THE GIRL WHO WORE A HOCKEY HELMET

A public defender gets charged with the murder of a judge in this legal thriller.

Katazyna “Star” Gwiazda, a public defender in Randleman County, North Carolina, is in jail after she “couldn’t stop myself” laughing upon hearing that the judge presiding over her big trial was killed by a car bomb. She despised this judge, a sexual harasser, but Star’s being charged with his murder is clearly a frame-up. Her client, who blew up a deputy’s car “to avenge the killing of a Lumbee boy by the cops,” is bailed out and will testify that she asked about how to build a bomb. Star soon gets out on bail, too, paid for by an anonymous donor; engages a lawyer; and investigates the strange situation, all while musing about her life (she’s originally from Michigan; both parents are dead; and she’s divorced and bipolar). After a couple more deaths happen, Star is put on trial, facing betrayals by her boss and a co-worker and testimony from her psychiatrist and that shifty former client. North Carolina lawyer Charns has penned previous North Carolina–set courtroom dramas, with Bones of Black Saints (2020) and Barrio Butterfly (2021) featuring Star and her high school sweetheart as a legal duo. It’s difficult to know where this book fits into the series—that sweetheart makes a brief appearance here—but this novel stands on its own as a rollicking tale about complex, fish-out-of-water Star. After dealing with rural shenanigans, the captivating protagonist sometimes wears the hockey helmet her father gave her to block out the world. While the lack of true accountability for some misdeeds is rather surprising, this reflects, as Star at one point notes, “a perverse sense of justice only a public defender could understand.”