Anh Tran was a small child when she witnessed the brutal execution of her parents in their jewelry store in Seattle’s Little Saigon neighborhood. Raised by her grandparents, Tran finished college and law school to become a prosecutor whose fierce style and winning record earned her the nickname, Batwoman. Her latest case will pit her against Keera Duggan, who has won her last two cases and the moniker, The Brawler’s Daughter, after her successful father, Patsy. There’s a lot at stake in their legal battle. Tran is determined to maintain her winning streak, while Keera will be defending a young Black man who just happens to be the nephew of her investigator, JP Harrison. With both women at the top of their game, all of Seattle will be watching.
Her Cold Justice is the third in Robert Dugoni’s Keera Duggan series and the mysteries just keep getting better. In Her Deadly Game, the first book in the series, Keera, who had worked in the prosecutor’s office made the transition to become a defender when her father, battling alcoholism, was no longer able to run his firm. She wins her first case as well as the second one in the followup, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. After a stint in rehab, Patsy is back in the office on a consulting basis and Keera still relies on his advice and encouragement. Once a star chess player, Keera often spars with Patsy over the kings and queens on the board, a routine that helps to prepare her for the real battle.
As a teen, Harrison’s nephew, Michael Westbrook, was often in trouble. Now, however, he’s in community college and holding down a part-time job at Blue Horizon, an air cargo facility near the airport. When Michael’s supervisor, John Lockett, and his girlfriend, Melissa Scott, are found dead in their home, Seattle police detectives Frank Rossi and Billy Ford are assigned the case. They soon learn that Michael was the last person to see Lockett. The young man becomes the prime suspect when a search of his home turns up drugs and cash that belonged to Lockett.
Michael tells the cops that because his car broke down, he took an Uber to work. At the end of his shift, around 4 a.m., Lockett offered him a ride home asking him to hold onto two packages, gifts for Melissa, that he didn’t want her to find. Michael tossed the packages on the floor, took off his clothes, and, exhausted, dropped into bed. When the police arrived at his door, he made no move to hide the packages. But when they were opened, hazmat had to be called in because they contained lethal amounts of fentanyl.
While Rossi and Ford arrest Westbrook for burglary, they don’t believe the evidence is strong enough to charge him with the two murders. Tran disagrees and impanels a grand jury that quickly brings back not only the burglary charges, but two charges of first degree murder.
Tran has a reputation for skirting the lines, and right out of the gate, Keera is on the defensive. Tran doesn’t turn over the material she presented to the grand jury, even though some of those witnesses will be testifying at trial. Keera learns that Lockett had been under investigation by the DEA giving her the opportunity to present the SODDI defense (Some Other Dude Did It). Somehow, Tran learns about Keera’s strategy and produces the DEA agent as her first witness. Keera now has to worry about a possible leak on her side, something that will make her defense of Michael even more complicated.
Dugoni’s courtroom scenes are riveting, while his grasp of police procedure as sharp as ever. And while the plot is complex, with many surprises, it’s the characters that ultimately pull the reader in. The Duggan family, like so many, is complicated. And Keera often has to spend time dodging land mines that could set off an explosion with her sister, Maggie. She succeeds this time, mostly because of Patsy’s intervention (he also gets more involved in this case, which is fun to watch), but who knows what could happen in the next case? And will Keera and Frank ever admit their attraction and take the relationship to another level? We’ll see.
Her Cold Justice
Robert Dugoni
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