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Author: Steve Martini

ISBN: 978-0-06-147391-3

Publisher: William Morrow (An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers)

New York Times best-selling author Steve Martini is a master at writing with a straight-talking clarity, an essential ingredient when it comes to writing novels that focus on more than meets the eye such as legal thrillers.

In his latest tome, Shadow Of Power: A Paul Madriani Novel, Martini offers up a fascinating tale wherein a heinous, cold-blooded murder is committed against Terry Scarborough, author of a very controversial and extremely successful book entitled Perpetual Slaves: The Branding of America’s Black Race. The book’s basic premise was that the roots of slavery were deeply embedded with arcane language in the United States Constitution and they existed since 1787, the year of the adoption of the Constitution. And even though they were overridden by a Civil War and later amendments, they were still there-the original words of slavery.

Furthermore, Scarborough was in possession of a crucial letter purportedly written by Thomas Jefferson that would have far reaching implications pertaining to race relations in the USA.

Against the advice of his agent Dick Bonguard, Scarborough was planning to leak a copy of this letter on the Jay Leno show as a prelude to a sequel to another book he planned to write. Unfortunately, Scarborough never made it to the Jay Leno show as he was bludgeoned to death by a hammer owned by the hotel where he was staying.

The subsequent police investigation leads to the arrest of a hotel employee, Carl Everett Arnsberg, who had access to master keys that would permit him to access the rooms of hotel guests as well as a maintenance closet where the hammer was kept and which was on the same floor as Scarborough’s room. 

It appears that Arnsberg was delivering food to Scarborough on the night of the murder and when he saw his bloody body on the floor he ran rather than call the police.

What was even more damning was the prosecution could show shoe impressions, impressions left in the blood of the victim on the floor of the hotel room where Terry Scarborough was murdered, These impressions matched shoes that were owned and found by the police in the residence of Arnsberg.

In addition, the prosecution had evidence that the fingerprints found on the bloody handle of the murder weapon matched the fingerprints of the accused. And to make matters even worse was that Arnsberg belonged to a fringe Aryan group and even wore a swastika on his arm. 

Arnsberg’s father has retained attorneys Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds as his son’s defence attorneys.  Both are very competent criminal attorneys who realize that they have their work cut out for them. As the story unfolds, the attorneys discover that the police investigation was done in haste and furthermore, there was a crucial piece of evidence that was removed from the scene of the crime and had gone missing. It is this piece of evidence that leads the attorneys and their investigators to a justice of the Supreme Court and to someone who was once in his employ.

Martini has created a thrilling mix of suspense with a bit of wit that transforms the traditional legal thriller into a novel that interweaves some interesting American history pertaining to slavery. From the very first pages, the narrative grabs the reader and never lets go. The odds of securing an acquittal seem to be a long shot-that is until the tenacious researching of Madriani and Hinds begin to reap some interesting benefits. Martini also deftly reproduces the lingo of attorneys, particularly during the trial proceedings, making the story all the more plausible.

Martini has written numerous New York Times bestsellers including Double Trap, The Arraignment, The Jury, The Attorney, and several others featuring Madriani and his partner Hinds. He has practiced law in California in both state and federal courts and has served as an administrative law judge and supervising hearing officer.

Click Here To Purchase Shadow Of Power

The above review was contributed by: The Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com, Norm Goldman, B.A. LL.L, Retired Title Attorney: Norm is also a travel writer and together with his artist wife, Lily, the couple meld Norm's words with Lily's art. To check out their travel site click on Sketchandtravel.com   Click here to view Norm’s Reviews & Interviews.