Attorney Robin Lockwood begins her case with connections to some of the principal characters in the murder mystery Betrayal by Phillip Margolin. Ten years ago, Robin’s client knocked her out and brought an end to her career as a rising MMA fighter. Talented Mandy Kerrigan continued in the fighting world and went on to make a name for herself. Now, she is charged in the murder of an entire family. Robin’s other connection includes the man she has just started dating, the DA who is prosecuting Mandy.
The murdered family has its own complications that cast shadows on other possible suspects. Margaret Finch, the mother, is a lawyer for Russian mobsters; Nathan Finch, the father, is deeply in debt to a bookie; Ryan Finch, the son, sold Mandy the performance-enhancing drugs that triggered her anger; and then there was something going on with the daughter Annie Finch, who has undergone an unexplained dramatic negative change in personality. After Mandy uses her fists publicly on Ryan for selling her what were supposed to be undetectable drugs, she makes an obvious choice to be the murderer. But could something else be going on?
This is a good mystery for a day when you need to reward yourself with an easy, relaxing read. It will add nothing to your IQ or to your efforts to be a better person. It will bring you pleasure if you like to spot the red herring and try to figure out the murderer ahead of the protagonist – and you just might.