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Welcome to Los Angeles, 1993. Where murder is entertainment, and everyone wants a front-row seat.
Charlie Trust thought he'd found paradise on California's Carbon Beach. Then one morning he watched sheriffs deputies swarm the yellow house just down the sand, and he saw two bodies being carried away in black bags.
Arnie Duncan and his wife, had been shot to death in their own home. No forced entry. Nothing stolen. Just execution-style murders that send shockwaves through Malibu's golden days.
The cops think they know who did it. Jerry Duncan, the couple's 23-year-old son. He found the bodies. He called 911. He stands to inherit millions. Case closed.
The media convicts Jerry even before he’s arrested. The city is already obsessed with the Menendez brothers, who are accused of shotgunning their parents to death because they were impatient about getting their inheritance. This is just the same thing all over again, isn’t it? Of course it is. The Menendez trial is about to begin, and the similarities are too perfect to ignore.
In Los Angeles in 1993, perception is reality. The truth is whatever the cameras say it is. And right now, every camera in LA is pointed at Jerry Duncan.
But when Jerry Duncan sits on Charlie's deck just down the beach from where his parents died, he’s terrified and begging for help, and Charlie sees something the media doesn't. A scared kid who might actually be innocent.
Charlie’s law partner is Sandy Bouchier, once one of the greatest criminal defense attorneys in America but getting on in years now, and he knows exactly what's coming if Charlie signs on to defend Jerry Duncan. He knows all about the cameras, the speculation, the trial by television. He's lived through it before. "Are you ready for that?" he asks Charlie.
Charlie isn't. But ready or not, the storm is already here, and everyone wants Charlie to play his part. He’s cast as the crusading young attorney defending the indefensible, the fresh face for the cameras, the voice of the next generation. CNN is calling, the LA Times is waiting outside, and Hollywood producers are watching.
But here’s the thing. Charlie didn't become a lawyer to be famous. He became a lawyer to protect people when the system takes aim at them. The evidence against Jerry doesn't seem to him to add up, and the timeline makes no sense. The deeper Charlie digs, the more he realizes this isn't about one family's tragedy. It's about something much bigger, much darker, and much closer to home than anyone imagined.
Now Charlie must navigate a media firestorm, outsmart prosecutors who care more about winning than truth, and find a killer who's counting on everyone looking in the wrong direction.
Because in Los Angeles, the biggest crime isn't murder. The biggest crime is getting caught.
From the author of HABEAS CORPUS and CONTEMPT OF COURT comes the third riveting installment in the Charlie Trust series. A razor-sharp legal thriller that captures the time when television turned justice into entertainment. And staying out of the spotlight might be the most dangerous choice of all.
For fans of Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series and John Grisham's legal thrillers comes a fresh voice in courtroom drama, set against the sun-soaked darkness of 1990s Los Angeles.
Charlie Trust thought he'd found paradise on California's Carbon Beach. Then one morning he watched sheriffs deputies swarm the yellow house just down the sand, and he saw two bodies being carried away in black bags.
Arnie Duncan and his wife, had been shot to death in their own home. No forced entry. Nothing stolen. Just execution-style murders that send shockwaves through Malibu's golden days.
The cops think they know who did it. Jerry Duncan, the couple's 23-year-old son. He found the bodies. He called 911. He stands to inherit millions. Case closed.
The media convicts Jerry even before he’s arrested. The city is already obsessed with the Menendez brothers, who are accused of shotgunning their parents to death because they were impatient about getting their inheritance. This is just the same thing all over again, isn’t it? Of course it is. The Menendez trial is about to begin, and the similarities are too perfect to ignore.
In Los Angeles in 1993, perception is reality. The truth is whatever the cameras say it is. And right now, every camera in LA is pointed at Jerry Duncan.
But when Jerry Duncan sits on Charlie's deck just down the beach from where his parents died, he’s terrified and begging for help, and Charlie sees something the media doesn't. A scared kid who might actually be innocent.
Charlie’s law partner is Sandy Bouchier, once one of the greatest criminal defense attorneys in America but getting on in years now, and he knows exactly what's coming if Charlie signs on to defend Jerry Duncan. He knows all about the cameras, the speculation, the trial by television. He's lived through it before. "Are you ready for that?" he asks Charlie.
Charlie isn't. But ready or not, the storm is already here, and everyone wants Charlie to play his part. He’s cast as the crusading young attorney defending the indefensible, the fresh face for the cameras, the voice of the next generation. CNN is calling, the LA Times is waiting outside, and Hollywood producers are watching.
