Presumption of Guilt

Rating:
Summary: copping out
Review: deceptively alluring title piggybacking turow classic. pedestrian prose,pacing and sentiment. the central question is who snuffed a child molester while in police custody. interesting interspersing of talk radio excerpts about the case. not particularly legal or thrilling, a prosaic whodunit.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Exciting Read
Review: I just finished reading Lelia Kelly's Presumption of Guilt. It's a good exciting read with suspense that carry's throught to the end. A neat twist of events unfolds in the final chapters. The characters are alive and believable. This book is worth picking up, particularly at the bargain price here at Amazon.

Rating:
Summary: A fine debut novel by a talented writer.
Review: Lelia Kelly's "Presumption of Guilt" is a fine legal thriller/police prodecural. Her protagonist is Laura Chastain, a corporate lawyer with a talent for criminal defense work. After getting a high-profile client off the hook, Laura takes on the case of a cop who is accused of killing a suspect. Laura gradually finds out that she has taken on a case that is extremely complex and potentially dangerous. She also becomes romantically involved with an older man with whom she falls deeply in love. Kelly writes dialogue that is funny and sharp. Her plot is fairly tight and engrossing until the end, which is a little too complicated and has one too many coincidences. Having read this book, and the next in the series, "False Witness," I recommend Lelia Kelly's novels to fans of this genre.

Rating:
Summary: A fine debut novel by a talented writer.
Review: Lelia Kelly's "Presumption of Guilt" is a fine legal thriller/police prodecural. Her protagonist is Laura Chastain, a corporate lawyer with a talent for criminal defense work. After getting a high-profile client off the hook, Laura takes on the case of a cop who is accused of killing a suspect. Laura gradually finds out that she has taken on a case that is extremely complex and potentially dangerous. She also becomes romantically involved with an older man with whom she falls deeply in love. Kelly writes dialogue that is funny and sharp. Her plot is fairly tight and engrossing until the end, which is a little too complicated and has one too many coincidences. Having read this book, and the next in the series, "False Witness," I recommend Lelia Kelly's novels to fans of this genre.

Rating:
Summary: Title character needs work
Review: The first Lelia Kelly book I read was Officer Of The Court. If I had started with Presumption of Guilt I may not have continued with the Laura Chastain series. The character Laura Chastain, in my opinion, just isn't a likable person. I liked her even less in False Witness. She improves a lot in Officer of the Court.

In Presumption of Guilt and False Witness I got tired of Chastain deciding her scenario is always the correct one and trying to force everyone to prove she's right. Come on, Tom would still be alive if it wasn't for Laura. It's as though Lelia Kelly can't decide if she wants Laura to be a wimp or a great heroine.

If you're bored and need something to read, the Laura Chastain series is OK. If you've just gotten back from the book store with several good books, put Lelia Kelly's book on the bottom of the stack.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable holiday reading
Review: The first novel by Lelia Kelly is not an earth shaking renewal or a highly literary thriller novel. However... she does provide you with a very well written and exciting few hours of escape.

Lawyer Laura Chastain is certainly someone I could enjoy in a couple of sequels. She is a modern heroine that simply tries to live her life as good as she can and is not too bothered with all the psychological problems some of our current lady protagonists seem to need these days ( Scarpetta e.g.).

Instead we have a fast rolling storyline and a good plot lived out be real and, mostly likeable characters.

Only one recommendation...simply enjoy

Rating:
Summary: Atlanta Police on the Spot
Review: The two things that make Presumption of Guilt fun to read are its setting-contemporary Atlanta-and the wonderful skill with which Lelia Kelly describes both the city, his history, and its residents. The plot is solid, a classic lawyer-crime drama, but Kelly's rich narrative asides make this book more than it might be otherwise. The protagonist is Laura Chastain, a lawyer with an old-line Atlanta corporate firm. A senior associate, she is on a fast track to become a partner. The only problem is that she has developed a taste for criminal law, and the partners of her firm tend to think that is too vulgar. That opinion, however, does not stop the partners from calling on her when one of the firm's corporate clients needs a criminal lawyer. The story starts with the end of the trial where she successfully defended the neer-do-well son of one of the firm's biggest clients against an assault charge. She is soon approached by a vice squad cop who expects to be charged in the death of a prisoner. He insists he is innocent, but if he is, then there is some skulduggery going on down at police headquarters. As Laura investigates she becomes more and more convinced that something strange is going on. She also becomes more and more involved with the dashing young bachelor partner who is her supervisor in the firm. There are interesting twists and turns before Kelly leads us to an interesting and suspenseful conclusion. Maybe it's having spent twenty-five years in Atlanta that makes me think that Kelly's descriptions of the city are so rich. Example: "...it's growth had occurred late enough to allow planners to benefit from the lessors on older cities, but they hadn't. Atlanta, Laura believed, actually aspired to be Los Angeles." And:" Atlanta...had become the embodiment of the Old South for much of the world-all because it had been burned, first by Sherman, then by Hollywood. It was the second, fictional burning that had done the most damage." Whether you lived in Atlanta or not, you should enjoy Presumption of Guilt.

Rating:
Summary: Atlanta Police on the Spot
Review: The two things that make Presumption of Guilt fun to read are its setting-contemporary Atlanta-and the wonderful skill with which Lelia Kelly describes both the city, his history, and its residents. The plot is solid, a classic lawyer-crime drama, but Kelly's rich narrative asides make this book more than it might be otherwise. The protagonist is Laura Chastain, a lawyer with an old-line Atlanta corporate firm. A senior associate, she is on a fast track to become a partner. The only problem is that she has developed a taste for criminal law, and the partners of her firm tend to think that is too vulgar. That opinion, however, does not stop the partners from calling on her when one of the firm's corporate clients needs a criminal lawyer. The story starts with the end of the trial where she successfully defended the neer-do-well son of one of the firm's biggest clients against an assault charge. She is soon approached by a vice squad cop who expects to be charged in the death of a prisoner. He insists he is innocent, but if he is, then there is some skulduggery going on down at police headquarters. As Laura investigates she becomes more and more convinced that something strange is going on. She also becomes more and more involved with the dashing young bachelor partner who is her supervisor in the firm. There are interesting twists and turns before Kelly leads us to an interesting and suspenseful conclusion. Maybe it's having spent twenty-five years in Atlanta that makes me think that Kelly's descriptions of the city are so rich. Example: "...it's growth had occurred late enough to allow planners to benefit from the lessors on older cities, but they hadn't. Atlanta, Laura believed, actually aspired to be Los Angeles." And:" Atlanta...had become the embodiment of the Old South for much of the world-all because it had been burned, first by Sherman, then by Hollywood. It was the second, fictional burning that had done the most damage." Whether you lived in Atlanta or not, you should enjoy Presumption of Guilt.