Guilt by Association

Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It wasn't unrealistic to expect a mystery by Marcia Clark, LA assistant DA who prosecuted O J Simpson, to be a gripping book, filled with true-to-life detail, amusing detail, inside dope. Alas, none of these are to be found in Clark's Guilt by Association.

The plot is a good one. When the heroine, Rachel Knight, stumbles on the purported murder-suicide of a fellow-DA she refuses to believe it and launches her own investigation into the situation. Meanwhile, she is handling a high-profile case that her boss in interested in. The father of the rape victim is a big donor to Knight's boss' campaign and he thinks he knows who did it. Knight isn't so sure.

Publisher's Weekly liked this book a lot more than I did, even comparing it to the first-rate mysteries of Linda Fairstein. I'll not write off Clark immediately. If she publishes another Rachel Knight mystery I'll read it. But her first attempt didn't come up to my expectations.

2011 No 114