New York City has its former prosecutor-turned-novelist in Linda Fairstein. Now Los Angeles has its own, Marcia Clark, who was the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial and subsequently wrote a best-selling non-fiction book on her experiences. However, that’s where the similarity ends. Ms Fairstein, of course, centers her wonderful plots on various Big Apple landmarks, weaving them into the thread of the crimes. On the other hand, Ms. Clark seems to overly dwell on a never-ending series of LA restaurants and bars, as well as the love lives (such as they are) of assistant DA Rachel Knight and her two female friends, another assistant DA, Toni, and Bailey, a detective.
This observation aside, the novel has quite a lot going for it. The thrust of the book is two seemingly unrelated murders: An apparent murder-suicide involving a much-liked assistant DA whose body is found in a seedy motel room with that of a teenage male hustler, and the death of a suspected rapist. While the first case is taken over by the FBI because of a conflict of interest, it falls to Rachel and Bailey to solve the mysteries.
For a first novel, the effort is fairly well done, with good dialogue and plot movement, as well as some subtle twists. It could have used some more editing and tightening, especially in the first half of the book. After initially wandering and giving varied background information, it really gets going in the second part, and is recommended.
