In her defense

"Frank O'Connell's need to live on the edge cost him his family, his home, and a partnership in his father-in-law's prestigious Washington firm. Now he combs the cell blocks for clients and wonders if he's sunk too low ever to come back.". "Then into his office walks Ashley Bronson. The murder of a former cabinet official has just propelled her from the society column to the front page, and, inexplicably, she wants Frank to defend her. She hands him her case, followed by her confession and some damning physical evidence. Frank thinks his biggest challenge is her guilt. He's got a lot to learn.". "Ashley's admission proves just another detail in a defense in which ethics are bent and morals compromised. As the trial date looms closer, the government's case seems insurmountable. A desperate Frank hits upon an inspired strategy - and unwittingly becomes a threat to people in high places when he unravels a tangled web of events that began a generation ago.". "Their personal lives in tatters and confronted by forces they don't understand, besieged lawyer and client have only each other as the courtroom battle begins."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.