The #1 Lawyer: He’s America’s Best Lawyer Until He’s Its #1 Murder Suspect; James Patterson and Nancy Allen, authors; Kevin Stillwell, narrator.
Stafford Lee Penney is the lawyer extraordinaire of Biloxi, Mississippi. He had never lost a case. After winning a contested rape/murder case, his life turned chaotic. This case involved the defense of Dr. Daniel Caro, who was accused of murdering the woman, Aurora Gates, with whom he was having an affair. Daniel was a married man and Aurora Gates discovered she was pregnant.
The District Attorney, Henry Gordon-James, was her uncle. He was not happy when Stafford Lee convinced the jury to acquit Dr. Daniel Caro of the charges against him. The doctor was a well-known OB/GYN with a good medical reputation. His father, however, was a casino owner, reputed to be connected to the mob. Stafford Lee’s father, Charles Jackson Penney, was also a lawyer who had represented the notorious Hiram Karo in the past. Stafford Lee was estranged from his wife and his father.
After the case ended successfully, he went out drinking, something he had become prone to overdoing. He wondered who would retaliate against him for the verdict. He knew not everyone was happy.
While he was out partying, his wife, Carrie Ann, and her lover, a coach, were murdered. There was also a third murder victim who happened to be the father of Aurora Gates. Was it a murder/suicide? The police and the wagging tongues suspected Stafford Lee of the murder of his wife, Carrie Ann and the others also found dead. The theory stretched the reader’s credulity since it seemed obvious that it was more likely a murder/suicide, but was it? There is a lot of misdirection in this novel.
Eventually the case against Stafford Lee is dropped and it is ruled a murder suicide, but the trauma of his wife’s death drove him over the edge and he drank even more, becoming an alcoholic. Soon, he was a drunk, unable to practice law. HIs two closest friends, Mason Burnett and Jenny Glaser, staged an intervention, and they drove him to a rehab. He cleaned himself up, but his record was tarnished, along with his reputation. He took a job as a lifeguard while he tried to resume the practice of law, taking any cases he could get or were thrown his way. He hired Rue Holmes as an intern. She was related to Alicia Holmes, the woman he represented in a sexual harassment case, which was his first loss. He gave Rue free room and board at his house, so she could continue to go to law school while she worked for him. Coincidentally, Rue worked as a housekeeper, part-time to make ends meet, for the Caro family.
After Stafford Lee and Jenny received threatening phone calls telling them to stop investigating a case, Rue is suddenly accused of stealing a diamond necklace from Iris Caro, her employee. Of course, she denied it and Stafford Lee defended her, but then the charges exploded. Iris Caro is found murdered and both Rue Holmes and Stafford Lee are arrested for her murder. The evidence points to him, and to her as an accessory. Who is framing them? Why would anyone frame them? Is it Hiram Caro and his henchmen? Who else is angry with Stafford Lee? Are all the cold case murders that Jenny is investigating connected? Can they connect the dots and solve this crime?
Stafford Lee decides to defend himself and things get really sketchy. As the evidence piles up, it all points to Stafford being a monster, as he is called by the DA, the same DA he defeated in the original Dr. Caro case, the very DA who was the uncle of the murdered Aurora Gates. Does he bear a grudge against Stafford Lee? Should he have recused himself? While the story seems very contrived, at times, as the twists and turns distract the reader from what seems obvious, the conclusion is surprising and totally unexpected.