A “brash, wise-cracking unapologetic lawyer” gets caught up in “two innocuous words of legalese” and next thing you know, he’s embroiled in “lies, deceit, and ultimately murder.” Sound like your practice? (ha!) If so, then have we got a novel for you: “Eminent Domain” by Ronald D Demmans.
Yes, a novel where condemnation is a central plot point:
Brett Simmons and the town of Lenore are inextricably linked. Brett Simmons, the brash, wise-cracking, unapologetic lawyer and Lenore, the hometown he loves. Two innocuous words of legalese will lead Brett down a dangerous path of lies, deceit and ultimately murder. He has taken a look behind the curtain…the wrong curtain. He has seen too much and what he has uncovered could cost him everything: his career, his freedom, even his life. With the odds clearly stacked against him and the future of Lenore at stake, Brett engages in a battle with Warren Winfield, Lenore’s corrupt mayor and a ruthless international criminal cartel. Alone, Brett Simmons stands little chance of winning. But Brett is not alone in his fight. He finds himself partnered with Melanie Stockton, a beautiful, tough-as-nails cop. The rapport is instantaneous; the attraction, unexpected. With Brett going undercover and Melanie forced to confront a well-armed band of mercenaries, whatever feelings they have for each other will have to be put on hold…and the waiting might take forever. This is Brett Simmons’ story…and only he can tell it.
This isn’t the first time that eminent domain drives a factional story. See “Netflix And Take: Expropriation And Redevelopment UK Style In ‘The Stranger,’” for example, and of course, our old favorite, “The Castle.”
Check it out. More about the book and the author here.
So, fellow dirt lawyers, what other ideas can we suggest for legal thrillers? Some of the suggestions we’ve received thus far: “Quiet Title, Whispering Death” (the new Spenser adventure where Spenser and Hawk investigate a claim of prescriptive rights but end up with a cold case of murder); “Colonial Ordinance – Murder on the Beach” (a Martha’s Vineyard dirt lawyer investigates the mysterious death of a stranger who dared walk on private tidal flats); “Ancient Lights, Ancient Frights” (a lawyer representing a home owner deprived of her view gets caught up in a byzantine maze of extortion and murder).
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