On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie. A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?
Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.
From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.
As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?
John Grisham, no.1 bestselling author and master of the legal thriller, takes us back to paradise. Bookstore owner Bruce Cable is reunited once again with Mercer Mann for another thrilling mystery packed with sun, sand, and mayhem.
Filled with unpredictable twists, the return to Camino Island is guaranteed to be this summer's perfect escape.
Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, A Calamity of Souls is a gripping courtroom drama from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci. The story revolves around a racially-charged murder case that pits a duo of white and Black lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully-accused Black defendants.
Jack Lee, a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, has never challenged racism. Yet, he finds himself representing Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with the heinous murder of an elderly, wealthy white couple. As Lee questions his decision, he fears his legal skills may not suffice against the overwhelming odds.
Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago, dedicated to the fight for justice and equality. She joins Lee in Freeman County, forming an uneasy alliance against the state's best prosecutor. DuBose is also cognizant of the external forces seeking to undermine the Civil Rights movement's gains.
Lee and DuBose are vastly different, and alone, they stand little chance against a prosecution bent on a guilty verdict. But united, they strive for what once seemed unattainable: a fair trial and justice. With over a decade spent on its creation, A Calamity of Souls vividly brings to life a past era, navigating a world both alien and recognizable to the modern reader.
A Good Happy Girl is a poignant, surprising, and immersive novel that delves into the complexities of relationships and the human psyche. We meet Helen, a jittery attorney with a self-destructive streak, who is grappling with the aftermath of a crime of neglect committed by her parents. She has historically coped by compartmentalizing her life—engaging in casual hookups with lesbian couples, caring for her grandmother, and flirting with a young administrative assistant.
Everything changes when Helen encounters Catherine and Katrina, a married lesbian couple whose sexual and emotional intensity begins to unravel the tightly wound fabric of her life. As they prod into Helen's past, they unearth a childhood tragedy she has long been repressing. Facing her father's pleas for help with parole, Helen seizes an opportunity to confront her history and seek answers she has long avoided.
Author Marissa Higgins explores themes of queer domesticity, the effects of incarceration on families, and intergenerational poverty, extending empathy to characters often deprived of it, leading to unsettling and thought-provoking results.