by Reason of Sanity (35 page)

Suzi dislikes a certain devious attorney who Peter keeps coming up against. She feels that he has no business being licensed to practice law in the State of California.

When Peter’s new romantic interest invites him to a cocktail party, Suzi and the other guests are shocked by a loud noise down the hall, coming from their host’s study.

Other guests at the party include the chief of police, mayor, and district attorney, who
unanimously conclude that the dead body they discover is the result of a suicide.

Even Suzi is inclined to go along with their conclusion… until she learns that the devious attorney she dislikes may be involved in handling some legal matters for the deceased.

Suzi won’t let go of this one. Against everyone’s advice, she keeps working to prove her suspicions about that devious attorney and his connections to what Suzi believes must have been murder.

In this tenth Peter Sharp Legal Mystery, Peter faces a double task: defending a person who is charged with murder, and also trying to locate the missing victim, who was allegedly killed in a completely locked room.

Somewhere behind the tangled mess of a down-ward-spiraling celebrity starlet, a battling married couple, a missing currency trader and a disappearing corpse, attorney Peter Sharp and his legal ward Suzi must find where the truth lies.

As in the past, while Peter’s client’s trial nears, Suzi has failed to come up with any workable solution that can save Peter from certain defeat and humiliation in court.

You’ll be sitting on the edge of your chair as you see the courtroom drama that takes place during the last few minutes of the trial.

In Latin, the word “alibi” literally means “somewhere else,” and to any person charged with a crime, it is an extremely valuable asset to have because it can mean the difference between an acquittal and a conviction.

However, just having an alibi isn’t enough: it has to stand up to scrutiny, because any good prosecutor knows that breaking an alibi and proving it was fraudulently concocted can lead a sure-thing conviction.

In this eleventh adventure of the Peter Sharp Legal Mysteries, Peter is drawn into a role he never thought he’d be playing – that of a prosecutor, being brought in as for the singular purpose of trying to break a defendant’s apparently ‘airtight’ alibi.

Nobody likes a killer, but sometimes you have to put your personal feelings on hold when you’re a trained professional called upon to do a job.

When attorney Peter Sharp’s former wife Myra calls to ask a favor, he finds it difficult to refuse her, because any occasion to work with her is always a pleasure for him.

The favor that District Attorney Myra asks is for Peter to represent a client in court who wants to plead guilty to a crime. A plea bargain the defendant agreed to is already in place.

Peter agrees to the contemplated one-hour of work as a court-appointed defense attorney and makes the court appearance. But when the case is called, the surprises start, and don’t stop until the unexpected end of this twelfth of the Legal Mystery series, during which time Peter gets his first opportunity to defend a dead person charged with murder.

All thirteen of the Peter Sharp Legal Mysteries are now available at bookstores and can easily be ordered online from Amazon.com.

To order at your local bookseller or online, simply provide the title’s ISBN (International Standard Book Number), or insert it into Amazon’s search block.

Single Jeopardy
ISBN 1-882629-19-1
…By Reason of Sanity
ISBN 1-882629-13-2
A Class Action
ISBN 1-882629-66-3
Conspiracy of Innocence
ISBN 1-882629-09-4
…Until Proven Innocent
ISBN 1-882629-51-5
The Common Law
ISBN 1-882629-39-6
The Magician’s Legacy
ISBN 1-882629-15-9
The Reluctant Jurist
ISBN 1-882629-72-8
The Final Case
ISBN 1-882629-81-7
An Element of Peril
ISBN 1-882629-76-0
A Good Alibi
ISBN 1-882629-84-1
Legally Dead
ISBN 1-882629-75-2
How to Rob a Bank
ISBN 1-882629-05-1

Editor’s note
:
If you notice any blatant typographical errors in the text
of this book, we suggest you bring them to the attention
of the author, who was the last person to sign off on the
manuscript. We feel quite comfortable shifting the blame
onto him for any errors he may have missed.

Gene Grossman worked his way through high school, college, and law school as a shoe salesman, welder, process server, bail bondsman, tire changer, saloon piano player and ‘extra,’ appearing in seven motion pictures. He then spent 20 years as a trial lawyer, during which time he served as Dean of a small local law school, where he also taught several classes.

His film & video company produced over fifty special interest DVD titles on everything from boating, to bankruptcy. Now retired from the practice of law, Gene writes aboard his yacht in Marina del Rey.

You can see pictures of Peter Sharp’s boats, yellow Hummer, Suzi’s e-cart, and Laverne’s houseboat at