Fool for a Client

by Roy Lewis

There's an old saying that the lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a dient. Alan Armitage, rising young QC, hoped it wasn't true when he decided to defend himself on a murder charge.It had seemed harmless enough to take Jean Westlake home from a party. Harmless enough, when he discovered she was a struggling law student, to allow her the use of his flat and library while he was in chambers and his beautiful actress wife in America. And then, on the night of his wife's return, Jean is found dead in compromising circumstances. Worse still, her apparent suicide is quickly shown to be murder.Horrified, Armitage sees the case build up against him, his most trivial actions made to seem of sinister import as he is interrogated by an obviously hostile police inspector. His friends, even his wife, begin to believe in his guilt.Only one person is convinced of Alan Armitage's innocence, and that is Alan Armitage himself. Hence his decision, against legal advice, to act as his own defence counsel in a trial filled with legal niceties and dramatic, edge-of-the-seat suspense,Roy Lewis has already made a name for himself with legal crime novels. Here his expertise is skilfully deployed in the interests of a compelling and intricate story whose denouement will surprise and satisfy.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published February 9, 2013

About the author

John Royston Lewis, who published his fiction under the name Roy Lewis, was a prominent English crime writer who wrote more than 60 novels. He was also a teacher, and he taught Law for 10 years before being appointed as One of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Further & Higher Education. He lived in the north of England where many of his novels are set.

Lewis is also the author of several law texts, which he published under the name J.R. Lewis.

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow burn story that lays a suspicious trail and allows the events to unfold. A great story with lots of did he did he not do it. Suspicion is around every corner and the pace picks up as the plot progresses.