Capitol Murder

by William Bernhardt Narrated by Stephen Hoye

Overview

William Bernhardt's bestselling novels featuring Oklahoma defense attorney Ben Kincaid capture the bare-knuckles reality of high-stakes criminal defense, as lofty ideals of justice clash with power, corruption, and wealth. In Capitol Murder, Bernhardt's hard-charging hero takes on his most shocking, headline-making case yet.
Kincaid's legal success has earned him a dubious reward: a journey through the looking glass into the Beltway. Here, in the heart of the nation's capital, a powerful U.S. senator has been caught first in a sordid sex scandal, then in a case of murder.
Senate aide Veronica Cooper was found in a secret Senate office beneath the Capitol building, on Senator Todd Glancy's favorite couch, blood pouring from the knife wound in her throat. The young woman's death comes on the heels of the release of a sordid videotape depicting her and Senator Glancy in compromising positions.
With the senator's reputation in tatters, the evidence against him-as a sexual predator and possibly a killer-mounts. By the time a nationally televised murder trial begins, Kincaid and his team know they're facing the challenge of a lifetime. According to public opinion, and even in Kincaid's most private thoughts, Glancy is one more politician who cannot admit his own culpability.
But while a dramatic trial unfolds in the courtroom-loaded with pitfalls, traps, and an astounding betrayal-another trial is taking place on the mean streets of D.C., as Kincaid's investigator pursues a young woman who was a friend of Veronica Cooper's, plunging Kincaid into a bizarre world of Goths, sadomasochists, and a community of self-proclaimed vampires. Somewhere in this violent underworld lies the secret behind Veronica Cooper's demise . . . and the crux of Senator Glancy's innocence or guilt.
In a case that pits Kincaid and his freewheeling partner Christina McCall against the brutal machinery of Washington politics, the answers they seek are hidden in a murderous maze of lies and hidden motives. And in William Bernhardt's best novel yet, getting to the truth is an unparalleled experience in pure, satisfying suspense.

From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In Bernhardt's somewhat predictable 14th thriller to feature ace Oklahoma trial lawyer Ben Kincaid (after 2004's Hate Crime), Ben goes to Washington, D.C., to defend his home state's senior senator on a murder charge. Sen. Todd K. Glancy, a former law school colleague who later became "a successful and fabulously wealthy oil magnate" (a fact Ben's mother never lets her son forget), has been caught on video in flagrante with a much younger intern. Soon after the video is shown endlessly on television, the young woman is found dead in a tunnel leading from the Capitol to the Senate offices, and Glancy is charged with her ritual murder. Worst of all, Ben begins to distrust his own client, though dropping the case would be a political and financial disaster. The author has obviously had fun with his research, letting Ben and his team wander around the seats of power, making observations that range from the ironic to the openly gung-ho touristy. If Bernhardt occasionally makes Margaret Truman's books look shrewd and sardonic by comparison, his zeal should please his loyal readers. Agent, Daniel Strone at Trident Media Group. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

An Oklahoma senator has been accused of murdering an intern, and Ben Kincaid (a former law school buddy) has winged his way to Washington, DC, to mount the defense. Too bad a video surfaces that reveals the hapless senator trysting with the victim. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An Oklahoma lawyer takes his country-boy act to the Beltway, and does he ever dazzle those city fellers. When Senator Todd Glancey is caught with his pants down-literally, on videotape, on C-SPAN-he sends for Ben Kincaid (Dark Eye, 2005, etc.). Jeeze Louise (Ben's pet exclamation in time of stress, perplexity or whatever else), why me? Ben asks. Because the senator, who went to law school with Ben, recalls his smarts so vividly after 12 years that he prefers him to D.C.'s best and brightest. Glancey's worried about potential sexual-harassment suits arising from the explicit nature of the C-SPAN tape. Before long, however, he has a much darker cloud hanging over his head. Victoria Cooper, the young woman with whom he erotically co-starred, is found brutally murdered in his senatorial hideaway. Although the combination of the corpse and the videotape may strike some readers as sketchy evidence, the cops seem to find it conclusive, and they unceremoniously cuff and haul the senator off to the pokey. With Murder One and the scary possibility of a death sentence hanging over him, will Glancey's glance turn toward the Beltway's celebrated pool of legal talent? Or will Tulsa Ben again suffice? Jeeze Louise!Formulaic and tedious. While it's probably true that court-lit still has a heartbeat, this case may cause you to wonder.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171932312
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	02/07/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

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