Jonetta's Reviews > Her Deadly Game

the setup…
Keera Duggan is a former Seattle prosecutor who left to join her family’s criminal defense law practice after her relationship with a high profile colleague turned toxic after she broke things off. It’s not a choice she would ordinarily have made despite her father Patrick (Patsy) having a formidable reputation. Keera has a complicated relationship with the man whose unacknowledged alcoholism is now affecting the firm. Her two sisters, Ella and Maggie, also are in the family business and things are prickly. That is until Keera accepts a call late one evening from Vince LaRussa asking for representation. He’s a highly successful wealth manager who discovered his dead wife that evening and though he’s not yet been charged, things seem to be headed in that direction. Even though he asked for Patsy, Keera takes the reins, seeing the opportunity to prove herself to family and the lead prosecutor…yeah, that former “colleague.”

the heart of the story…
While Keera is the youngest and the most recent sibling to join the family practice, she’s actually the one who’s most like Patsy. She’s also a former chess prodigy and that skill serves her well as she develops courtroom and defense strategies with that same thoughtfulness and tactical precision. Miller Ambrose, the lead prosecutor, is determined to see her fail, counting on her inexperience to make that happen and letting his bitterness drive his strategy. In the middle of all this is LaRussa who is quite the enigma, a man that Keera believes is innocent of the crime but senses something else “there.” But it’s her relationship with Patsy who is sitting as her second chair that’s interesting and compelling, him seeing himself in her and she using his counsel but fearing he’ll slip during the trial.

the narration…
Saskia Maarleveld is one of my favorites and was ideal for the role of Keera. Her tone, pacing and voice were pitch perfect not only for her but the host of other players. She far surpassed expectations.

the bottom line…
There was a lot of chess moves going on here and that made this one heck of a courtroom drama. Keera has extraordinary instincts and was so much like her father, described as the “Irish brawler” but she had a bit more finesse. Figuring out what actually happened to LaRussa’s wife was equally intriguing and kept me guessing. Fans of the Tracy Crosswhite series will be pleased as I was to see a few crossover characters though this is a very different landscape. The ending was exciting and a bit twisty, just the way I like them. I want much, much more of this character and her complicated family as this is a grand start of a new series.

Posted on Blue Mood Café

(Thanks to Brilliance Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)