legal thriller – The Book Diva's Reads

Guest Post: Cara Putnam – LETHAL INTENT

Good day, book people! I hope you’re having a good bookish January so far and that your reading is on goal for the year. If you’re seeking something new to read, then I hope you’ll add Lethal Intent by Cara Putnam to your 2021 TBR list. This romantic legal thriller might be just what you’ve been looking for and didn’t know it. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Putnam for visiting with us today and sharing her insight into character versus plot. Please see what she has to say, follow the blog tour to read some great reviews for her latest release, Lethal Intent, and enter the tour-wide giveaway. But for now, sit back, relax, and let’s visit with Ms. Cara Putnam.

Character or Plot? Which comes first?

There is a perennial debate among authors. Which comes first the characters or the plot?

As an attorney, my answer is a classic it depends.

In some of my books, the character is what drives the creation of the story. I know I want to write a book with the Monuments Men. Or I want my next series to feature strong heroines who are all attorneys, but in different ways.

Other times, the spark of the idea is a story or headline that I’ve seen or read. An event that happened somewhere else and I twist it into a new what if: what if the mom didn’t really kill her daughters in front of her husband on her birthday? What if he really did it, but set her up to take the fall? This was the idea spark for Imperfect Justice.

With Lethal Intent, the key question for the hero Brandon Lancaster had been established in fore-shadowing in other books. He had started a group foster home for sibling groups, and it was in danger of folding. What I didn’t anticipate was that between the idea and writing the book, the federal law governing these types of homes changed… completely. This created a whole new level of complexity as I was writing because though the law had changed in 2018, the regulations for how it would be applied in the state of Virginia were still unfinalized as late as July 2020 – and the final version of the book was turned in during May.

This is where having a great network of writing friends can help. My friend Tricia Goyer connected me with a man who ran a similar home in Arkansas. You can imagine my relief when his approach to the law mirrored what I had reasoned was the only way Brandon could handle the conundrum.

Each book is a little different. And even when you think the characters are driving the plot, some times life intervenes and changes the balance as you’re writing. Which do you think is more important to a good novel?

Lethal Intent

by Cara Putman

January 11 – February 5, 2021 Tour

Synopsis:

If they expected silence, they hired the wrong woman.

Caroline Bragg’s life has never been better. She and Brandon Lancaster are taking their relationship to the next level, and she has a new dream job as legal counsel for Praecursoria—a research lab that is making waves with its cutting-edge genetic therapies. The company’s leukemia treatments even promise to save desperately sick kids—kids like eleven-year-old Bethany, a critically ill foster child at Brandon’s foster home.

When Caroline’s enthusiastic boss wants to enroll Bethany in experimental trials prematurely, Caroline objects, putting her at odds with her colleagues. They claim the only goal at Praecursoria is to save lives. But does someone have another agenda?

Brandon faces his own crisis. As laws governing foster homes shift, he’s on the brink of losing the group home he’s worked so hard to build. When Caroline learns he’s a Praecursoria investor, it becomes legally impossible to confide in him. Will the secrets she keeps become a wedge that separates them forever? And can she save Bethany from the very treatments designed to heal her?

This latest romantic legal thriller by bestseller Cara Putman shines a light on the shadowy world of scientific secrets and corporate vendettas—and the ethical dilemmas that plague the place where science and commerce meet.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: January 12, 2021
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 0785233318 (ISBN13: 9780785233312)
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | ChristianBook.com | Goodreads

Author Bio:

Cara Putman is the author of more than twenty-five legal thrillers, historical romances, and romantic suspense novels. She has won or been a finalist for honors including the ACFW Book of the Year and the Christian Retailing’s BEST Award. Cara graduated high school at sixteen, college at twenty, completed her law degree at twenty-seven, and recently received her MBA. She is a practicing attorney, teaches undergraduate and graduate law courses at a Big Ten business school, and is a homeschooling mom of four. She lives with her husband and children in Indiana.

