From the Grave

Edgar-finalist Brandon’s lame sequel to 2018’s Against the Law, which introduced Houston attorney Edward Hall, who lost his law license and did time after burglarizing a judge’s chamber to steal cocaine, offers more improbabilities. Donald Willis, who recently finished a prison sentence for kidnapping a football star’s child, stands accused of abducting socialite Diana Greene, who told the SWAT team that rescued her that Willis had forced her to come with him to an abandoned shack. Since Greene’s sister, Julia Lipscomb, is the district attorney for Houston, Lipscomb recuses herself, but only after arranging for Hall to represent Willis. Despite being disbarred, Hall is allowed by the State Bar to act as defense counsel. Hall finds his client’s story—that Greene’s husband hired him as a bodyguard for her—unconvincing, but pursues a vigorous defense nonetheless. Unmemorable prose and characters only reinforce the unreality. Nothing in the courtroom scenes will make the reader forget Scott Turow. (Jan.)