But here’s the thing. Charlie didn't become a lawyer to be famous. He became a lawyer to protect people when the system takes aim at them. The evidence against Jerry doesn't seem to him to add up, and the timeline makes no sense. The deeper Charlie digs, the more he realizes this isn't about one family's tragedy. It's about something much bigger, much darker, and much closer to home than anyone imagined.
Now Charlie must navigate a media firestorm, outsmart prosecutors who care more about winning than truth, and find a killer who's counting on everyone looking in the wrong direction.
Because in Los Angeles, the biggest crime isn't murder. The biggest crime is getting caught.
From the author of HABEAS CORPUS and CONTEMPT OF COURT comes the third riveting installment in the Charlie Trust series. A razor-sharp legal thriller that captures the time when television turned justice into entertainment. And staying out of the spotlight might be the most dangerous choice of all.
For fans of Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series and John Grisham's legal thrillers comes a fresh voice in courtroom drama, set against the sun-soaked darkness of 1990s Los Angeles.
- GenresFiction
376 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 5, 2026
About the author
Jake Needham
54 books402 followersJAKE NEEDHAM received the Barry Award at Bouchercon 2024, the world's largest convention of mystery readers, for BEST PAPERBACK MYSTERY OF 2024. He is a three-time Barry Award nominee, as well as a nominee for the International Thriller Writers' award for BEST PAPERBACK THRILLER OF THE YEAR.
Needham is an American screen and television writer who has lived in Thailand for over thirty years. He started writing crime novels when he realized he really didn't like movies and television all that much. Since then, he has published twenty popular mysteries and thrillers in three different series — The Charlie Trust Legal Thrillers, the Inspector Samuel Tay Novels, and the Jack Shepherd Novels — as well as the international bestseller, THE BIG MANGO.
"Jake Needham is Asia's most stylish and atmospheric writer of crime fiction," says the Singapore Straits Times. "Jake Needham is Michael Connelly with steamed rice," says the Bangkok Post.
Needham is an American screen and television writer who has lived in Thailand for over thirty years. He started writing crime novels when he realized he really didn't like movies and television all that much. Since then, he has published twenty popular mysteries and thrillers in three different series — The Charlie Trust Legal Thrillers, the Inspector Samuel Tay Novels, and the Jack Shepherd Novels — as well as the international bestseller, THE BIG MANGO.
"Jake Needham is Asia's most stylish and atmospheric writer of crime fiction," says the Singapore Straits Times. "Jake Needham is Michael Connelly with steamed rice," says the Bangkok Post.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 23, 2026
Great!
Great writing, great characters, great series. But it's Jake Needham, so what did I expect? I look forward to the next one!
Great writing, great characters, great series. But it's Jake Needham, so what did I expect? I look forward to the next one!
May 10, 2026
it’s a novel not mystery
This isn’t a mystery. It’s a novel. It asks a big question at the end for the reader to ponder. Don’t expect outlandish; expect a well-crafted story that encourages you to find a truth… your truth.
It does have some repetitive elements, which is my biggest critique of the series. However, it’s not necessarily a negative. It reflects how conversations naturally happen — how people really talk. Today’s novels tend to streamline dialogue so much that repetition can stand out as a flaw, but not here. It’s a treat to see old-school storytelling.
This isn’t a mystery. It’s a novel. It asks a big question at the end for the reader to ponder. Don’t expect outlandish; expect a well-crafted story that encourages you to find a truth… your truth.
It does have some repetitive elements, which is my biggest critique of the series. However, it’s not necessarily a negative. It reflects how conversations naturally happen — how people really talk. Today’s novels tend to streamline dialogue so much that repetition can stand out as a flaw, but not here. It’s a treat to see old-school storytelling.
May 7, 2026
Another fabulous hit in this series!
I’ve loved every single one of the Charlie Trust novels. He’s a great main character with unique & interesting people he’s building his life around as he defines himself as a criminal defense lawyer. This 3rd book in the series has a great plot, as do the first 2. I can’t wait for the 4th!
I’ve loved every single one of the Charlie Trust novels. He’s a great main character with unique & interesting people he’s building his life around as he defines himself as a criminal defense lawyer. This 3rd book in the series has a great plot, as do the first 2. I can’t wait for the 4th!
May 7, 2026
Love this author
I have read everything I could from Jake
Needham and I haven't been disappointed yet. This author is so good! Whether legal thrillers or espionage the stories, the plots and the characters are spot on. Eagerly awaiting the next one.
I have read everything I could from Jake
Needham and I haven't been disappointed yet. This author is so good! Whether legal thrillers or espionage the stories, the plots and the characters are spot on. Eagerly awaiting the next one.
