Until Proven Guilty

Haggerty Mystery #2

by Betsy Brannon Green

When Beth Middleton's fiance dies in a traffic accident on the day of their wedding, Beth makes the decision to shut herself away from society, to simply exist from day to day.

In time, however, Beth begins the journey back to a normal life, but finds that nothing comes easy. When she accepts a job as a court-appointed evaluator for a local, high-profile attorney and his five-year-old daughter, Beth finds herself embroiled in a trial that could be the most important one in her boss's legal career. Witnesses disappear, the district attorney is kidnapped, and a man with a gun has just knocked on her door.

Genres: Lds Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Fiction, Lds, Suspense, Adult

348 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

"WELCOME!!!!!

If you're not familiar with my books, I write mystery-suspense novels. I am LDS (Mormon) and so are some of my characters, but I have loyal readers from many different faiths. My goal is to engage the reader in my books. I want to make them laugh and cry and worry and dread the end.

Most of my books are set in the fictional town of Haggerty, Georgia - which is loosely based on my grandparents' hometown of Headland, Alabama (the most wonderful place on earth). Each book has an ample supply of romance, suspense, Southern hospitality and even recipies!"

by Betsy Brannon Green on http://www.betsybrannongreen.net/

Reviews

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good story. Beth Middleton moves into rich attorney Jack Gamble's home to watch his daughter Chloe. She is also making notes on the father-daughter relationship for family courts at the request of Jack's parents who want custody of Chloe. Jack has a high profile case defending a country singer who killed his ex wife's boyfriend. Things get worse as Jack's witness disappears followed by the DA. One of the people suspected is Jack's ex-wife's (Monique) new boyfriend Felix Hummer. Then there is the ever annoying Mr Schreckenberger. This book had me guessing who was really behind all the craziness! Ages 13+

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

LDS Romance with a bit of mystery and suspense. I liked the guys sense of humor in the last half of the book. I did have the bad guy pegged early on. That's because I'm awesome.

[Sharon Hogenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating this book isn't as straight forward as just giving it a rating. I love this book and it is one of my five star books, which is the rating posted here. However, this time I listened to it through Deseret Bookshelf and will not do that again. It was abridged and awful! The abridgement took out all of the character development and left an empty shell. Now I have to read the book to get rid of the horrible taste left by the audio abridgement, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the timing isn't great. The abridgement gets one star.

However, having said that, I do have to admit that I skim parts of the book that are unnecessary, like the soap opera commentaries. And I really don't like the way Beth can't get over the past. But for me the romance aspect makes the rest of it bearable. Maybe it really shouldn't be a five star book, but as I said, I love the romance aspect of it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess the last time I read this was before I joined Goodreads. So -- Not my favorite by this author but good. Beth's fiance dies on their wedding day and she pulls into herself for two years. Her old boss tries to keep in touch with her and asks her to take a short term job for him as a "court-appointed evaluator for a local, high-profile attorney and his five-year-old daughter". A bit of mystery, romance, action. Still set in Haggerty but not much interaction with other books of this series. Good book.

[Lynette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read a book or two of Betsy Brannon Green, maybe ten years ago, but I rediscovered them recently. The Haggerty Series is set in the small town of Haggerty Georgia, and the books are filled with entertaining quirky characters steeped in Southern traditions of religion, propriety, and small town gossip. There is always a mystery/suspense plot, with a clean but not sappy romantic plot intermingled, with an underlying LDS background. They are a page turning quick read, and I haven't been disappointed in this author or series.

[Kim Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely liked Hearts in Hiding better than this one. It was a light, easy read, and I really did enjoy it, but there were some things I didn't like about it. For one thing, I don't know why she felt the need to include a running commentary on what was happening on the soap opera. It really didn't add anything to the story. The suspense part was really short -- it started and was concluded in about 25 pages. And the suspense part felt a little forced. I also wasn't thrilled with Beth's character. I found her to be very inconsistent. All of that said, I will continue with the Haggerty Mysteries. They are fun and a relatively good escape.

[SHERI · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story but she obviously didn't do a lot of research - inconsistencies - but other than that i enjoyed the story line

[Deidra Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun dynamic characters that give the story its shape. The suspense is well written and not an easy predictable read.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Romance, suspense, conflict.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very pleasantly surprised at how good of a story this was. I loved the main character right away and was instantly interested in her story.

The story starts out with Beth working at a library and not having much interesting going on in her life. Something terrible happened to her a few years earlier on her wedding day, and she isn't married now. She had a good education prior to working at the library and she receives a job offer to be an advocate for a 5 year old girl who is going through a custody struggle between her dad and grandparents. She has to move into the dad's house and observe the situation there in order for the court to determine if the girl is in danger as her grandparents claim. The dad is a very high power attorney currently involved in a high profile murder case. After an internal struggle and a layoff at the library Beth decides to take the advocate job. There she gets deeply involved in not only the little girl and her life but also the other employees and even the murder case.

The story plays out in a way that is interesting and not too predictable. The author is LDS so the dialog and imagery are clean. A wonderful choice of novel that I happened to pick up several months ago. Wish I would have read it sooner!

