Legal tender - Lisa Scottoline

Edgar winner Lisa Scottoline returns to the courtroom with a taut and intriguing legal thriller where the search for justice turns into a fight to the death.

Benedetta 'Bennie' Rosato may be tall, blonde and built to last, but she's no sucker for a man in uniform. She's a maverick lawyer who prosecutes police misconduct and excessive-force cases, and business has never been better.

Bennie's latest client is an activist who has been roughed up by the police during a demo at a pharmaceutical company. It's an open-and-shut case of police brutality - until he confesses that his group have been plotting the murder of the company's president. And as if she hasn't had enough surprises for one day, Bennie's former lover and current law partner, Mark Biscardi, breaks the news that he wants to oust her from the firm in favour of an ambitious and beautiful associate.

When Mark is found murdered, all the evidence points to Bennie, who has motive aplenty and a dubious alibi. Suddenly her world is turned upside down, as the lawyer becomes the client, and the cops she once prosecuted are now after her - with a vengeance. When a second murder takes place, Bennie finds herself indicted for a double homicide - a crime punishable by death.

With no one she can trust, Bennie becomes a fugitive armed with only her wits and courage. She'll find the real killer. Or die trying.