Short Story Monday – If I’m Dead by Marcia Clark

If I'm Dead by Marcia Clark
Available as ebook with previews of the author’s first two books in the Rachel Knight series
Published: 2012
Source: copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley




I read and was quite impressed with Marcia Clark’s first crime fiction novel. Yes, it’s THAT Marcia Clark and she’s a pretty darn good crime fiction writer. Check out my review of the first book in the Rachel Knight series Guilt by Association. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the second book in the series ever since I read it. Guilt by Degrees will be out in early May.

I like the character of Rachel Knight. She works for the Special Trials Unit which prosecutes the most high profile and complex cases in Los Angeles.  This sets the series up for interesting cases.

If I’m Dead is a short story that will be available starting tomorrow along with previews of both Rachel Knight books as an ebook. It’s probably offered as a way to give potential readers an introduction to the series. The short story itself is only 22 pages long. The rest of the ebook is the previews of the other books in the series.

It started with a haunting image: a Ford Explorer, iridiscent in the moonlight and alone on a desolate stretch of beach. Its owner, Melissa Gibbons, has gone missing. Her husband says she flew the coop. But Los Angeles Deputy DA Rachel Knight is convinced otherwise: Melissa Gibbons has been murdered.

So begins the confounding case that Rachel must present before a disbelieving jury. A dissatisfied heiress and her philandering husband– what really happened? The husband has a fiendishly convincing case that Melissa faked her own death and fled. But with the support of her trusty sidekick, Detective Bailey Keller, Rachel pieces together a much more sinister truth.

In this short, standalone Rachel Knight thriller, readers follow our savvy and riotiously entertaining heroine through the surprising world of LA crime.

As an introduction to Rachel Knight, this story interesting enough but relies on courtroom dramatics that I’ve seen before. For folks who are already fans of Rachel Knight it really doesn’t add anything to what we already know about her.

I’m inclined to recommend that readers new to the Rachel Knight series just go ahead and read the opening pages of Guilt by Association if they’re considering reading the series.



Short Story Mondays is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.