Robert Kudlay

The Second Rule of Law Robert Kudlay

It's July 1947 when Luis Carrillo, a Los Angeles Real Estate Attorney, grudgingly defends Joey Pacco, a lowlife gangland killer. It's his first (and he hopes his last) criminal case. "It's all set" Pacco whispers to him as the jury marches in with its verdict. Pacco's words are haunting as the jury announces "not guilty" and Pacco is set free. No matter, Carrillo tells himself. He had successfully defended the scumbag and now he can return to the comfortable bloodless paper shuffling of real estate law...... UNTIL he's asked by the DA who prosecuted Pacco to defend a homeless mariner crippled by nightmares of German U-Boat attacks. The DA tells him it's a simple case of robbery, a shell-shocked vet needing money for alcohol. "Just plead him guilty and everybody will be happy. He has no family, no friends, no home. He just needs an attorney to enter a guilty plea." Carrillo reluctantly agrees...... UNTIL a mysterious woman claiming to be the mariner's niece suddenly appears and entangles him into a conspiracy ending with a murder at a Las Vegas Dude Ranch owned by a famous movie star. In the end, everyone's guilty and there is no rule of law...... EXCEPT through the force of revenge. Fiction blends with history in this novel of post-WWII Los Angeles inspired by Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Hesitant Hostess.