William L. Myers Jr.

A Criminal Defense is the first in a series of legal thrillers by William L. Myers, Jr. The story opens on a busy day in lawyer Mick McFarland’s life. He is messaged a few times by a reporter, who is afraid she will be pressured to release her sources by the D. A. and the grand jury. When she is murdered, the police catch David Hanson running from her house. Hanson is a friend of Mick’s going back to college days and asks Mick to defend him. The police and D.A. think it’s an show more open-and-shut case even though the victim died hours before the police were called. After all, the caught Hanson cleaning up the scene until they arrived and then fleeing. It becomes even easier when they discover a motive.

A Criminal Defense is fascinating. Mick is determined to get his friend off, even after more and more is learned about the reporter. He struggles to build reasonable doubt out of questioning who called the police alleging noises and the sound of throwing things when she was dead and Hanson was quietly cleaning. He implies the murder may have something to do with the grand jury that called her to testify about who leaked information about an investigation into dirty cops. He uses every trick in the book, determined to win because he feels losing this case would be catastrophic.

And wow, wow, wow, he throws a mean curveball you won’t see coming. I promise.

A Criminal Defense at Thomas & Mercer | Brilliance Publishing
William L. Myers, Jr. law firm

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Backstory by William L. Myers, Jr. is a recommended contemporary noir mystery.

Bob, Jackson Robert Hunter, had his head smashed against a brick wall by some unknown person and can't quite remember who he is. He's in a bar where people know him, so he knows his name is Bob. He gradually pieces together clues and memories. He lives in Kansas. His Wife, Helen has recently died by suicide. He can't remember what his job is or who his co-workers are. He does slowly recover memories of Helen and show more begins to believe that his wife was murdered. This memory and other clues eventually lead him to Philadelphia and his secret past.

This is a compelling narrative and readers will be sympathetic to Bob's search for answers. He is a complicated character with a complicated past. Readers will sympathize with Bob at the start of the novel, but Meyers will quickly show that he is a more perplexing and troublesome character than he appears to be at the start. The novel quickly turns from a noir to a thriller as Bob looks into his past to try and solve who killed Helen.

As a reviewer it was admittedly a struggle at times to read Backstory because it was slow paced at the beginning and the advanced reading copy was missing complete words and/or letters so I had to piece together clues from the text that was there to figure out what was what. This won't be in the final published edition, but it does inhibit an ease of reading comprehension for an advanced reviewer. The plot does pick up the pace and quickly becomes engrossing in the final chapters in the novel.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Oceanview Publishing via Edelweiss.
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A reporter is murdered. A rich business man is charged, caught cleaning up the incriminating scene. He claims innocence. Enter his school friend and lawyer. The one with a troubled brother, a marriage in trouble and a cute kid. Throw in some blackmail, high society kerfuffles, affairs and a sibling rivalry for a pretty good mix. I pieced together most of the ending, but not all of it! A good read.

Mick McFarland's friend David Hanson wants Mick to represent him on a murder charge. Hanson, a wealthy businessman, is accused of killing a young reporter, Jennifer Yamura, in her home. Mick takes the case. He believes David is innocent, but he has to dig for alternative theories and find support for David's alibi.

But this turns out to be more than the defense of a long-time friend. David emerges as a serial cheater, and one of his partners was the victim, Jennifer. Further, he admitted to show more trying to keep the affair from his wife.

David's wife, Marcie, takes the affair in stride and insists that Mick do everything necessary to get a not-guilty verdict. To that end, she us willing to do a great deal herself. Unfortunately, she does not ask Mick if it's okay, and her moves may actually backfire.

Then secrets start coming out. David has kept a number of things from Mick. The revelations keep Mick scrambling, trying to keep up and ahead. As time progresses, we learn just how convoluted the case really is. show less