Capitol Scandal

Texas Democratic congressman Will John Benedict is suspected of murdering an intern with whom he was having an affair. Summoned to Washington, D.C., to defend him are Dallas Defense Attorney Sharon Hays and her boss, Russell Black. Sharon is reluctant to involve herself with the Benedict clan: besides the fact that Will John had an obsessive crush on her in law school and that his mother, Mattie Ruth, is a powerful senator, his father, Paul, tried to rape Sharon when she was his student. A poor single mother at the time, Sharon accepted his bribe not to tell anyone what he'd done. Unaccustomed to Washington politics, Sharon finds her efforts to clear her client thwarted by a gossip columnist looking for the subject of her next bestseller, a sleazy private investigator who would rather let an innocent man go to jail than jeopardize his lucrative job, and several interfering members of the Democratic Party who want to keep its representatives' dalliances confidential. Although this legal thriller has only one courtroom scene and the killer's identity comes as no surprise, Gregory (The Best Defense) conjures up plenty of plot twists to keep the suspense alive. Still, the author's efforts to tie up every loose end stretch the bounds of believability. (Dec.)