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Book Review of Murder in the Courthouse (Hailey Dean, Bk 3)

Murder in the Courthouse (Hailey Dean, Bk 3)
Linda avatar reviewed on + 770 more book reviews


This is the third Nancy Grace book featuring Hailey Dean, once a very successful Special Prosecutor, now a psychologist who is frequently called on to testify in murder cases. Which is exactly what has happened.

Todd Adams is accused of killing his 9-month-pregnant wife and their unborn child. Their bodies are found in a body of water where coincidentally, he had been fishing. Think Scott and Lacey Peterson of a few years back.

She meets her old partner, now crime investigator, Garland Finch at the Savannah airport. Hearing an All Points Bulletin on a murder that has just been reported, they decide to swing by to see if they can help. What they find is a courthouse sheriff, severed in half by a garage door.

Hailey does what she normally does ... starts investigating a case that isn't even hers. Thankfully the local police are tolerant. What they suspect is that this murder has something to do with the Adams case that begins the next day.

That's only the start of a killing spree ... courthouse regulars seem to be dropping like flies ..and Hailey may be next on the list. But who wants these particular people dead? And why?

Although third in this series, it does well as a stand alone. There is some basic info that has been in both her previous books (a lot of it resembles Nancy Grace's real life) but there are no spoilers, so read them in order .. or not.

I like the characters .. they have significant substance. Even though Hailey resembles the author in many different ways, the writing is done so well so as to forget the author and get lost in the story. There's a very little romance this time around as Hailey has caught the eye of Detective Chase Billings. But he's in Savannah and she's going back to New York City.

The author, being an attorney herself, brings realism to the courtroom scenes. There are a few surprising twists and turns that keep the reader engaged.

Many thanks to the author / BenBella Books / Netgalley for the advance copy of this crime thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.