Dark Justice

 

Stephen Tranter 

 

£8.25, Independently published, available from Amazon

 

★★★★✩

This 2025 revised edition of Dark Justice centres on solicitor Martin Black, who has set up his own firm, and his struggles and dealings with others in local courts. His back story relates how and why he went into law and his family’s fight for justice. There is also a touch of romance thrown in, which works well. 

The book is a true-to-life account of crime and how it affects society and those in the profession. I like the vivid description of the daily grind of criminal work and the different-sized egos reflected in practitioners’ choice of car, clothes and offices. They carry around piles of files, some of which are bundles of cases, though only one is an actual client’s. The others are dummy papers to make them look good. The hero protagonist of this story gives out keyrings to clients so that they remember his name and how to contact him day or night. 

Darkjustice

With his firm struggling, our lawyer hero, Black, is given a lifeline when a rival retires and wants to hand on cases to the young, up-and-coming advocate. What could go wrong?  

Tranter set up his own law firm on a council estate in 1984. This grew into a Manchester criminal practice and a separate PI firm. He has written an excellent  story that vividly portrays criminal practice. 

 

David Pickup is a partner at Pickup & Scott Solicitors, Aylesbury

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