Sandra Nichols found dead - George V. Higgins

While blithely trespassing in a Massachusetts wetland, a plant thief stumbles across the corpse of a woman bludgeoned to death with a blunt instrument. Sandra Nichols had been missing five months, and time has provided the prime suspect - Peter Wade, her super-rich ex - with alibis that are easy to come by.
Judge Henry Lawler has his own reasons for appointing former classmate Jerry Kennedy to try the case, despite the reputation Jerry's built for defending only the most crooked and corrupt criminal. A run-of-the-mill civil action like Wade-Nichols is a different world, but Jerry decides to do a favour for a friend. As a rookie prosecutor, there ar things he must prove: Motive, means and opportunity, all of which Peter has in spades. Or did he pay someone else to do it? It would certainly have been cheaper than letting the divorce go through ...