May 7, 2026
Book #3 was worth the wait and not so long until July and book #4. The Charlie Trust books are pure gold and this one is no exception!
June 15, 2026
This is a novel about time and place, serendipitous but unfortunately not in a good way, as Charlie picks up two cases that are in the shadow of trials that are making news headlines.
Rather than a courtroom drama, this is a story that takes place in lawyers’ offices and police interview rooms. This means the pacing is steady, as befits a case being built up and facts assembled. As Charlie coaches suspect Jerry through police questioning techniques and how to react and play the system, he really wants to believe in his innocence though. Legal partner Sandy is supportive in just the right way, the sounding board for thoughts about the right to the best defence, that lawyer does his best whether the client is guilty or not. As he tells Charlie, defending the innocent can be terrifying.
Max Furman, the 85-year-old former PI and alleged inspiration for Philip Marlowe, provides the perfect cameo, as Charlie needs help finding out what the cops might have on Jerry. He is the story’s anchor to the LA of the past, the connection with the DNA of the hardboiled gumshoe navigating the modern world. Max and Sandy may be in their 80s and becoming a little world weary, whilst remaining very astute, they are becoming increasingly bewildered at modern life, something many of us feel as we get older. That Max sends Charlie his findings on a VHS tape and he has to scramble around for a player sums up the feeling to perfection.
The dialogue is crisp without relying on wisecracking and the everyday observations made are astute. Some of the best is at Larry Hagman’s barbecue, when the Hollywood stars in attendance try to get Charlie to talk about Jerry’s case. The notion that actors playing a lawyer on screen can have real insight into the profession is nailed as puffed-up nonsense of the deluded. Celebrity media, the insensitive intrusion of the press and the desire to shock are shown as grubby and destined to only get worse.
Another thoughtful legal thriller that captures the zeitgeist of early 1990s LA.
Rather than a courtroom drama, this is a story that takes place in lawyers’ offices and police interview rooms. This means the pacing is steady, as befits a case being built up and facts assembled. As Charlie coaches suspect Jerry through police questioning techniques and how to react and play the system, he really wants to believe in his innocence though. Legal partner Sandy is supportive in just the right way, the sounding board for thoughts about the right to the best defence, that lawyer does his best whether the client is guilty or not. As he tells Charlie, defending the innocent can be terrifying.
Max Furman, the 85-year-old former PI and alleged inspiration for Philip Marlowe, provides the perfect cameo, as Charlie needs help finding out what the cops might have on Jerry. He is the story’s anchor to the LA of the past, the connection with the DNA of the hardboiled gumshoe navigating the modern world. Max and Sandy may be in their 80s and becoming a little world weary, whilst remaining very astute, they are becoming increasingly bewildered at modern life, something many of us feel as we get older. That Max sends Charlie his findings on a VHS tape and he has to scramble around for a player sums up the feeling to perfection.
The dialogue is crisp without relying on wisecracking and the everyday observations made are astute. Some of the best is at Larry Hagman’s barbecue, when the Hollywood stars in attendance try to get Charlie to talk about Jerry’s case. The notion that actors playing a lawyer on screen can have real insight into the profession is nailed as puffed-up nonsense of the deluded. Celebrity media, the insensitive intrusion of the press and the desire to shock are shown as grubby and destined to only get worse.
Another thoughtful legal thriller that captures the zeitgeist of early 1990s LA.
May 6, 2026
Lawyer Charlie Trust has his view of California’s Carbon Beach spoiled one morning when sheriff’s deputies march across to the house of one of Charlie’s neighbours. Soon, two bodies are carried away in black bags. Arnie Duncan and his wife have been shot in their living room. The lack of a forced entry or any signs of a break in suggest the killer must be the couple’s son, 23-year-old Jerry.
This is book 3 in the Charlie Trust Legal Thriller series, and it gets off to a great start. Charlie is roped in to give advice to the chief suspect and soon realises that another case – that of brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez, who are accused of shooting their parents – might have an impact on Jerry Duncan via media speculation. Several of Charlie’s new acquaintances – including the likes of Larry Hagman and Angie Dickinson – pump him for information. They reason that as he lives just along the beach from the crime scene, he must know something.
This is an intriguing read and is as good as any of the author’s other novels. The exploration of how the media might influence a trial in those early days of the Internet is fascinating. As with all his other books, there’s the usual Jake Needham layer of dry humour simmering away beneath the more serious themes of the book, and, as always, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Another first-class legal thriller from one of my favourite authors.
