Title: Claim of Innocence
Author: Laura Caldwell
Publisher: Mira
Publication Date: August 23, 2011
Paperback: 448 pages
ISBN: 978-0778329329
Genre: Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
Book Synopsis:
It was a crime of passion—or so the police say. Valerie Solara has been charged with poisoning her best friend. The prosecution claims she’s always been secretly attracted to Amanda’s husband…and with Amanda gone, she planned to make her move.
Attorney Izzy McNeil left the legal world a year ago, but a friend’s request pulls her into the murder trial. Izzy knows how passion can turn your life upside down. She thought she had it once with her ex-fiancé, Sam. Now she wonders if that’s all she has in common with her criminally gorgeous younger boyfriend, Theo.
It’s Izzy’s job to present the facts that will exonerate her client—whether or not she’s innocent. But when she suspects Valerie is hiding something, she begins investigating—and uncovers a web of secret passions and dark motives, where seemingly innocent relationships can prove poisonous….
My Review:
Claim of Innocence by Laura Caldwell is a fast-paced legal thriller about a woman accused of murdering her best friend, and about her defense attorney, Izzy McNeil, who is trying her first criminal case after a leave from her exclusively civil litigations. Readers are introduced to Valerie Solara, who has been accused of poisoning her best friend, Amanda, whose husband Valerie has been longing for. Mixed in with Izzy’s own personal romantic urges, the interpersonal issues makes for a complicated plot that at times loses focus on the legal case at hand. As readers follow the case for the defense of Valerie, they will find that not is all as it seemed at first to Izzy, and as she builds her case for her client, the suspense is turned up several notches and suspense fans will delight in the discoveries that await Izzy. One of my personal dislikes of this novel was the romance, which I found to be a distraction from what would otherwise be a taut mystery thriller. Being part of the Izzy McNeil series, which I have not read, may be part of the reason for my opinions, for I felt at times that knowing a little more about Izzy, especially when allusions to other works were made, would have helped. With that said, I would recommend Claim of Innocence to those who enjoy a good legal thriller with romance thrown in for good measure.
To learn more about author Laura Caldwell, please visit her website: www.lauracaldwell.com
I received a complimentary copy of Claim of Innocence by Laura Caldwell from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. to offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.
This sounds like an interesting read – I don’t love books that focus on romance, but I enjoy them more when there is suspense thrown in. Thanks for the review.
This one contained more romance than I typically enjoy reading about.