"It occurs to me, as I pack up my briefcase," says Cape Cod attorney Marty Nickerson, "that I'm two for two. First in Buck Hammond's case, and now in this one, I'm arguing that the dead guy deserved it. I've barely begun my career with the defense bar, but I seem to be developing a niche." Any niche is a good niche for Marty—who in Connors's smart, sassy and exciting second crime novel (after 2002's Absolute Certainty) has switched from ace prosecutor to determined defender without missing a beat. Marty and her lover, former Barnstable County public defender Harry Madigan, have plunged into private practice, taking on the controversial case of Hammond—a distraught father who shot, on live television, the man who raped and murdered his seven-year-old son. Then, to add to single mother Marty's impossible work load as Christmas approaches, a savagely battered woman client is charged with the stabbing death of her attacker, a brutal parole officer. Connors, a veteran trial attorney, has a rich enough stock of mordant legal anecdotes to keep her going for years. Even more important, she is so good at creating believable characters (two very different judges, a sardonically ambitious but sympathetic district attorney, a couple of winning teenagers) that even readers with little interest in courtroom shenanigans should find in favor of her humanity. Agent, Nancy Yost. (July 8)
Forecast:Connors must battle for readers on the overcrowded turf of Scottoline, O'Shaughnessy et al., but this excellent sophomore effort should help her build name recognition.