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book listened to was Until Proven Guilty, by Betsy Brannon Green. Ruth Middleton fights to find her way back to normal life after her fiance dies in a traffic accident the day of their wedding. She starts work as a court appointed evaluator for a high-profile attorney and his five-year-old daughter. As she wraps herself in his case, witnesses disappear, the district attorney is kidnapped, and men with guns are at her door.

The book was read by Christie Axson-Flynn. I believe Axson-Flynn reads the other Green Haggerty novels. Her southern accent for some of the characters is charming, as is the story. LDS characters are prevelant and ther is no offensive language or violence. There is a little suspense, but nothing dramatic. The CD reads for about 4 1/2 hours on 4 CDs.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green really improved her writing in this book from the first book. I actually believed the budding romance that blossomed between the two main characters. She wrote so much less about food but still wrote about a few casseroles and gave you a meal by meal menu.

The last couple chapters in the book were really great page turners. I wish she could write like this through the whole book instead of filling pages. If she could I would give it 5 stars.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little mystery, a little romance. This was great LDS fiction. Beth is trying to rebuild her life after fiancees death, and becomes a nanny for a lawyer's daughter. I like that the characters from the first book were side characters here, and new people are the main focus. My one complaint is that this is a fairly new book, the characters are using cell phones, etc, but the author still has them using a VCR and cassette tapes.

[Goodworth1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really starting to love Betsy Brannon Green novels. They are SO cheesy and silly, but they are fun to read. I do a lot of waiting in doctors offices and hospitals. These books are perfectly mindless and engaging for those times you need to distract yourself and have something quick and easy to read. They're like the grown up equivalent of the Sweet Valley High books I read in Junior High, but specifically for Mormon women. :)

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a whole bunch of Betsy Brannon Green books this month and enjoyed them. You have to read them for entertainment only and suspend critical thinking for awhile because they're pretty 1-dimensional characters. However, they are fun, especially the Haggarty mysteries, and it's just nice to have an author that you can read without worrying about inappropriate content.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another cute love story by Green. She doesn't dwell too much on the LDS church, so if that drives you nuts like it does me, then this author is a good one to avoid that stuff. In this book the main character has to be a nanny for this rich, seemingly cranky lawyer who's solving a big case. She gets dragged in, and overall I thought it was great.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was disappointed that this book in the "Haggerty series" was not about the same people in the first book, Hearts in Hiding. And it seemed to get off to a bit of a slow start, although I was glad I stuck with it--but it's not as engaging as its predecessor. Still, I'm going on to the third book in the series and have high hopes.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in the Haggerty mystery series. I missed my favorite characters from the first book (Hearts in Hiding), but they did make a few brief appearances which was nice. I grew to love these new characters as well and really enjoyed this book.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book by this author of mysery and love stories. I learned that you can not judge who a person is because of what your first impression is or by what is said about them. You need to get to know them.

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hard one for me to start because at the beginning of the book Beth's (the main girl) fiance dies and his name is David and at the time I was engaged to a guy named David so that was really hard but I loved the rest of the book.

[Jana at ThatArtsyReaderGirl.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far... I'm really sick and tired of hearing all about this dumb soap opera, The Brave and the Relentless. It's so dumb! I don't care.

Other than that, I like it so far!

UPDATE:
Well... it was not my favorite, but I did like it!

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jack,I hate Jack. Is how I always refer to this book. The romance is excellent, The mystery is intriguing,and you find yourself hooked! I love the little girl, and the others who live in Jacks house!Q All in all it is a fun book to read!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick fun read. It speaks volumes about the power of the atonement, family bonding and eternal families. It was a great reminder of I need to work towards. Betsy Brannon Green yet again has woven an tale that has a great impact on its audience.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story and her style of writing, but there were some parts that I just had to accept. I didn't feel the love grow between Beth and Jack. It was just sort of there. Also, I knew "whodunit" right away. Still it was enjoyable for an easy read.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how its a clean romance and a little mystery at the same time! I also like how the main characters from the first book(hearts in hiding) are in this book to and others to follow, but are not the main characters!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoyed the book. I loved the ladies of Haggerty. I was disappointed on the love interest. It appeared it was all of a sudden just there...usually you see it developing a little more. However, the story was good and some surprises which made me continue to want to read.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an author that my mother-in-law, JoAnn, liked. Valerie pulled a couple of these off the bookshelf and brought them over for Megan to read. It was fun to pick them up and enjoyed a quick easy read.

[Alisa Lambertsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this book multiple times. Every time I read it, I cannot put the book down. This time, when I started the book, I forgot that I had read the book before. I loved how the book built the characters and how it ended.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story even though I knew what part of the outcome would be from the start, the how they got there was interesting. I enjoyed the characters and getting to 'know' them. It proves again that you can't always judge a book by its cover or a person as they first appear.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. What an awesome read! I love the introduction of a new hero and heroine with the others still in the story. We get to have a follow-up of Kate and Mark and a new story to be enthralled by. What a great sequel to the first.