Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark

Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark

Genre: Crime Fiction, Legal Thriller
Series: #1 in the Rachel Knight series
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 327
Source: eGalley provided by publisher through NetGalley

The Short Version:
After a co-worker is found dead, District Attorney Rachel Knight finds herself working one of his problematic cases and at the same time trying to find out the truth and disprove rumors about the circumstances of his death.

Why I Read It:
I’ve been watching the Mulholland Books site ever since this new imprint featuring suspense fiction was announced. This book is their first release and yes it’s by THAT Marcia Clark which is also one of the reasons I wanted to read it.

The Book
Rachel Knight is a District Attorney in the Special Trials Unit which takes on the most complex and high profile cases in L.A. When a colleague is discovered dead in an apparent murder suicide, she refuses to believe what the initial speculation leads people to think about her friend. She soon realizes that she didn’t really know him as well as she thought. Despite clear instructions to stay away from the investigation into his death, Rachel isn’t going to let it go until she clears her friend’s name or faces truths she doesn’t want to have to face.

At the same time she inherits a high profile case of his. The investigation into the rape of a prominent physician’s daughter is handed to the Special Trials Unit because the girl’s father is a heavy contributor to a local politician.

With the help of her fellow prosecutor and friend Toni and also Detective Bailey Keller, Rachel takes on both investigations, both the one she’s been told to stay out of and the one she’s been assigned to wrap up quickly.

My Thoughts:
I’m optimistically calling this the first in the Rachel Knight series because I know that Marcia Clark is working on a second book and I read via Twitter that it’s in her editor’s hands. That makes me very happy because I was very impressed with this fiction debut by an author best known as the prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case.

The characters were likeable and fun. Clark knows what she’s writing about, so the legal details read true and the twists and turns in the cases don’t come off as too far fetched and coincidental to be believable. The story moved along at a good pace and there was a good mixture of tension, action, and a touch of humor here and there.

I liked the friendship and working relationship between the three women at the core of the story. Rachel is likeable, but flawed enough to not appear as a superwoman against the world. There were likeable male characters too, including a detective that Rachel manages to spend time with and not have it turn into a distracting romantic relationship, and a seriously likeable gang leader who is one of the prime suspects.

Marcia Clark has a winner with this one as far as I’m concerned. I enjoyed the writing style, the characters and the story. I’m definitely looking forward to more of Rachel Knight and her friends and highly recommend this one to folks who enjoy crime fiction.

Rating 4.5/5