MALICIOUS INTENT

Smith offers a whodunit and courtroom drama in which a defense lawyer takes the case of a woman accused of killing a sports agent.

Alexandra Phillips-Bell is an award-winning attorney who’s famous for defending women in devastating circumstances. Her newest client is former cheerleader Angel Montgomery, the wife of Chandler Montgomery, chief of obstetrics at a university hospital in Dallas. When Kasey James, a high-profile sports agent, is found dead in an airport parking facility, all signs point to Angel, with whom he had a brief but torrid affair. The key piece of evidence is an email in which Kasey confronts Angel with unspeakable allegations—that he and her husband were lovers, and that Kasey knowingly exposed Angel to HIV as revenge for stealing Chandler from him. But all is not as it seems, and Alex untangles an increasingly complicated web that involves mental illness, subterfuge, and the orchestrated targeting of Chandler’s family. As she works to prove Angel’s innocence, she exposes another kind of injustice underlying the legal proceedings and agrees to represent another client. Smith weaves a complex and unpredictable story that will captivate fans of detective novels and legal procedurals. Some events in the story are driven by pure coincidence, such as Angel and Kasey happening to share the same therapist, but the author deftly distracts from moments of implausibility with humor. The story’s forensic, medical, and legal details are well researched and satisfying, and it unflinchingly addresses timely social issues, such as systemic poverty, while never allowing the pace to slacken. Overall, Smith delivers a gripping novel that will leave many readers demanding a sequel.

A work with a strong, likable protagonist and a plot that will keep readers guessing.