EVIL IS DONE

When a pregnant woman is badly beaten and dies, her husband is suspect.

Barrister Trish Maguire (Gagged and Bound, 2005, etc.) and loss adjustor Cecilia Mayford, a respected judge’s daughter married to talented sculptor Sam Johnson, one of Trish’s former clients, are working on a case of structural insufficiency. Sam, once an abandoned baby mistreated in a foster home, comes to Trish for help when he receives a letter purporting to be from his mother, who’s awaiting trial for infanticide. That same day, a badly injured Cecilia is taken to the hospital, where her baby is saved but she dies. Trish has no reservations about Sam’s innocence, but his mother-in-law isn’t so sure, and Trish’s friend Caro, newly appointed to the murder squad, is certain he’s guilty. The case is marked by some long coincidences. Trish’s boyfriend George is a solicitor in trouble with his partners because of possible conflict of interest with Trish on the case of the dilapidated building. Judge Mayford never told Cecilia who her father was, and she’s shocked to find out she had known him for years and met with him the day she died. And Cecilia’s boyfriend from the university works for the firm that designed the building involved in the lawsuit. Though the police are pressed to arrest Sam, Trish sifts through alternative possibilities and hopes Caro will take another look.

A suspenseful, angst-ridden page-turner.