Incriminating Evidence

San Francisco's District Attorney, facing an election, wakes up in a hotel room without his wife, but with a dead male prostitute. Defense attorney, Michael Daley and his partner (and ex-wife) Rosie, take the case. Like his first book, Daley and Rosie are interesting characters. Daley's an ex-priest and Rosie is spunky. However, this story, while good, does get a little convoluted.

I like books with realistic (as far as I can tell, anyway) courtroom scenes with lawyers slowly building cases. Siegel does this very well. This is the second in his series I have read. I liked it and the mystery of who actually committed the crime was intriguing. The relationship between Rose and Mike is developing, but having just read the first in the series, it felt vaguely formulaic, i.e., overwhelming evidence against their client with a surprise ending just at the moment of jury decision.

Still, it's a good formula, well-executed, so on to #3.

There are lots of characters in this novel. If you read several books at the same time as I do (work, home, mobile device while in transit) you might want to highlight some names, particularly at the beginning. It can be difficult to find your place in the story after brief interruptions to your reading.

Just as a preview: Skipper is a nickname for the DA. He is charged with murder after being found in a hotel room with the dead body of Johnny, a gay drug dealer. Given that Skipper called the police, should he have been charged with the murder? The race, and the story, is on. Natalie is Skipper’s long suffering wife, not oblivious to his infidelities. But we are not sure why she is long suffering. Ann, Skipper’s irascible daughter, show more is loyal mainly to Ann, and is full of surprises. Although the reader develops a sense of confidence that Skipper is not gay, it seems he has slept with or propositioned every female character in the novel (OK, maybe not Ann). Michael, a somewhat rogue lawyer is a partner with Rosie, his former wife who is also a lawyer. Although they are divorced, they are frequently together for comfort sex when other partners are not available. Both are lawyers for Skipper, who tried to sleep with Rosie (but not Michael). Carolyn, the third lawyer in the firm and thus also an advocate for Skipper, has also slept with Skipper. Then there is the growing number of professionals who surface saying they have also slept with Skipper, but all ceased to do so when the sex went rough. Michaels’ brother Pete is a private investigator helping the firm, Rosie’s brother Tony is a local businessman with innocent ties to the criminal element; he only uses his connections to find information to help Michael. Then there is a host of named characters that support Skipper’s growing political ambitions, another host that support the opponents of Skipper, yet another host of social workers concerned with the dead guy and his family, and a few members of the clergy thrown in. As an aside, Michael, our hero lawyer, used to be a priest, so we have confessional anxiety. This was like trying to follow the family tree of England’ Henry VIII.

For those interested, as voyeurs of course, in drug dealing operational methodology, terminology related with rough sex, and the seemingly inherent corrupt behavior of political aspirants this is a novel for you.

Other good news is that this is a novel in a series. I am not good at reading things in order; this was book 2. It was fascinating enough that I will definitely read book 1 (there is an excerpt in this epub). I am just guessing that I will continue with other books in this series and other works by this author. I recommended this novel to my ex-cop colleagues. show less

Sheldon Siegel is a native of Chicago but lives in San Francisco. He has been an attorney in private practise for 20 years in corporate and securities law. This is his 6th novel.

This book has a hero named Mike Daley. Daley is an ex-priest attorney who is in practise with his ex-wife, Rosie Fernandez. They have a daughter named Grace. They are still very much in love and spend a lot of time together. The story starts with the rich, politician Prentice Marshall "Skipper" Gates. He is San Francisco's District Attorney and is running for Attorney General. He is married to Natalie and has an adult daughter named Ann who is also ambitious and scheming. Skipper is found asleep in a hotel room with a dead male prostitute handcuffed to the bed. show more He has not memory of how the prostitute died but he is arrested and being prosecuted by his own office. He calls Mike Daley because he trusts him and Rosie. They take on the case and it's on.

It's a little slow because you get more than halfway through before any clues start showing up. I got a little tired of adding more and more to the "unexplainable" but once it started falling into place it picked up. I really liked Mike Daley and Rosie and the rest of the family. But this book also shows the worst of humanity and I wouldn't recommend it to sensitive people or the young generation. It's just very adult subjects. But, otherwise, I liked the book and would read more of Siegel. show less

I’ve read the first 5 books in the Rosie Fernandez and Michael Daley series. Somehow I missed this one, number 2, and went back for it. The good guys are people you would want to know. They defend people who are not always good, but are sometimes innocent. Makes for a great story!

Enjoyed this book-I now know the characters. Mike and Rosie are a great team in this legal thriller. Great ending and more to come with the next book.

Enjoyed Siegel's first book in this series and moved right on to the second. Incriminating evidence is another exiting courtroom drama with a lot of similarities to the first in it's plot. Still a good read if you like courtroom drama and suspense.