Visit Cara Putman:
CaraPutman.com
Goodreads: caraputman
BookBub: @CPutman
Instagram: caracputman
Twitter: @Cara_Putman
Facebook: Cara.Putman

Lethal Intent Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!

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Enter To Win!:

This is a Rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Cara Putman. There will be three (3) winners of one (1) physical copy of Lethal Intent by Cara Putman (US ONLY). The giveaway begins on January 11, 2021 and runs through February 7, 2021. Void where prohibited.

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Guest Post: Sage Webb – Author of THE VENTURI EFFECT

Welcome to November, book people! I don’t know about you, but it seems as if it has been about a decade since the last November. Fortunately, we have books to take us away from reality, even if it is just for a little while. Do you enjoy being an armchair adventurer with your reading? If so, you’re going to love today’s guest. Please help me welcome the acclaimed Sage Webb as she discusses her bucket list and armchair bookish adventures. I hope you’ll add The Venturi Effect to your TBR list and follow along with the tour. Thank you, Ms. Webb, for taking time away from your writing and traveling to visit with us today. I’ll now turn the blog over to you.

Bookish Adventures and Bucket Lists

by Sage Webb

When I pick up a new book, I’m looking for an adventure of sorts. Sometimes I want to take a classic armchair adventure: perhaps paddle a kayak around Madagascar (that’s on my TBR shelf right now). Or maybe I’m looking for a more human adventure at that moment: a dive into fallibility, if you will (I do love me some The Sun Also Rises). But it’s definitely a feeling of adventure—in some form—I’m seeking when I pick up my next read.

When I write, I hope to give my readers a dash of adventure, too. In my new legal thriller The Venturi Effect, that adventure takes the form of a stormy sailing passage to St. Kitts as a burned-out criminal-defense attorney tries to find evidence to support her client/old flame, who has found himself caught up in criminal charges and a courtroom battle.

But what about “real” adventures? For me, I try not to leave things on my “bucket list” too long. If there’s an experience I want to have, I try to make it happen. I don’t always succeed, and my interest in an endeavor may fade before I get there. But generally, I try to keep moving through the items that make it onto the list. One trip, however, has lingered on my bucket list for a while. It involves more time and financial resources and logistical planning than many other things I’ve done, so it may remain in bucket-list status a little longer yet, but in the near future I want very much to complete what is called the Great Loop, a 6,000-mile waterway journey from Galveston, along the Gulf Coast, around Florida, up the East Coast, through the Erie Canal, into and through the Great Lakes, to Chicago, and ultimately down the Mississippi and proximate river systems to New Orleans and back to Galveston. Oh, and I want to do it alone . . . on a jetski. It’ll take a few months, a lot of sun protection, and some time away from paying gigs, but I have to make it happen. It has just worked its way too deep into my heart and demands to be done.

On the book front, I’ve read numerous Great Loop guides and accounts, and I’ve collected and reviewed a number of works on long-distance jetskiing. I’ve got much of the gear already, since I live on a sailboat and spend a lot of time on the water, and I’m familiar with boating on the Gulf Coast, in Florida, and on the Great Lakes. My husband says he’ll support me, though he wants no part of spending close to three months on a jetski.

Will I write about it if I do it? Definitely. Writing helps me distill things, so no matter what, if I do it, this adventure will end up in my journal, on my blog, and in long notes back to my friends and family. Beyond that, well, I think it would end up in a book somewhere along the way, too.

The Venturi Effect
by Sage Webb
on Tour November 1 – December 31, 2020

Synopsis:

After fleeing the crush of a partnership at a large Chicago criminal-defense firm and the humiliation of a professional breakdown, Devlin Winters just wants to be left alone with a couple sundowners on the deck of her dilapidated mahogany trawler on Galveston Bay. But when an old flame shows up on the boardwalk with a mysterious little boy in tow and an indictment on his heels, fate has other plans, and Devlin finds herself thrust onto a sailboat bound for St. Kitts and staring down her demons in the courtroom, as she squares off against an obsessed prosecutor with a secret of his own.

