Fiction

Guilt by Degrees

Name: Guilt by Degrees
Author: Marcia Clark
ISBN: 9780316129541

by Marcia Clark

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Overview

Someone has been watching D.A. Rachel Knight--someone who's Rachel's equal in brains, but with more malicious intentions. It began when a near-impossible case fell into Rachel's lap, the suspectless homicide of a homeless man. In the face of courthouse backbiting and a gauzy web of clues, Rachel is determined to deliver justice. She's got back-up: tough-as-nails Detective Bailey Keller. As Rachel and Bailey stir things up, they're shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier. Something tells Rachel someone knows the truth, someone who'd kill to keep it secret.

Harrowing, smart, and riotously entertaining, GUILT BY DEGREES is a thrilling ride through the world of LA courts with the unforgettable Rachel Knight.

Synopsis

About the Author, Marcia Clark

Marcia Clark began practicing law as a criminal defense attorney. She became a prosecutor in the L.A. District Attorney's Office in 1981, and spent ten years in the Special Trials Unit where she handled a number of high profile cases prior to the O.J. Simpson case, including the prosecution of stalker/murderer Robert Bardo, whose conviction for the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer resulted in legislation that offered victims better protection from stalkers as well as increased punishment for the offenders.

Since the Simpson trial, Ms. Clark has toured the U.S. and Canada giving lectures on a variety of women's issues including domestic violence and inspirational/motivational speeches, as well as lectures on the latest high profile cases, public service careers, and of course, the Trial of the Century.

In May of 1997, her book on the Simpson case, Without a Doubt was published and quickly rose to #1 on the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, and Publisher's Weekly bestsellers lists.

From February 1998 to 2000 Marcia was under contract as a legal analyst and expert commentator for NBC, CNBC and MSNBC. She appeared weekly as the substitute host of Geraldo Rivera's "Rivera Live," and also hosted "Equal Time" for CNBC and "Judge and Jury" for MSNBC. Marcia has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show," the "Larry King Show," the "Today" show, "The Early Show," and "Good Morning America," among others, and provides legal commentary on a wide variety of cable shows such as "Anderson Cooper 360" and "Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell."

Marcia Clark (with writing partner, Catherine LePard) has sold hour-long pilots to the FX network, Lifetime, and VH1 and developed a half hour comedy for NBC. She has also developed reality projects for CBS and was an executive producer of a one hour reality pilot for CBS.

Marcia has published three novels which feature Los Angeles Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight: Guilt by Association, Guilt by Degrees, and Killer Ambition, which is due out in June 2013. TNT has optioned the books and a drama series is currently in development. Marcia is attached as an executive producer. She's currently at work on her fourth novel.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Near the start of Clark’s exemplary second legal thriller featuring Los Angeles deputy DA Rachel Knight (after 2011’s Guilt by Association), a judge dismisses charges against a man suspected of stabbing a homeless person to death because an arrogant colleague of Knight’s failed to adequately prepare for the preliminary hearing. The key eyewitness to the murder recants on the stand. Determined to seek justice for the victim, Knight hits the streets, along with her best buddy, LAPD Det. Bailey Keller, to seek leads on the identities of both the killer and the dead man. As the convoluted story unfolds, the significance of the gory prologue, in which someone takes an axe to a guy named Zack in his basement workshop, gradually becomes clear. Clark humanizes her tough lead, and gets the mixture of action and investigative legwork just right, more than making the case for a long life for this West Coast analogue to Linda Fairstein’s Alex Cooper. (May)

Suspense Magazine

The second Guilt book by author Marcia Clark reintroduces the tough D.A., Rachel Knight. And if readers liked her in the first, they will like her even better this time around... [the] book offers a more in-depth exploration of crime and punishment, which is-of course-what Marcia Clark is good at. The suspects are beyond interesting, and the plot is extremely dark, allowing the character of Rachel Knight to really shine through. A great thriller!

Library Journal

Clark brings back Los Angeles DA Rachel Knight in this sequel to her well-received debut, Guilt by Association. This new book opens with a gruesome murder of a cop followed by the street killing of a homeless man. Knight is soon following a treacherous path to find the killer, dodging department politics along the way. We learn more about Knight's disturbing childhood and her love life, as her gal pals—a fellow district attorney and a badass cop—share their work and their lives, bringing additional depth to the tale. But it is the antagonist, a psychopath with a brutal backstory and nerves of steel, who dominates the show. VERDICT Well-developed characters and a story arc that leaves the reader hanging are a surefire way to bring fans back for the next installment, and Clark has wisely left that door wide open. Should appeal to fans of Lisa Scottoline and David Baldacci. [See Prepub Alert, 11/7/11.]—Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL

Kirkus Reviews

From former L.A. Prosecuting Attorney Clark (the O.J. Simpson case), an engaging revisit to Rachel Knight, L.A. prosecuting attorney. Rachel Knight (Guilt by Association, 2011), star performer in L.A.'s elite Special Trials Unit, is famous for not suffering fools lightly. And for mouthiness. Those who love Rachel delight in the volatility implied here since her periodic explosions have in the past transmuted the dull and ordinary into the bright stuff of legends. Those who do not love Rachel--the always "carefully coiffed," ever resentful Brandon Averill, for instance--mutter, sputter and often enough find icky little ways to complicate her life, even if inadvertently. So it is on the day Averill's prosecutorial ineptitude adds a botched case to Rachel's already jampacked list. It turns out, however, that the case has unexpected permutations, challenging to put it mildly. Seemingly routine at first, it involves the murder of an unidentified homeless man, another way of saying back burner. But when John Doe becomes Simon Bayer, younger brother of a police officer brutally slain a year earlier, Rachel has on her hands a homicide of a far different color. As always when difficulties loom--knotty professional issues, gnarly romantic entanglements--she calls on the small support cohort she thinks of as her "besties": Det. Bailey Keller, tough, smart and gorgeous; and counselor Toni LaCollette, tough, smart, black and gorgeous. As the investigation deepens, the Bayer case assumes a mazelike pattern with frustrated Rachel always at least one twist behind--until suddenly, shockingly, she gets the insight that changes everything. The shrewd, coldblooded, elusive killer Rachel's been pursuing up to now has developed an interesting new target: Rachel. No sophomore jinx for Clark. Her second girlfriend novel, counterpart to the buddy novel, is serious fun.