Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The 7th Canon by Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni has been on my to-read list for awhile. He is a productive and creative author, nominated for every major crime fiction award and winner of several. He is most known for his Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle; the 11^th book will be published in 2025. His first series was a set of legal thrillers with David Sloane and then he dipped into espionage with his Charles Jenkins books. Most recently he has begun a series about Seattle defense attorney Keera Duggan. He has also written several stand-alone thrillers.

The 7^th Canon (Thomas & Mercer, 2016) is one of his stand-alones. It features San Francisco defense attorney Peter Donley, who is suddenly pinch-hitting for his uncle in a murder trial. Not just any murder trial, the priest who set up and ran a controversial shelter for street youths in the sordid Tenderloin district has been accused of killing one of his inmates days before Christmas. The prosecuting attorney is campaigning for the governor’s chair and has a lot riding on a successful conviction. Donley is inexperienced but not so naïve that he doesn’t recognize when the evidence does not add up.

Donley is another fictional lawyer who believes in doing his own research. Most of the book centers on his investigation and his hunt for witnesses and crucial documentation, little of it takes place in a courtroom. The plot is a bit predictable but the characters are outstanding, original and well-rounded. Set in late 1980s San Francisco, not all that long ago, the places and streets mentioned remind the reader that things have changed in the intervening 35 years, as does the lack of references to cell phones and laptop computers. Fans of Dugoni’s other books should not overlook this one. Followers of legal thrillers in general should add it to their reading lists.

·       Publisher: ‎Thomas & Mercer (September 27, 2016)

·       Language: ‎English

·       Paperback: ‎333 pages

·       ISBN-10: ‎1503939421

·       ISBN-13: ‎978-1503939424

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/4evYbov

  

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.