This is book 3 in the Charlie Trust Legal Thriller series, and it gets off to a great start. Charlie is roped in to give advice to the chief suspect and soon realises that another case – that of brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez, who are accused of shooting their parents – might have an impact on Jerry Duncan via media speculation. Several of Charlie’s new acquaintances – including the likes of Larry Hagman and Angie Dickinson – pump him for information. They reason that as he lives just along the beach from the crime scene, he must know something.
This is an intriguing read and is as good as any of the author’s other novels. The exploration of how the media might influence a trial in those early days of the Internet is fascinating. As with all his other books, there’s the usual Jake Needham layer of dry humour simmering away beneath the more serious themes of the book, and, as always, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Another first-class legal thriller from one of my favourite authors.
May 5, 2026
1993 and a prominent Hollywood entertainment lawyer and his wife are murdered in their Malibu beach house days before the Menendez trial starts. The son is apparently the only suspect so comparisons are drawn and a rush to judgment frenzy ensues. A very scattershot legal mystery that shuttles around on topics such as the responsibilities of a defense lawyer, how to handle a police interview, the media and the lawyer as tv celebrity, and the case itself. As previously in this series, there’s a lot of padding - descriptions of driving especially - but the main problem is that the murderer is a blank whose actions let alone motivations are never known leading to a very unsatisfying conclusion. And I don’t believe a prominent Hollywood entertainment lawyer would not have an answering machine.
May 28, 2026
Very good series. I am awaiting book #4 due out in a few days. This reading is about Charlie Trust, an unemployed lawyer from Chicago who was given a rental in Carbon Beach in Malibu CA.
Through a series of events Charlie finds himself being asked to defend people for crimes they say they did not commit.
In this book, Hearsay Testimony, Charlie becomes involved in a neighbors' double homicide with only son as a "person of interest" ,
The timing of the story takes place in the early 1990's and several celebs of the time, who are now mostly dead, are mentioned in the story line making very interesting reading.
The ending is a surprise and somewhat upsetting but it just adds to the story.
i enjoyed this book and recommend all to to read if interested in legag happenings and events.
Through a series of events Charlie finds himself being asked to defend people for crimes they say they did not commit.
In this book, Hearsay Testimony, Charlie becomes involved in a neighbors' double homicide with only son as a "person of interest" ,
The timing of the story takes place in the early 1990's and several celebs of the time, who are now mostly dead, are mentioned in the story line making very interesting reading.
The ending is a surprise and somewhat upsetting but it just adds to the story.
i enjoyed this book and recommend all to to read if interested in legag happenings and events.
June 16, 2026
A MUST READ
Mr. Needham writes the best legal thrillers.
Charlie Trust has joined forces with a well~known defense lawyer and while working his way through the California courts and learning the ins and outs of that system, ends up with a very big case.
The only negative I have about this novel is the “fillers”, of which there are wayyyyyyy too many.
So skip the fillers and go for the meat of this story and enjoy!
Mr. Needham writes the best legal thrillers.
Charlie Trust has joined forces with a well~known defense lawyer and while working his way through the California courts and learning the ins and outs of that system, ends up with a very big case.
The only negative I have about this novel is the “fillers”, of which there are wayyyyyyy too many.
So skip the fillers and go for the meat of this story and enjoy!
June 8, 2026
Count me a fan of Jake Needham, and especially of Charlie Trust! This is book 3 in the series, with #4 coming out in July this year -- Can't wait! While each book CAN be read without the others, why would you want to?? To really understand Charlie, you HAVE to start at book 1 -- you won't be sorry! If you've read the first two, grab Hearsay Testimony NOW!
July 10, 2026
It's 1993, and the Menendez brothers are on trial in L.A. for eliminating their parents in the family room. Now Charlie Trust has just taken on a client suspected of doing the same to his own parents in Malibu. The young man is shy, quiet, and seemingly as honest as the ocean. Is Charlie defending a helpless fellow caught up in a media frenzy? Or has he completely miscalculated?
May 8, 2026
Good but not as good as previous Charlie Trust. Too much padding, especially on Menendez. More Jack Shepherd and Inspector Tay please.
May 16, 2026
Liked the book
It started out a potential disappointment but turned around. However, Jerry’s motive should have been provided. That is all folks.
It started out a potential disappointment but turned around. However, Jerry’s motive should have been provided. That is all folks.
August 2, 2026
Really good!!! I didn’t want to put it down.
September 9, 2026
Best of the Charlie Trust books so far. I love the characters, the dialog, and how the author weaves events of that time right into the story. Great read!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews