Excerpt from Her Kind of Case by Jeanne Winer, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"My client?"

"Oh come on, Lee. I know you're going to take it. You're dying on the vine. I haven't seen your name in the papers for months. You need something to keep you up at night."

"I have my cat," she muttered, drumming her fingers on her desk. He was right, though. She was dying on the vine. But was she ready to risk losing something big again? She was still licking her wounds from the last one, a self-defense case the jury didn't buy. Was it time? She'd been careful not to promise Peggy anything, had left open the possibility that she and the kid might not make a good team. But that wasn't really it, the reason for her hesitation—it was fear. Fear that she might no longer be at the very top of her game. And anything less than the top was below it and therefore unacceptable.

"Hello? Lee? You haven't hung up on me, have you?"

"Is there anything else particularly terrible besides the confession?"

"You mean besides the way the victim died?"

"Yes."

"How much time do you have?"

She glanced at the clock on her desk. It was a quarter to nine.

"Not much. How did they get caught?"

"Let's see. The report says that the three older skinheads were bragging about a 'boot party' a few nights later at a place called The Sapphire Lounge in Denver—"

"The Sapphire Lounge on Colfax?" Lee asked. "I used to eat Mexican food there. Probably thirty years ago."

"When you were ten?"

"You must be truly desperate to resort to flattery."

"It's not flattery," Phil protested. "You look great. I've had a crush on you for years. I'd ask you out in a second if I thought you'd say yes."

"Cut it out, Phil. It's one thing to beg, but now you're groveling."

"Ah Lee, you've forgotten what it's like to be a public defender. Groveling is one of the most important skills we practice on behalf of our clients. But FYI, I meant it about asking you out."

"I'm sure you didn't, but FYI, I never date men who are more than five years younger than me." As a matter of fact, since Paul's death, she hadn't dated anyone, but it would certainly be true if she ever started. "Did any of the co-defendants talk to the police?"

"No, ma'am, just your client. The others are much older, in their mid to late twenties. And they all have prior felonies."

"What about Mr. Matthews?" "Nope. He's squeaky clean. This is his first boot party."

"All right. Thanks for your time, Phil. I'll let you know."

"Oh happy—"

She hung up the phone

Excerpted from Her Kind of Case by Jeanne Winer. Copyright © 2018 by Jeanne Winer. Excerpted by permission of Bancroft Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.