Murder in the Courthouse: A Hailey Dean Mystery

Nancy Grace

Oct 2016 · BenBella Books, Inc.

About this ebook

Hailey Dean, the prosecutor who never lost a case, jets to Savannah as an expert witness on the sensational Julie Love-Adams murder trial but very quickly finds herself embroiled in a deadly mystery.

As soon as she touches down, Hailey bumps into her old partner, crime investigator Garland Fincher. Leaving the Savannah airport, the two hear an APB on a murder that's just been committed. Racing to the scene, they find Alton Turner, a courthouse sheriff known for crossing t's and dotting i's. The mild-mannered paperpusher is prone to extreme tidiness, but he's a hot mess now . . . sprawled dead in a pool of blood, severed in half by a garage door.

Never one to stay in the background, Hailey jump-starts Turner's murder investigation while juggling the Julie Love-Adams trial. The timing of the trial and murder could be a coincidence, but everyone knows there are no coincidences in criminal law.

And that's just the beginning. Courthouse regulars start dropping dead one by one . . . but why? While Lt. Billings is falling hard for Hailey, she digs in to find a killer with a mysterious agenda . . . as it becomes deathly apparent the next murder victim may very well be Hailey herself.

It's crime sleuth Hailey Dean at her best!

Ratings and reviews

This is the third Nancy Grace book featuring Hailey Dean, once a very successful Special Prosecutor, now a psychologist who is frequently called on to testify in murder cases. Which is exactly what has happened. Todd Adams is accused of killing his 9-month-pregnant wife and their unborn child. Their bodies are found in a body of water where coincidentally, he had been fishing. Think Scott and Lacey Peterson of a few years back. She meets her old partner, now crime investigator, Garland Finch at the Savannah airport. Hearing an All Points Bulletin on a murder that has just been reported, they decide to swing by to see if they can help. What they find is a courthouse sheriff, severed in half by a garage door. Hailey does what she normally does ... starts investigating a case that isn't even hers. Thankfully the local police are tolerant. What they suspect is that this murder has something to do with the Adams case that begins the next day. That's only the start of a killing spree ... courthouse regulars seem to be dropping like flies ..and Hailey may be next on the list. But who wants these particular people dead? And why? Although third in this series, it does well as a stand alone. There is some basic info that has been in both her previous books (a lot of it resembles Nancy Grace's real life) but there are no spoilers, so read them in order .. or not. I like the characters .. they have significant substance. Even though Hailey resembles the author in many different ways, the writing is done so well so as to forget the author and get lost in the story. There's a very little romance this time around as Hailey has caught the eye of Detective Chase Billings. But he's in Savannah and she's going back to New York City. The author, being an attorney herself, brings realism to the courtroom scenes. There are a few surprising twists and turns that keep the reader engaged. Many thanks to the author / BenBella Books / Netgalley for the advance copy of this crime thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

About the author

When her fiancé was murdered just before their wedding day, Nancy Grace abandoned plans to become a Shakespearean literature professor to enter the world of crime and justice; she attended law school instead and graduated Law Review. Grace then spent the next decade in inner-city Atlanta prosecuting violent crimes. She compiled a perfect record of more than 100 felony prosecution victories at trial with no losses. Grace joined Court TV and, for the next ten years, covered major trials after co-hosting Cochran & Grace with famed defense attorney Johnnie Cochran. One of television's most respected legal analysts, Grace now hosts the top-rated HLN show, Nancy Grace, and serves as a legal expert for ABC's Nightline, 20/20, and Good Morning America. Grace lives in both New York City and Atlanta with her husband and her beloved twins, a boy and a girl.