First published 2024
Stafford Lee Penney owns every courtroom in Biloxi, Mississippi. He wears sharp suits and polished Oxfords while building an undefeated record as the town's premier criminal defense attorney. His reputation makes him a local celebrity. Then someone murders his wife in a scandal that rocks the community. Penney's perfect world collapses. His cases start falling apart. His career crumbles. His reputation turns to dust. Facing complete ruin, Penney makes a radical choice. He abandons his power lawyer persona entirely. He trades his suits for flip-flops and starts moonlighting as a beach lifeguard. He mentors a struggling law student. The transformation shocks everyone who knew the old Penney. But when police charge him with his wife's murder, this reinvented lawyer must defend himself in the biggest case of his life. He has never lost in court before. Now he fights for his freedom with everything on the line.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, legal-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: fall-from-grace, redemption-arc, second-chance
Setting: Biloxi, Mississippi
Period: 21st-century
432 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company
Content warnings: murder, violence