Twenty-one Days

 

Twenty-one Days
(Daniel Pitt #1)
By Anne Perry
Ballantine Books, 2018. Fiction. 303 p.
Daniel Pitt is a young lawyer in London in 1910.  His father was the head of London's Special Police branch and Daniel has inherited some of his father's penchant for detective work.  Right after his first big victory in a murder case, Daniel is thrown into another case, one that is more complicated.  Russell Graves, a singularly nasty fellow, had been found guilty of murdering his wife and then burning her body.  Daniel and a crusty veteran lawyer who is working on the case with him, have just 21 days to find sufficient reason to call for a retrial. As Daniel digs deeper into the evidence, he soon finds that the suspect has underhanded dealing that touch Daniel personally.  Should he continue to investigate, or let the person who is threatening all the thought he knew about his life hang for a crime Daniel is beginning to believe he didn't commit?

Here is the first in a new series by Anne Perry.  This one is more of a courtroom drama than some of the other books by Perry that I have read.  It has a complex plot with a lot of evidence, red herrings, and unexpected twists and turns.  I was impressed that, with all the details Perry introduces as evidence, I didn't really lose track of what was on the table.  She has a way of gently reminding the reader of what has gone on before, without making the story line drag.  This story, as the others I have read by Perry, could be enjoyed by a man or a woman.  It is less gory and cleaner than something by Michael Crichton or James Patterson, but it has enough suspense and thrills that it doesn't feel like a "cozy mystery."