The Color of Law by Mark Gimenez - 5 stars

[Ellen]

Scott Fenney has always been a winner: football, law school, trophy wife, partnership in a prestigious Dallas law firm, and lots and lots of money. He lives in an exclusive neighborhood, drives a red Ferrari and represents some of the wealthiest corporations in Texas. All of this changed the day a judge assigned Scott to defend a heroin-addicted prostitute in a scandalous murder trial. Shawanda was arrested for the murder of Clark McCall the son of a senator purported to be the next president of the United States. Clark already had a reputation for being a 'bad boy', one who indulged in drinking, drugs and ladies of the evening who he liked to rough up. Shawanda admitted to the one-night-stand but insists she did not kill Clark even though it was her own gun that was used for the murder. Scott tries to pass the case off to another, less prominent, lawyer but the judge insists that he remain as Shawanda's counsel. Scott would soon learn what it means to go against the powerful senator and his wealthy Texas cronies. His perfect life became much less perfect. At the same time, the case awakened in Scott a realization of how far from his idealized version of the law he had strayed and that the color of law was not green, or money.

I really enjoyed this book and am happy to see that this new to me author has several more I can get in the future. The characters are so well drawn, maybe not always likeable, but very interesting. The story is well developed and I did not figure out the murderer until almost the end of the book. Well done.