Book Details:

Genre: Legal Thriller
Published by: Stoneman House Press, LLC
Publication Date: November 15th, 2020
Number of Pages: 329
ISBN: 9781733737944 (Ebook: 9781733737951)
Links: Amazon | Goodreads

Author Bio:

Sage Webb practiced criminal defense for over a decade before turning to fiction. She is the author of two novels and the recipient of numerous literary awards in the U.S. and the U.K., including second place in the Hackney Literary Awards. Her short stories have appeared in Texas anthologies and literary reviews. In 2020, Michigan’s Mackinac State Historic Parks named her an artist in residence. She belongs to International Thriller Writers and PEN America, and lives with her husband, a ship’s cat, and a boat dog on a sailboat in Galveston Bay.

You can find Sage at:
www.sagewebb.com, Goodreads, Twitter, and Facebook!

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!

Click here to view The Venturi Effect by Sage Webb Tour Participants.

Giveaway!:

This is a Rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Sage Webb. There will be Fourteen (14) winners for this tour. Seven (7) winners will each receive a $15 Amazon.com Gift Card and Seven (7) winners will each receive a physical copy of The Venturi Effect by Sage Webb (US addresses only). The giveaway begins on November 1, 2020 and runs through January 2, 2021. Void where prohibited.

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2019 Book 103: CONFESSIONS OF AN INNOCENT MAN by David R. Dow

Confessions of an Innocent Man by David R. Dow
ISBN: 9781524743888 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781524743901 (ebook)
ISBN: 9781984841865 (audiobook)
ASIN: B07FLP58RD (Kindle edition)
Publisher: Dutton Books
Publication Date: April 9, 2019

A thrillingly suspenseful debut novel, and a fierce howl of rage that questions the true meaning of justice.

Rafael Zhettah relishes the simplicity and freedom of his life. He is the owner and head chef of a promising Houston restaurant. A pilot with open access to the boundless Texas horizon. A bachelor, content with having few personal or material attachments that ground him. Then, lightning strikes. When he finds Tieresse—billionaire, philanthropist, sophisticate, bombshell—sitting at one of his tables, he also finds his soul mate and his life starts again. And just as fast, when she is brutally murdered in their home, when he is convicted of the crime, when he is sentenced to die, it is all ripped away. But for Rafael Zhettah, death row is not the end. It is only the beginning. Now, with his recaptured freedom, he will stop at nothing to deliver justice to those who stole everything from him.

This is a heart-stoppingly suspenseful, devastating, page-turning debut novel. A thriller with a relentless grip that wants you to read it in one sitting. David R. Dow has dedicated his life to the fight against capital punishment—to righting the horrific injustices of the death penalty regime in Texas. He delivers the perfect modern parable for exploring our complex, uneasy relationships with punishment and reparation in a terribly unjust world.

Rafael Zhettah was a successful restauranteur. He wasn’t a millionaire, but he was well-off financially speaking and his restaurant was booming. He was loved and respected by his staff. Although without any close family ties in the States, he wasn’t really wanting for anything or so he thought until Tieresse walks into his restaurant. Their relationship began with Tieresse complementing the food and progressed from there. In less than a year, 37-year-old Rafael was married to the 51-year-old billionaire socialite. Their marriage was unconventional by most standards, but they were definitely devoted to one another and head-over-heels in love. And then the unspeakable happens, Tieresse is murdered. Rafael has an alibi, but his unconventional marriage is misunderstood by most, and he is considered the prime suspect. Rafael is an innocent man and trusts the judicial system until he is found guilty of a crime that he did not commit. Adding insult to injury, he is given the death penalty. Rafael then spends over five years on death row then new evidence is uncovered that could potentially exonerate him. Surely, the Supreme Court of Texas will provide a stay of execution and allow the evidence to be tested? Thankfully, the federal courts did provide a last-minute stay of execution and Rafael is completely exonerated and released from prison. Rafael has lost the love of his life, his business, his good name, and over six years of his life. He doesn’t blame his lawyers or even the jurors from his original trial for his legal debacle. He’s incredibly grateful to his legal team for all of their hard work. He does, however, harbor growing animosity toward the two judges on the Texas Supreme Court that thwarted his legal team at every turn. Can he let go of this animosity and live his life in peace or is it time to teach these judges a lesson? How far is too far when exacting revenge?

