Blind Defence
by
John Fairfax
Published
March 2018
Publishers
UK
Little Brown
Denmark
Jentas
France
La Masque
Italy
Piemme
She was found hanged in a dingy London bedsit with a blood orange in her mouth.
Diane Heybridge, a young woman without a past or much of a future, has captured in death the compassion denied to her in life. For the prosecution, this seeming suicide is nothing more than a bungled killing, and a disgusted public looks to Number 2 Court of the Old Bailey for justice. Her callous, jilted partner Brent Stainsby stands accused of her murder and he’s turned to the maverick legal team William Benson and Tess de Vere to defend him.
However, as the trial unfolds, it soon becomes clear that there is far more to Diane Heybridge, and the case, than meets the eye. She wasn’t the weak and downtrodden victim now being presented to the jury. By the same token, Brent Stainsby isn’t who he seems to be either. He’s hiding a motive for murder unknown to the police and may well be playing a deadly game of poker with the judicial process. What began as a simple trial rapidly turns into a complex search for the truth beyond the confines of the courtroom.
Meanwhile, Tess remains compromised by her association with London’s most notorious advocate and must decide if she will continue her secret investigation into his conviction for murder.
Blind Defence is sophisticated crime fiction at its most compelling.
Diane Heybridge, a young woman without a past or much of a future, has captured in death the compassion denied to her in life. For the prosecution, this seeming suicide is nothing more than a bungled killing, and a disgusted public looks to Number 2 Court of the Old Bailey for justice. Her callous, jilted partner Brent Stainsby stands accused of her murder and he’s turned to the maverick legal team William Benson and Tess de Vere to defend him.
However, as the trial unfolds, it soon becomes clear that there is far more to Diane Heybridge, and the case, than meets the eye. She wasn’t the weak and downtrodden victim now being presented to the jury. By the same token, Brent Stainsby isn’t who he seems to be either. He’s hiding a motive for murder unknown to the police and may well be playing a deadly game of poker with the judicial process. What began as a simple trial rapidly turns into a complex search for the truth beyond the confines of the courtroom.
Meanwhile, Tess remains compromised by her association with London’s most notorious advocate and must decide if she will continue her secret investigation into his conviction for murder.
Blind Defence is sophisticated crime fiction at its most compelling.