynch mob is forming for Amanda’s husband, Ted.
Every rock Edwards turns over in building a defense hides something
dark, slimy and full of teeth. Money, power, and prestige are
threatened and are threatening in return. The high and mighty will stop
at nothing to keep their secrets hidden. On the golf course, over the
card table, and in the halls of justice, everybody is trying to improve
their lie. Presiding at trial sits Judge Alexandra Kingsdale. Years
earlier she tossed Edwards aside. Yet, she treats him as if it were his
doing. He can expect no help from the bench.
As the evidence mounts before a packed courtroom time is running out on
the defense. Unless Edwards can decode Amanda’s final enigma
“The cats went to the dogs.” he and his client will
be
thrown to the wolves. A lifetime 18 handicapper, Edwards will have to
be a scratch lawyer if his client is to have any chance.
Review: Brian
Kennedy has created a compelling courtroom suspense thriller with his
first novel, Improved
Lies, set among the country club elite of northern Michigan.
Defense attorney Ken Edwards has an almost impossible task. His client,
businessman Ted Armbruster, is accused of murdering his wife in their
home. The evidence: Ted was found standing over the body, the murder
weapon, a bloody golf club, in his hands. To top it off he
admitted being responsible for her death, signing a confession
witnessed by his neighbor, a friend and also an lawyer. But Ted later
swears to Ken that he's innocent and Ken believes him. While preparing
for trial, Ken comes across a number of suspects that might have wanted
to see Ted's wife dead, some with both motive and opportunity, but none
seem strong enough to break the prosecution's case. Ted would rather go
to jail than accept a plea bargain, so Ken has no choice but to try to
persuade the jury that reasonable doubt exists and that his client
should be found not guilty of murder.
The author uses golf as a metaphor for the law, and a round of golf as
a metaphor for a trial. The title is a play on words: an improved lie
in golf is the intentional alteration of a ball's position so to make
it easier to hit. As Ken Edwards states in his closing arguments, "to
improve your lie is to cheat." He then goes on to say, "It is to ignore
the truth about where your ball has come to rest and to create a false
reality by cheating to gain advantage." For the crime being tried, he
explains, "[I]t's best not to lose sight of the tangled web that lying
creates. First, the lie; then the cover-up, or improved lie; then, when
that fails, murder."
Improved Lies,
like many legal thrillers, is split into two parts: the pre-trial
investigation followed by the trial itself. Both work well here. The
investigation brings multiple red herrings into the story,
information that may (or may not) point to the guilt (or innocence) of
third parties (or Ted), all of which are intended to introduce
reasonable doubt into the minds of the jurors. Ken is hampered in part
by restrictions placed on him by his client, restrictions he doesn't
quite understand nor is he prepared to honor if it means his client may
be found guilty. But the best part of the book is the trial which, for
the most part, is riveting. The author's experience as an attorney
comes through here with an authenticity that keeps the reader deeply
absorbed in what happens, almost as if they were part of the jury.
Other than a few plot points that don't quite work (most glaringly, Ken
neglecting to ask an obvious question about an investment club that
factors into his defense), Improved
Lies is an exceptional legal thriller that will keep the
reader guessing as to the outcome until the final pages.
Special thanks to Durban House for providing an ARC of Improved Lies for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
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Location(s) referenced: Michigan.