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In the same way that sportspeople suddenly end up in a pressbox and call themselves journalists, there seems to be a rash of lawyers and spies churning out crime fiction and thrillers. So I admit I felt a bit under-whelmed by the thought of Marcia Clark's debut novel, GUILT BY ASSOCIATION. A celebrity deputy district attorney who was the lead prosecutor in the OJ Simpson murder case writing about a feisty deputy district attorney . . . GUILT BY ASSOCIATION turns out to be a thoroughly likable and sparky novel. And it boasts a trio of strong women characters as the main focus. Rachel Knight isn't the sort of woman to take no for an answer. So despite being warned off her investigations, she and colleague Toni, along with Detective Bailey Keller, set out to find who killed a fellow attorney, as well as tracking down a rapist. Colleague Jake is found dead in a seedy hotel next to the body of a teenage male prostitute. Rachel is shocked by how little she knows about Jake and is determined to clear his name and prove he was murdered. She has to keep her investigations quiet, as her official task is gathering information following the rape of a girl whose father has political clout. Clark shows an admirably light and brisk touch in her writing. Sure, there are some genre clichés kicking around (screwed-up private life, a would-be suitor trying his luck) and some faintly annoying foibles (Rachel's the kind of woman who's paranoid about her diet but snitches food from other people's plates). And she also lives in a hotel for reasons that are hand-waved away rather sharply. Clark is also somewhat coy about the gay angle – colleagues, no matter how right-on, would be gossiping like hell about Jake's private life. But GUILT BY ASSOCIATION is a well-crafted and enjoyable first outing for a tough team who I'd be perfectly happy to see again. § Sharon Wheeler is a UK-based journalist, writer and lecturer.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, June 2011
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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