Naked Justice

William Bernhardt, the attorney-turned-writer who burst on the literary scene with Primary Justice, is back with the most suspenseful, most entertaining, most surprising novel of his career. Wallace Barrett was a college football hero who went on to become mayor of Tulsa--the city's first black mayor, in fact. But when Barrett's wife and two young daughters are found gruesomely murdered, no one doubts for an instant that he's guilty. The mayor, after all, was seen splattered with blood...
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William Bernhardt, the attorney-turned-writer who burst on the literary scene with Primary Justice, is back with the most suspenseful, most entertaining, most surprising novel of his career. Wallace Barrett was a college football hero who went on to become mayor of Tulsa--the city's first black mayor, in fact. But when Barrett's wife and two young daughters are found gruesomely murdered, no one doubts for an instant that he's guilty. The mayor, after all, was seen splattered with blood and fleeing his house immediately after the crime. The entire country watched on television as Barrett sped away from the police and smashed his car into a brick wall. With evidence like this, it's going to take one hell of a lawyer to get Wallace Barrett off. That's why Barrett hires Ben Kincaid. Kincaid may not be the slickest attorney in Tulsa, but as he has proven time and again, he's got a knack for pulling off the impossible. Impossible never looked so tough. Kincaid anticipated that the trial was going to be an uphill fight all the way--but he wasn't bargaining on outright disaster. The media seem obsessed with the case, as crack prosecutor Jack Bullock, Kincaid's former partner and now his sworn enemy, brings in a parade of expert witnesses--a DNA analyst, a blood expert, a medical examiner--all of whom establish beyond a doubt that Barrett was present at the crime scene. Then Bullock clinches the case by springing a surprise witness with particularly damning testimony. Ben Kincaid knows it's going to take a miracle to save this trial. A miracle that can happen only if he puts Wallace Barrett on the stand. . . . As the trial progresses, new revelations explode like firecrackers, sending shock waves through the city's legal and political establishment. And even as the trial draws to a close, Ben uncovers shocking secrets that precipitously tilt the scales of justice. Smart, stylish and engrossing from first page to last, Naked Justice is a virtuoso performance by an absolute master of his art. From the Hardcover edition.