Rose Connors brings a fresh voice, a dynamic storytelling power, and a passion for the law to her compelling crime fiction debut. Martha "Marty" Nickerson is a lawyer who truly loves her job. As an assistant D.A. for Massachusetts' Barnstable County, which includes all the small towns on Cape Cod, she speaks for the victims of crime and their families, and sees the system as a means for doing right. The case of Manuel Rodriguez is a prime example. Rodriguez is accused of brutally murdering a college student, a kind young man who had a bright future. Marty has worked hard on this case; as the mother of a teenage son, she identifies with the murdered boy's grieving parents. Her case against Rodriguez is so solid that even public defender Harry Madigan—the champion of the Cape's underdogs—expects a conviction. And, on Memorial Day, exactly a year after the crime, the verdict comes in: guilty as charged. Justice prevails. Then, with Rodriguez behind bars, another body turns up in disturbingly similar circumstances. Did Marty and her colleagues target the wrong man? Her supervisor—Geraldine Schilling, who aspires to be the county's first female D.A. — refuses to reopen such a high-profile case. Why should she? The prosecutors played by the rules and won big. But Marty fears that the real killer will strike again. With her career on the line and lives at stake, Marty must rely on her own moral compass, legal savvy, and gut instinct as she matches wits with a twisted killer. The system itself is on trial as Marty tries to serve Justice, not merely the Law. Only an author with years of courtroom experience could add such riveting authenticity to a novel thatasks important questions and provides surprising answers. Rose Connors' "Absolute Certainty" introduces a new crime-writing star.

IS HOMICIDAL INSANITY EVER A LEGAL JUSTIFICATION FOR MURDER? Cape Cod attorney Marty Nickerson, formerly a prosecutor, faces hard questions as defense attorney for Buck Hammond. With TV cameras rolling, Buck took justice into his own hands. Now he is charged with murder one but he refuses the only viable insanity. Marty and her partner in love and law, Harry Madigan, are already stretched thin when, on the eve of Buck's trial, a bleeding woman staggers into their office. Her attacker has just been found—dead—and he's an officer of the court. Now Marty has two seemingly impossible cases. But legal motions and courtroom strategy may be the least of her worries, as shocking revelations soon bring fear to the Cape and devastating twists to Buck's trial....

Entreated by partner and boyfriend Harry Madigan to defend a wealthy woman—Harry's former lover—who has been accused of murdering her husband, Cape Cod attorney Marty Nickerson doubts her own instincts in the wake of mounting evidence, a situation that is complicated by the defendant's seductive personality. 25,000 first printing.

What does a lawyer do when she discovers her client may be a liar, or worse? Charles Kendrick, the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, has been named a "person of interest" in connection with the disappearance of his twenty-five-year-old spokesperson, Michelle Forrester. Attorney Marty Nickerson is representing Kendrick, a high-profile resident of Cape Cod, but soon finds that parts of his story don't check out. Meanwhile, Marty and her law partner—and lover—Harry Madigan, are defending ex-con Derrick Holliston, who stands accused of murdering a popular local priest on Christmas Eve. He admits the killing, but claims, improbably, that he acted in self-defense. Michelle Forrester's body is found the day Derrick Holliston's trial begins, which leaves Marty and Harry facing two mounting legal battles and two clients whose stories don't make sense. Together they must confront the law in all its maddening complexity, battling for—or maybe against? — their own cagey clients in order to see that justice is ultimately served.