Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of Guilt by Degrees by Marcia Clark

Guilt by Degrees by Marcia Clark

Guilt by Degrees

by Marcia Clark

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • May 2012, 448 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

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.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Clark humanizes her tough lead, and gets the mixture of action and investigative legwork just right." - Publishers Weekly

"A superlative series bringing together elements of both legal thrillers and police procedurals." - Booklist

"It's no big surprise that Marcia Clark knows her way around a courtroom, and a murder mystery - but she's also a terrific writer and storyteller." - James Patterson

This information about Guilt by Degrees was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

FictionZeal

from FictionZeal.com re: Guilt by Degrees by Marcia Clark
Another DA working in Rachel Knight’s office didn’t care about the case of a murdered homeless man … a ‘John Doe.’ If Rachel, DA for Special Trials, hadn’t taken over the case, it would have been dismissed and no justice would have been obtained for the man. As she begins investigating with the help of her legal partner, Toni LaCollier and Detective Bailey Keller, she finds that the man was Simon Bayer, the brother of Zack Bayer, an officer who’d been killed two years before. The accused had been Bayer’s wife, Lilah, but she’d been released … not guilty. Is the recent murder of Simon related to his brother’s death? To find much-needed answers, they take to the LA streets and talk to others who are homeless that possibly knew Simon. They must be getting close as the danger level increases.

Can anyone say ‘desensitized’? The first chapter of this novel reminds us how many people have literally become desensitized to the deaths of others. In this case, it is the homeless man. He laid dying on the streets of LA for a couple of hours before authorities were called. By that time, he was dead. And so, this novel is very gripping and sadly real. This is Marcia Clark’s second in her Rachel Knight series, following Guilt by Association. As in the first book, I liked Rachel’s personality. I enjoyed the mystery element of the story and watching the legal case unfold. There did seem to be some unnecessary filler added, but my biggest annoyance was the issues that remained unresolved by the end. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Marcia Clark

Marcia Clark is a former prosecutor for the State of California, County of Los Angeles, in the O.J. Simpson murder case. She has written a bestselling nonfiction book, Without a Doubt, about the case, and is a frequent media commentator on legal issues. Now a Special Correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, Clark provides coverage of high profile trials and contributes a column for The Daily Beast.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Guilt by Degrees, try these:

  • Prima Facie jacket

    Prima Facie

    by Suzie Miller

    Published 2025

    About this book

    Based on the Olivier and Tony Award-winning play, Suzie Miller's Prima Facie is an unforgettable story of what happens when a victim is asked to navigate a system that is not set up to accommodate the lived experience of sexual assault survivors.

  • Tell Me Everything jacket

    Tell Me Everything

    by Erika Krouse

    Published 2023

    About this book

    Part memoir and part literary true crime, Tell Me Everything is the mesmerizing story of a landmark sexual assault investigation and the female private investigator who helped crack it open.

  • Her Kind of Case jacket

    Her Kind of Case

    by Jeanne Winer

    Published 2018

    About this book

    A legal drama that centers on Lee Isaacs, a female defense attorney on the cusp of turning 60, who, out of curiosity, determination, and desire for a big, even impossible, professional challenge, chooses to take on a tough murder case in which a largely uncooperative young man is accused of helping kill a gay gang member.

We have 10 read-alikes for Guilt by Degrees, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
Who Said...

Happiness belongs to the self sufficient

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.