Sandra Brown

The murder of Paul Wheeler has all the elements of a blockbuster: family rivalries, incalculable wealth, and a prominent man dying in the arms of his beautiful mistress. When the Wheeler family approaches attorney Derek Mitchell about defending Paul's nephew Creighton--even before he's been charged with the murder--Derek jumps at the chance. But the more he learns about Creighton and his darker side, the more he doubts the young man's innocence.

When Detective Sergeant Duncan Hatcher is summoned to the home of Judge Cato Laird in the middle of the night to investigate a fatal shooting, he knows that discretion and kid-glove treatment are the keys to staying in the judge's good graces and keeping his job. At first glance, the case appears open-and-shut: Elise, the judge's trophy wife, interrupted a burglary in progress and killed the intruder in self-defense. But Duncan is immediately suspicious...