Book reviews - written by lawyers

I guarantee that this will be one of the most extraordinary books you ever read. It is a partly fictionalised account of the death of a woman in Australia in the early part of last century. It tells of how suspicion fell on her husband, who was tried and convicted of her murder.

Looking sadly at a picture of his father, young Jack asks his cat: ‘Why did daddy have to leave?’ He wonders if the arguments and shouting were his fault, and that maybe he could have been better – cleaned his room, not been so grumpy or done all of his homework. The cat speaks to Jack, reassuring him that the situation with his parents is not his fault, and offers practical advice on how to cope with his parents living in separate homes.

I wonder if Jack the Ripper actually existed. If he did not then a lot of time and speculation has been wasted on theories about the connections of a series of murders to Freemasonry and the royal family. Who he was, if he existed, we will probably never know. What we have is a series of brutal murders, some of which may or may not have been committed by the same person.

A federal judge and his secretary have been found murdered at his lakeside cabin. No forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies and an empty safe. Malcolm Bannister is a lawyer halfway through serving a 10-year prison sentence after innocently being caught up in a money laundering operation. Bannister knows who the killer is. And he’ll give a desperate FBI the name – but at a price.