Capitol Murder (Harper Collins 2012) is another winner for Phillip Margolin, a self-described self-taught writer and author of fifteen New York Times best selling novels and 4 books of short stories. This book reprises the appearance of terrorist Clarence Little, the violent serial murderer attorney Brad Miller successfully defended against one murder charge, thus earning the long-term affection of this nefarious character. When Little escapes from prison, he is linked to a streak of murders, themselves linked to a group of terrorists intent on destroying America from within. Margolin does a masterful job of weaving these disparate pieces together in nonstop action, spine-tingling suspense and a surprise ending that no one could expect.

As usual, Margolin's plot is well-constructed with lots of insider tidbits about Washington politics, with strong plotting and believable characters that pull the reader from one page to the next. There were many times in the story I asked, 'Why would he/she do that?' only to have Margolin tie up all those breadcrumbs into a a neat package at the end. My only complaint was Milly, Little's attorney. It took a leap of faith to believe that the guards wouldn't have noticed her growing affection for her client and/or her secretive slipping of notes from him in his court documents. If Little weren't such a celebrity criminal, maybe, but he was a particularly evil murderer on a path to being released due to technicalities. But, with all good plots, I willingly suspended my disbelief and rolled with the plot.

Overall, an interesting read worthy of Margolin's pen.