Book #29 for 2023: Accused by Mark Giminez
This review contains big spoilers - you have been warned.
[Major Spoiler for this book and The Colour of Law (click to open)]
Accused by Mark Gimenez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a book I'd been reading to read for a long time. I read the previous book in this series about the character A. Scott Fenney many years ago. The plot was like an update of "To Kill a Mockingbird", with him defending a woman of colour in court, when everyone else told him to drop the case. The fact that his full name is Atticus Scott Fenney completely passed me by, though to me now it's quite obvious why Mark Giminez chose that name. It even ended up with his wife Rebecca leaving him to raise the kids on his own.
In this installment, Rebecca calls her ex-husband, and asks him to defend her after her new lover is murdered, and all evidence points to her being the killer, including the fact that her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.
A. Scott Fenney seems to like playing detective as well as representing his client, so he starts trying to figure out who else had a grudge against the victim, and it seems that quite a lot of people did. Not only was he having numerous affairs with other women, but he also owed a lot of money to the mob in relation to attempts to throw golf tournaments he was playing in, and to fuel his (and apparently Rebecca's) drug addiction.
Reading it, this book felt a bit exhaustive at times, because of the large number of characters and motives, but I was glad I took the trouble to read it, as it kept me guessing all the time. The ending gave me some idea as to how the plot develops in the next book, "Absence of Guilt", as A. Scott Fenney is promoted from defence lawyer to judge.
Since I put in a spoiler warning, I might as well add that I sensed that Mark Giminez might be trying to throw the reader a curveball. With Rebecca looking so obviously guilty, it would be natural to assume that she had been framed.
Turns out that she did it all along, and she gets off scot-free. So much for A. Scott's instincts, and I wonder if this will come to light in future titles.
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So yeah, I don't think I'll be managing any more books for May's Calendar of Crime, but this one has a mother in a major role, so I'll count this as 3 out of 10.
January: 3/10
February: 4/10
March: 2/10
April: 3/10
May: 3/10
1. May in the title
2. Author's birth month
3. Primary action takes place in this month
4. Memorial Day
5. Other May holiday (May day in the UK, plus this year we had the Coronation)
6. Original publication month
7. Book title has word starting with M
8. Graves, flag, a mother or flowers on the cover - all related to US holidays: Memorial Day and US Mother's Day - I expect a maypole on the cover would suffice
9. Year of the Dragon
10. Military figure or mother has major role
And here's June's roll call:
1. June in the title
2. Author's birth month
3. Primary action takes place in this month
4. Father's Day
5. Other June holiday (are there any?)
6. Original publication month
7. Book title has word starting with J
8. A father, tie, or anything related to weddings/church bells on the cover
9. Year of the Snake
10. Father or wedding features prominently