You don’t have to be addicted to legal thrillers to experience an intellectual rush once you start turning the pages of James E. Carroll’s Murder On Cape Cod. This is the kind of fast-paced, fact-and-fun-filled fiction that can recharge your reading batteries and rekindle your faith in good storytelling. You may find yourself comparing it to some of John Grisham’s tomes or even Robert Traver’s Anatomy Of A Murder, but Carroll doesn’t take a back seat to either of those authors as he drives his original tale down the literary fast-lane with you riding shotgun.

As the title proclaims, the bulk of the story takes place on Cape Cod. But it’s not the typical bucolic environment you might initially assume. This gem forgoes the sun and sand of summer and is set in a chilly, windblown winter. The narrative unfolds not in scenic seaside mansions but rather in a gated-community of fifty-plus senior types in lock and leave condos. But don’t let the seemingly commonplace setting fool you, there’s plenty of unseemly behavior going on. Such as the President of the Homeowner’s Association winding up dead with his throat cut. And the unraveling of a scheme to illegally import and distribute pharmaceuticals from Canada. There’s also money laundering. Plus, more mendacity than you can shake a lobster at.

Connecticut lawyer, Jamie Carson, gets pulled into the proceedings by his father who has a good friend in the middle of all the ill-advised behavior. A friend who winds up as the prime murder suspect. Once Carson and his team arrive, they quickly begin to bump Blackstones with local prosecutors pushing hard for a quick arrest, an early trial, and an even speedier guilty verdict.

Author Carroll, a longtime lawyer himself, proves as adept in literature as in litigation. His characters come off as real human beings rather than merely chronicle chess pieces. His depictions of disturbing situations, and his players’ reactions to them, feel honest and credible. His ability to insert finer points of law into his narrative without overburdening readers with legal minutia is skillful. This is a writer who trusts his readers’ intelligence and rewards them with an absorbing tale told particularly well. 

Murder On Cape Cod is the third in a series of Jamie Carson legal thrillers. It is a gripping legal thriller where justice is anything but simple, and the real killer may be hiding in plain sight. Fans of this page-turner will likely be glad to know that another is on the way; in which the attorney finds himself returning to law school to defend an old friend in The Law Review. If it’s as engaging as this one, it’ll be worth waiting for. James E. Carroll combines authentic courtroom realism with edge-of-your-seat suspense.

Hollywood Book Reviews, LLC