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Summary
Summary
Harrowing, smart, and riotously entertaining, Guilt by Degrees is a thrilling ride through the world of LA courts with the unforgettable Rachel Knight.
Someone has been watching D.A. Rachel Knight -- someone who's Rachel's equal in brains, but with more malicious intentions. It began when a near-impossible case fell into Rachel's lap, the suspectless homicide of a homeless man. In the face of courthouse backbiting and a gauzy web of clues, Rachel is determined to deliver justice. She's got back-up: tough-as-nails Detective Bailey Keller.
As Rachel and Bailey stir things up, they're shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier. Something tells Rachel someone knows the truth, someone who'd kill to keep it secret.
Author Notes
Marcia Rachel Clark (nee Kleks), was born in 1953. She came to national prominence as the lead prosecutor in the notoriously high-profile criminal trial of O.J. Simpson in 1996. Prior to the trial, she had served the Los Angeles District Attorney's office for thirteen years, winning all her murder convictions.
Clark wrote Without A Doubt, a recount of the trial and the reasons for concluding that Simpson was, without a doubt, guilty of double murder. The book was published in 1997 and was a bestseller.
After the trial and a bitter custody battle for her two sons, Clark ended her law career. She has appeared as a regular guest on cable political and news talk shows.
Clark resides on the west coast with her two sons.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Clark's latest, Los Angeles Deputy DA Rachel Knight and her best gal pal, homicide detective Bailey Keller, struggle to solve the murder of a homeless man. Complicating their investigation: the victim's identity is unknown. Additionally, Rachel has to deal with a vain, lazy co-worker who resents her, a relentless hit man who's stalking her, a very clever villain who wants her dead, and a boyfriend who doesn't know what he wants. January LaVoy turns in an energized, standout performance. Knight's insouciant attitude hides the fact that she's playing for keeps, and LaVoy perfectly captures this. Totally in tune with Clark's zingy prose, LaVoy seems to be channeling Knight. And listeners will feel as if they're sitting down with the tenacious DA as she recalls all the things-some weird (it's L.A., she keeps reminding us), some thrilling, some happy, some sad-that happened during her most recent case. Like any good conversationalist, LaVoy's version of Knight makes delightful company. A Mulholland hardcover. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
From former L.A. Prosecuting Attorney Clark (the O.J. Simpson case), an engaging revisit to Rachel Knight, L.A. prosecuting attorney. Rachel Knight (Guilt by Association, 2011), star performer in L.A.'s elite Special Trials Unit, is famous for not suffering fools lightly. And for mouthiness. Those who love Rachel delight in the volatility implied here since her periodic explosions have in the past transmuted the dull and ordinary into the bright stuff of legends. Those who do not love Rachel--the always "carefully coiffed," ever resentful Brandon Averill, for instance--mutter, sputter and often enough find icky little ways to complicate her life, even if inadvertently. So it is on the day Averill's prosecutorial ineptitude adds a botched case to Rachel's already jampacked list. It turns out, however, that the case has unexpected permutations, challenging to put it mildly. Seemingly routine at first, it involves the murder of an unidentified homeless man, another way of saying back burner. But when John Doe becomes Simon Bayer, younger brother of a police officer brutally slain a year earlier, Rachel has on her hands a homicide of a far different color. As always when difficulties loom--knotty professional issues, gnarly romantic entanglements--she calls on the small support cohort she thinks of as her "besties": Det. Bailey Keller, tough, smart and gorgeous; and counselor Toni LaCollette, tough, smart, black and gorgeous. As the investigation deepens, the Bayer case assumes a mazelike pattern with frustrated Rachel always at least one twist behind--until suddenly, shockingly, she gets the insight that changes everything. The shrewd, coldblooded, elusive killer Rachel's been pursuing up to now has developed an interesting new target: Rachel. No sophomore jinx for Clark. Her second girlfriend novel, counterpart to the buddy novel, is serious fun.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* This sequel to her remarkably accomplished debut, Guilt by Association (2010), proves that former prosecutor Clark is no one-book wonder. Here L.A. deputy district attorney Rachel Knight takes the case of a homeless man killed on a busy street in broad daylight only to discover that it's linked to the brutal ax murder of a police officer two years earlier. As Knight and her close friend, LAPD detective Bailey Keller, chase the case and identify the victim as the brother of the murdered officer, suspicion points to Lilah Bayer, the officer's wife, who was acquitted of the crime. In the midst of all this, Knight is shocked to learn that her boyfriend, police lieutenant Graden Hales, has been probing at the childhood trauma the unsolved kidnapping of her older sister that she has held secret for decades. So Knight must deal with her own past and interoffice backstabbing as well as retaliation that becomes increasingly personal and violent. Clark has a winning cast of characters, a strong plot, and plenty of smart and sassy dialogue (particularly when Knight and her BFFs gather for after-work martinis), and she heightens interest in Knight's next appearance by establishing the psychopathic Bayer as her nemesis. A superlative series bringing together elements of both legal thrillers and police procedurals. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Clark's debut was something of a surprise success, both commercially and critically, but her publisher will hit the ground running this time, with an A-list marketing campaign.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The sequel to Clark's successful 2010 debut, Guilt by Association, again features the smart and tenacious Special Trials Deputy DA Rachel Knight. When a seemingly dead-end homicide investigation of a homeless man is dropped into Rachel's lap, what starts as a minor case quickly escalates. A few leads and an unreliable witness have Rachel doubting whether she can deliver justice, but things change when Rachel and her best friend Det. Bailey Keller stumble upon information that connects the current investigation to an ax murder of an LAPD cop two years prior. The closer they get to the truth, the nearer they come to danger. Stage and television actress January LaVoy again does a great job bringing the characters to life with her well-paced and versatile narration. -VERDICT Recommended for all fans of "edge-of-your-seat" legal thrillers. ["Well-developed characters and a story arc that leaves the reader hanging are a surefire way to bring fans back for the next installment, and Clark has wisely left that door wide open. Should appeal to fans of Lisa Scottoline and David Baldacci," read the review of the Mulholland: Little, Brown hc, LJ 4/1/12.-Ed.]-Saori Wendy Yoshioka, Ketchum Memorial Lib., CA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
