Rachel North has an advantage over the other interns in the District Attorney’s office. Her husband, Jack Kirkland, is a defense attorney. A well known one, in fact. He’s one of the attorneys on The Murder List, the list of defenders who can take on accused murderers against the ruthless D.A. Martha Gardiner. In fact, it was at a murder trial where Rachel and Jack first met.

Back when Rachel worked in the office of state senator Tom Rafferty, she was called for jury duty. As the foreperson for the jury, Rachel worked hard to vote her conscience and encourage others to do the same. But defense attorney Jack couldn’t help but feel that something was off in the deliberations. He writes to Rachel, asking for a quick conversation about it, and she relents. But as their conversation is winding down, Rachel gets a call to return to her office. A young woman who was working in Rafferty’s office was murdered. She is thrown and leans on Jack for help. Their relationship developed from there.

Now it’s several years later. Rachel and Jack are married, and Rachel is almost done with her Harvard law degree. She requests an internship with the D.A.’s office, against Jack’s better judgment, so she can learn more about how Gardiner works. Even though Rachel wants to work with her husband after law school, she is flattered when Gardiner takes her under her wing and tells her she has potential. Rachel is taken in, feels like she’s making progress in her internship, until the say she walks in the office to find out they’re taking on a cold case. The murder of Dani Zander, the woman who was murdered from Rafferty’s office.

Now Rachel is part of the re-investigation, and she knows all the principles. She thinks this may be her chance to make her mark, to stand out from the other law students, to win. But she’ll have to figure out the true meaning of justice and how to get herself there.

Hank Phillippi Ryan is back with one very twisty legal thriller in The Murder List. With interesting characters and a long and winding set up, this novel makes you think through both sides of the law as you try to pick through all the suspects and figure out who did what.

Honestly I struggled some with this book. There were some gaps in logic that I found troubling (just how many women still wear clip-on earrings anymore?), and there were lots of trips back and forth in time. And the ending seemed to take a completely different turn. But the writing was strong and the premise interesting. I don’t regret having read it, but I can’t in good faith recommend it without reservations.

Galleys for The Murder List were provided by Forge Books through Edelweiss, with many thanks.