Beyond Malice Murder Mystery, Crime Thriller, Dual Review
Independent
Jan 15, 2014
Kinde
354
Amazon
Two sisters separated by age and circumstance are reunited by murder.
When brilliant, sexy Nora Royce, an associate at L.A.'s premier law firm, is accused of brutally murdering a partner's wife the legal community throws her to the wolves. Only her sister, Amanda Cross, a third-rate attorney, is willing to defend her. Armed with a tenacious spirit, no leads, and no criminal defense experience, Amanda is determined to prove herself and save her sister. As this outgunned lawyer peels away the protective layers that cocoon the privileged few, she finds that Nora is more valuable to the firm dead than alive and that no one cares if Amanda is collateral damage.
“Twisted with murder, intrigue, greed and romance with another shocking ending!”
Review by Linda Tonis
For The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Nora Royce is a lawyer working for one of the top law firms in LA and is anticipating becoming a partner. Her sister Amanda Cross is also a lawyer, but her practice consists of poor people needing an attorney and the cases assigned to her when she goes to the court. The sisters are not close and do not keep in contact either because of the fourteen-year age difference, Amanda being the oldest, or the difference in their lifestyles, but that is about to change.
At a retreat for Nora’s firm one of the partners wives is murdered and Nora is arrested. Nora was having an affair with Lucas Mallory whose wife was murdered and her bloody scarf and other evidence points right at her. Because Lucas is a partner at this prestigious firm no one is willing to take Nora’s case and the only person she can ask is her sister Amanda. Amanda is shocked to find her beautiful, talented sister behind bars but is hesitant to take her case. She deals with low offense crimes and does not feel prepared for such a front-page case, but she is all that stands in the way of life behind bars or freedom.
Amanda does not have access to all the help necessary in a huge murder case but nevertheless she must put her big girl panties on and give it all she’s got. While at lunch she hears a man ranting against Nora and she can’t help telling him off and walks out. The man Mark Fleming appears in her office with an apology and an offer of help, not free help but help that Amanda needs. Although Nora should have plenty of money, she doesn’t save it, so it is up to Amanda to put her home up to pay Nora’s bail.
The hair found in the murdered woman’s room is easily explained since Nora was in that room with Lucas, unfortunately, no one in the firm acknowledges there was an affair including Lucas. With no confirmation of an affair the hair and scarf are all the DA needs to secure a guilty verdict. Out of her league Amanda is walking a tightrope and her inexperience is not a secret from the DA and Nora’s firm.
Needing a big win, the District Attorney himself is prosecuting the case and he is aware of Amanda’s shortcomings since she worked for him once upon a time ago. With everything stacked against her Amanda, with Mark’s help digs into the partners of Nora’s firm and at first glance they all come off as pillars of society, but will the pillars fall.
Once again Ms. Forster took me on a trip to find a killer and once again, I was sure I knew who it was, but I was wrong. The book takes us step by step towards the search for a murderer and I was glued to every page until the crime was solved. Surprises and secrets and a wonderful character, Amanda. A woman lacking the knowledge needed for a murder case lets nothing stop her in her search for the truth.
This book was first released in 2014 but the author has updated it recently and I was thrilled to be given it to review. If mysteries are your thing, then this is the book for you.
Review by Gloria Lakritz
I have read other books by Rebecca Forster. I love her style, and the intrigue she puts into her characters and stories. But I will cry from the roof tops, Beyond Malice is one of the finest murder mysteries I have ever read!
We start with the premise. It is the year 1892 in San Francisco, Walter Dimsdale and Franklin Morris establish a Law Partnership of Dimsdale and Morris. In 1906 the offices were leveled by earthquake, and they moved down to Los Angeles. Mott was brought on with the death of Dimsdale, and today Dimsdale Morris and Mott still is the legal name of the company, run by four Senior Partners, Oliver Hedding, Don Forrester, Peter Sweeney and Lucas Mallory.
DM&M hosted three glorious days called ‘Retreat’ where every one of the Partners both Senior, Junior and Associates, some secretaries and paralegals, mingled with their spouses to be `seen.’
Nora Royce was a female lawyer being fast tracked to partner, her mentor being Lucas Mallory. Nora had it all, beauty and brains. She finished third in a class of 500 in Stanford, second in Harvard and had clerked for the Chief Justice of California’s Supreme Court. Nora Royce was probably the most hated employee through jealousy, that worked at DM&M.
Before the Ballroom doors were opened to announce dinner, the elevator doors opened and out stepped Ruth Mallory. All eyes were on her as they watched her fall, bleeding, trying to crawl to her husband Lucas. It was before him she took her last breath.
The cast grows as we meet Amanda Cross, nice to look at, nice to talk to, almost 40, divorced, a lawyer in Century City. She was sharing an office and trying to make it on her own. She had to take the bar twice to pass, had worked in the DA’s office and now was trying to eek out a living in her own practice. She cast no great dreams about herself, she felt she was mediocre and wanted to be known as the dependable one. Then the phone call came.
Nora Royce had been arrested for the murder of Ruth Mallory. She called the only one she could, when all turned away from her at the good company of Dimsdale. Morris and Mott. She called Amanda Cross, her sister.
The relationship between the two women is heartbreaking and just adds `more’ to this story. Amanda was 12 years older than Nora. I can relate as a sibling, when my parents had me, times were tougher than when my sister was born. I had homemade stuff, and my sister didn’t, and we were only 5 years apart. Well 12 years apart was like being in two different families.
Each girl actually was like an only child and never set up any kind of relationship except Amanda being tremendously jealous of Nora and all she got and achieved. There was Nora, feeling left behind by someone she wanted to know but didn’t. The saddest thing I think I read was Nora telling Amanda about their parents worrying about her, and Nora’s only wish was that they worried or talked about her when she wasn’t home. So sad. This trial will be the challenge of both of their lives.
Mark Fleming is introduced through a friend while the three share a table at lunch. He inserts foot in mouth reading a news article about Nora and doing a rant about her. After wearing the newspaper and a pepsi, he comes to Amanda and offers his services to help. He is a jack of all trades, not passing the bar and losing his fiancé the same day. She decided she did not want a loser and then he gave up trying. He has established himself in many areas doing a multitude of jobs that might be helpful.
One other player joins the team, Edward Ramsey. He worked for the firm and comes on board telling them he quit and can be of help. So now you know all the players, the scene is set. We don’t care if we solve the murder, all we have to do is cause reasonable doubt.
On a shoe string budget, with a ton of hutzpa, Amanda berating herself, her life, and her feeling of helplessness, still pushes forward. She is a bull dog, never taking no for an answer, even when the case is railroaded, the DA, her old boss, puts the trial on the the fast track with no delays or continuances allowed.
I could not put this book down. I tried to do things over the weekend and could get nothing accomplished, it was all the Book. Please read it, enjoy it, tell your friends about it…
MYSTERY/CRIME FICTION/SUSPENSE/ADVENTURE/THRILLER
