bought 12/31/12; 480 pages

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This is the first book in Philip Margolin's Dana Cutler series. I enjoyed it immensely. Dana Cutler, an ex-policewoman is now a private detective who is asked to follow a young college student, Charlotte Walsh, and to report her travels and actions back to the person who asked her to take the case. The young woman is working for the competitor of the President, Charles Farmington, of the United States, who is up for re-election. Dana follows her where she sees her meet, of all people, the President himself. To Dana's horror, the next morning Charlotte Walsh's mutilated, dead body is found, and Dana becomes a suspect since she was seen there the night before. When Pres.Farrington was governor, a similar murder happened to a teenage girl who worked with him. The awful question crosses Dana's mind that what if the president could be a serial killer? The murder of Charlotte is attributed to the D.C.Ripper. The question arises why did the president have such young girls working for him?

Across the country in Oregon a young lawyer is taking the case of a man who is on death row for a series of murders, but is trying to exonerate himself of one he declares he didn't do. Even though he will still be executed, he doesn't want to die for one that he didn't commit. Clarence Little swears he didn't kill the young girl who was working for then governor Charles Farrington but has been framed. Young lawyer, Brad Miller has a difficult case on his hands just as Dana Cutler does when all fingers point to the highest position in the land.

This is a fast-moving book with a lot of characters that I tended to get mixed up. However, it is an excellently written legal thriller that is fast paced and one I liked a lot. This book has been waiting patiently on my bookshelf for quite a while and it's about time that I read it. I'm very glad I did!