Recently appointed Oklahoma Senator Ben Kincaid begins his new career on the Senate floor at the same time the President announces a nomination for the Supreme Court. As the very distinguished jurist Thaddeus Roush accepts his nomination from the President, he announces he's gay. Roush makes this statement because he wants to be honest. When a press conference is called at Roush's home to explain the announcement, a woman is found murdered. And his "partner" is discovered nearby.
Senator Hammond asks Ben to act as advisor to Roush during the confirmation hearings. This proves to be challenging. Rumors are flying that the President may withdraw the nomination, or that Roush may not even get confirmed. Ben has a lot to deal with by trying to keep Roush's lifestyle and the crime out of the questioning. Witnesses come forward with such personal information about the judge that even Ben questions the truthfulness of the statements.
While trying to keep things under control in the hearings, Ben sends his investigator, Loving, out to discover the identity of the dead woman. During the investigation, he has to dodge bullets more than once. He learns that someone named Trudy can identify the woman. His search takes him to the other side of D.C.; the side of town that CNN usually doesn't cover. When he finally locates Trudy, he gets more than expected and discovers that looks can be very deceiving.
As the hearings come to a close, Ben and Loving are closing in on the identity of the dead woman. Will Judge Roush be confirmed? Who was the woman at Roush's home, and more importantly, who killed her and why?
CAPTIOL THREAT is a great thriller. This installment follows last year's critically acclaimed CAPITOL MURDER in the Ben Kincaid series. There's heart-thumping action through the streets of Washington D.C., and the always popular mudslinging through the congressional chambers. Now I need to buy another bookcase for yet another author I have somehow previously overlooked.
William Bernhardt's bestselling novels featuring
Oklahoma defense attorney Ben Kincaid capture the bare-
knuckles reality of high-stakes criminal defense, as lofty
ideals of justice clash with power, corruption, and wealth.
In Capitol Murder, Bernhardt's hard-charging hero takes on
his most shocking, headline-making case yet.
Kincaid's legal success has earned him a dubious reward: a
journey through the looking glass into the Beltway. Here,
in the heart of the nation's capital, a powerful U.S.
senator has been caught first in a sordid sex scandal, then
in a case of murder.
Senate aide Veronica Cooper was found in a secret Senate
office beneath the Capitol building, on Senator Todd
Glancy's favorite couch, blood pouring from the knife wound
in her throat. The young woman's death comes on the heels
of the release of a sordid videotape depicting her and
Senator Glancy in compromising positions.
With the senator's reputation in tatters, the evidence
against himβas a sexual predator and possibly a killerβ
mounts. By the time a nationally televised murder trial
begins, Kincaid and his team know they're facing the
challenge of a lifetime. According to public opinion, and
even in Kincaid's most private thoughts, Glancy is one more
politician who cannot admit his own culpability.
But while a dramatic trial unfolds in the courtroomβloaded
with pitfalls, traps, and an astounding betrayalβanother
trial is taking place on the mean streets of D.C., as
Kincaid's investigator pursues a young woman who was a
friend of Veronica Cooper's, plunging Kincaid into a
bizarre world of Goths, sadomasochists, and a community of
self-proclaimed vampires. Somewhere in this violent
underworld lies the secret behind Veronica Cooper's
demise . . . and the crux of Senator Glancy's innocence or
guilt.
In a case that pits Kincaid and his freewheeling partner
Christina McCall against the brutal machinery of Washington
politics, the answers they seek are hidden in a murderous
maze of lies and hidden motives. And in William Bernhardt's
best novel yet, getting to the truth is an unparalleled
experience in pure, satisfying suspense.
No excerpt available.
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