Sleight of Hand

by Margolin, Phillip

• ISBN13: 9780062253668
• ISBN10: 0062253662
• Edition: Large
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-04-09
• Publisher: Harperluxe

Summary

Charles Benedict is a charismatic, successful criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C. with a penchant for sleight-of-hand illusions. He's also a cold-blooded killer. Carrie Blair is The Society Prosecutor. Married to the much older millionaire Horace Blair, Carrie has developed a reputation around the capital and northern Virginia for her movie star looks and her pitbull approach to the courtroom. While Carrie's behavior has always been above reproach, Benedict is determined to make her his next sexual conquest. But Carrie's refusal poses only a minor problem for Benedict, who quickly overcomes her defenses with drugs and a new plan. He shifts gears from seduction to destruction, and after spending the night raping his unconscious victim, he's compiled enough video evidence of her adultery to earn him some payback for his troubles. Meanwhile, private investigator Dana Cutler-returning from bestsellers Capitol Murder, Supreme Justice, and Executive Privilege-takes on an assignment from a mysterious French woman hoping to recover a stolen family relic, a medieval scepter dating from the Ottoman Empire. But she soon learns that the whole mission was a set-up; the major players she's investigating in Washington State are actually actors hired at a high price to keep up the ruse as long as they can, and Dana's client has stopped answering phone calls. Dana returns to DC and gets back to her real work, thoroughly confused by her wild goose chase. Back in the courtroom, Carrie is convinced that Benedict has destroyed evidence in a high-profile narcotics case, and when she tries to confront him, he plays his trump card: the footage of their night together. In the fight that ensues, Benedict shoots and kills Carrie, and a new plan takes shape. Benedict will frame Horace Blair for Carrie's death, convince Blair to take him on as attorney, and get paid a ton of money no matter what the verdict. But things don't line up quite as easily as Benedict imagined. Soon, a dogged cop, an honorable Russian mobster, the unbreakable Dana Cutler, and the mysterious Ottoman Scepter play their part in taking down an inscrutable psychopath.