Sleight of Hand

Charles Benedict – charismatic criminal defense lawyer, amateur illusionist, and professional hit man – has performed his greatest sleight of hand yet: framing a millionaire for the murder of his much younger wife.

When Horace Blair married Carrie, the prosecutor in his DUI trial, he made her sign a prenuptial agreement guaranteeing her twenty million dollars if she remained faithful for the first ten years of marriage. Just one week before their tenth anniversary, Carrie disappears, and Horace is charged with her murder. Desperate to clear his name, the millionaire hires D.C.’s most ruthless defense lawyer – Charles Benedict.

P.I. Dana Cutler is in the Pacific Northwest on the trail of a stolen relic dating from the Ottoman show more Empire. Hitting a dead end sends her back to Virginia perplexed and disappointed – and straight into the case of Horace and Carrie Blair.

Now Dana must conjure a few tricks of her own to expose Benedict’s plot, before he can work his deadly magic on her... show less

Sleight of Hand by Phillip Margolin
4 Stars

This is the fourth book to feature former detective and current private investigator, Dana Cutler, who does her investigating in Washington DC. From the beginning there are a couple of story lines that will eventually make sense to the reader.

The first one is when a woman with a French accent hires Dana to track down a royal scepter from the Ottoman Empire which soon turns out to be a dead end. She returns to Virginia only to become tangled in the second story that involves the murder of Carrie Blair days before she would receive $20 million dollars from her husband, Horace, according to the terms of their prenuptial agreement. Horace is the obvious culprit but he swears he didn't do it. The show more police arrest him and charge him with murdering his wife to avoid paying her the money. He hires defense attorney Charles Benedict to defend him in court.

Anonymous tips and leads from various shady characters seem to be lucky breaks for the prosecution. Evidence just magically appears. Then something happens to make the detectives investigating Carrie's murder start to wonder if Horace is really the killer. Dana uncovers evidence that Horace may have been framed for the murder, but Benedict blocks her attempts to get the answers she needs. Soon she becomes a target of the real killer.

I thought this was a fun and exciting mystery. Even though Benedict was a sociopath his magic tricks and illusions made him a little different from the usual villain. I think if you've read Margolin before you would certainly like this one. show less

I am a definite reader fan of author Phillip Margolin's novels and was so excited at the prospect of reading one of the few titles that I had not yet read. And than there's the "but" clause - This novel is not one that I would highly recommend as a sample of Margolin's legal prowess in crafting a legal thriller that is riveting with page-turning action and suspense. Sad to even admit that I loved the cover more than I loved the book.

Great story line, very interesting characters that keep you on the edge of your seat. The way Phillip Margolin writes, he tries to lead you away from where the major plot goes, only to return the heart of the plot later, in a roundabout way.


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A suspenseful legal thriller that is hard to put down. Another good read by Phillip Margolin.

A one day read. not great but "good enough"

First and last by this author. Poorly written and cartoonish. Just a really bad book that I picked up at the airport.