#BlogTour ‘Her Deadly Game’ by Robert Dugoni

About the book…

A defense attorney is prepared to play. But is she a pawn in a master’s deadly match? A twisting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.

As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.

My thanks to the wonderful Sophie at FMCM for inviting me on the blogtour for a new to me author, Robert Dugoni whose newest book from Thomas and Mercer, ‘Her Deadly Game’, got my bookish radar pinging! It is due out in hardcover in March 2023, and I am so thrilled to bring you my thoughts on this excellent thriller.

A cross between a police procedural and legal thriller, we see both sides of the story from Keera’s perspective, hired to represent Vincent LaRussa and detective Frank Rossi who is first on the scene of Anna LaRussa’s death.

Keera is carrying the weight of her father, Patsy ‘Irish Brawler’ Duggan, lawyer and alcoholic whose disease is getting the upper hand. Covering for her father has fallen on her shoulders , her older 2 sisters having already joined the family business and her 2 brothers having their own careers.

After imploding her career left her with little option, she finds herself in a position of checkmate, where she is corralled by her family’s dysfunctional and claustrophobic love, and her need to prove herself. She seems  most herself when playing chess online, against an opponent named ‘The Dark Knight’ as they have zero expectations of each other apart from playing an honest game -I have to be honest,I lack an appreciation of chess which I feel would add nuance and meaning to the novel for those who understand the game. But it has a very important part to play which I won’t spoil….

A violent murder of a physically disabled woman, with limb nerve damage that would preclude her from holding a gun, the suspicion usually falls on the husband/partner. And in this case, an impending divorce gives a potential motive, however, Vincent is not only the main provider for the family but also has a charity function as an alibi.

A slam dunk case, one would think?

Absolutely not as the evidence is gathered, the  case prepared, and you, the reader, feel as though you have a front row seat to the proceedings.  What adds to the difficulty preparing the defence for Vincent is not the issue of guilt versus innocence, rather how well Keera can argue the case for it against Ambrose Miller, her last boyfriend who is opposing counsel. And he has a rather large axe to grind…

A searing and literate thriller with a well developed and complicated family dynamic out of the courtroom, Keera presents an engaging and clever protagonist who drives the plot forward with aplomb. Its so easy to relate to her, piled high with the weight of the family’s obligations to the law firm which provided for the Duggans during their formative years, the challenges of managing her once great father’s addiction, and her own thwarted ambitions. Her relationships with the different siblings comes through so loud and clear at each of the mandatory-only death will excuse you-Sunday lunches. The banter between them and the undeniable power of the matriarch of the clan was highly funny and so representative of the closeness of families who squabble constantly yet stand together when it matters.

It’s time for Keera to come out from under this shadow and stand on her own 2 feet. This case will either make or break her.

I absolutely tore through this novel, it reminded me of another one I had deeply enjoyed that centred a loving, yet flawed, law abiding family. The short, snappy sentences really gave you a sense of pace and timing, that speed was of the essence in tying this whole case together.

And what do the events of the prologue, a brutal and violent death, have to do with the LaRussa case?

The dovetailing of plots was seamless and unexpected, I was happy to be swept along by the process and whilst often legal thrillers are buried in terms far beyond this reader’s understanding, the actual courtroom scenes were dripping in tension and revelation. I am hopeful that this first appearance from Keera and the Duggans will be a series opener, the visual style of the prose lends itself so easily to the way you can see each of them inside your mind, and it would make a really good transition to television I feel.

About the author…

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 8 million books worldwide.

He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including ‘The 7th Canon’, ‘Damage Control’, and the literary novels, ‘The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell’ – Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, ‘The World Played Chess’; as well as the nonfiction exposé ‘The Cyanide Canary’, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year.

Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Links-http://www.robertdugoni.com/

Twitter @robertdugoni @FMcMAssociates