Contempt by Michael Cordell

Contempt by Michael Cordell is a legal thriller, written in 2020. I’m not sure how this book came to my Kindle, but it is a wonderful murder mystery and legal thriller. Thane Banning worked as a real estate lawyer, reportedly the best. However, in a bizarre twist, he was convicted of murdering a woman, a murder he did not commit. The murdered woman was Lauren McCoy, a 33 year old Assistant District Attorney. Banning was sent to Forsman Penitentiary which was the oldest and dirtiest of prisons, and it was the place that the worst felons were sent. He was finally released from prison five years later on a technicality rather than a declaration of his innocence. His wife had remained true to him during his time in jail, but suffered greatly at having been married to a reputed murderer. Upon his release, he was met with hostility from nearly everyone since they did not accept that he was really innocent, especially the father who lost his only daughter. Although Banning had an offer from the prior law firm where he had worked successfully, he had a bleeding heart for a fellow inmate who he believed had been falsely accused of murder. Although he tried to talk Gideon Spence into hiring a lawyer who handled capital offenses, Spence didn’t trust anyone else, and Banning accepted the job, much to the dismay of his wife.

 

Besides Banning’s total lack of experience doing anything but real estate law, the big problem was that the District Attorney, Bradford Stone, was the very person who had convicted Banning in the first place. These two men absolutely detest one another, and Stone could not be more condescending to Banning. The plot and character development were well-written, and Cordell drew the story to an excellent conclusion.

 

This book gets my strongest recommendation. It's the sort of book that Men Reading Books is always looking for.