Confessions of an Innocent Man is the first fiction book written by David R. Dow and it packs quite a punch. The author provides an interesting glimpse into the troubled legal system where a suspect is often considered guilty with little presumption of innocence rather than innocent until proven guilty. This legal thriller shines a light on the miscarriages of justice that are often perpetrated against people of color within the judicial system. This book isn’t a diatribe against the legal system. It does highlight the faults within the system, but it also highlights the things that work. Confessions of an Innocent Man is more than a story about an innocent man being railroaded on a murder charge, it’s about unconventional relationships, vengeance, reparations, and more. Yes, there’s a lot going on in this story. The reader gets a fascinating glimpse into the life of people on death row, the legal system (at least the Texas legal system) from arrest through trial and after, the emotional toll of being on death row and how inmates there are treated, the struggle to adjust after exoneration and release, in addition to witnessing the growing relationship between Tieresse and Rafael, and more. This book deals with some difficult subjects: murder, death row, abuse of prisoners, etc., but it was a compelling read. I couldn’t put the book down until I got to the end and thoroughly enjoyed it even with the dark themes. If you enjoy reading realistic fiction or legal thrillers, then I urge you to get a copy of Confessions of an Innocent Man to read. This book is one of my #mustread recommendations for the year. I look forward to reading more fiction by Mr. Dow in the future.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this book from the author/publisher via Edelweiss+ for review purposes. I was not paid, required, or otherwise obligated to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Book 32: DEFENDING JACOB Review

Defending Jacob by William Landay
ISBN: 9780385344227
Publication date: January 31, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Press

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student. Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

Everyone has secrets, but some secrets can be devastating. Andy has kept a secret from his wife and colleagues for more than thirty years, but he knows he has to come clean once his son is considered a suspect in another student’s murder.

Parents are often willing to do anything to protect their children, even if it means protecting them from the law. Andy Barber doesn’t intend to circumvent the law, as he has spent the majority of his adult life upholding the law as an assistant district attorney. But Andy knows that his family background may play a larger role than anyone expects. Andy’s father and grandfather were career criminals and both were accused and convicted of murder. Andy had told Laurie that his father was dead; now that she knows the truth about his heritage she is shocked that he misled her all these years. The shock of Andy’s lineage coupled with Jacob’s arrest and the impending trial might be too much. As the family prepares for the trial, Andy does several things that may be construed as obstruction of justice but he simply views his actions as protecting his child. Even after the family begins counseling and Laurie discloses problems with Jacob’s behavior as a child, Andy remains in denial about their son. Is it possible that Jacob has behavioral problems bordering on sociopathy like his grandfather and great-grandfather?

Defending Jacob is a tense legal, suspense thriller filled with drama centering on one parent’s inability to accept the possible truth about their child. Laurie knows that Jacob isn’t like the other kids and she fears that she may have done something to cause his behavioral problems. Laurie is willing to do whatever is necessary to get Jacob the help he needs from a psychological perspective. Andy is willing to do whatever is necessary to get Jacob the legal help he needs to be acquitted. Both parents are “defending” their son in the only way they can, yet neither can fully accept nor understand the other parents’ point of view. Mr. Landay has provided a story that doesn’t disappoint from beginning to end.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free for review purposes from the publisher. I was not paid, required or otherwise obligated to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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