Defending Innocence

A Legal Thriller Filled with Gripping Courtroom Drama (Small Town Lawyer, Book 1)

By: Peter Kirkland

Narrated by: J J Hosenfeld

An innocent client harbors dark secrets....

Defense Attorney Leland Monroe lost it all: his big-city job, his reputation, and, worst of all, his loving wife. Now he’s back in his hometown to hit restart and repair the relationship with his troubled son. But the past is always present in a small town.

Leland returns to find his high school sweetheart hasn’t had the easiest of lives - especially now that her son faces a death sentence for murdering his father. Yet what appears to be an open-and-shut case is anything but. As Leland digs deeper to uncover a truth even his client is determined to keep buried, a tangled web of corruption weaves its way throughout his once tranquil hometown.

Leland soon realizes it’s not just his innocent young client’s life that’s at stake - powerful forces surface to threaten the precious few loved ones he has left.

©2021 Relay Publishing (P)2025 Relay Publishing

Awesome read

I loved this book I listened to it in my car as I rode to work and couldn’t wait to get back in my car and head home .

Simple, clear, and moved well. Very entertaining.

Enjoyed the entire book. Narration and story line held my attention. Would recommend this book to others.

good listen

easy to listen. good character. could have explored his early life better. ended somewhat abruptly

A good dad Does a great job of helping averyone he cares about.

Enjoyed the plot…well written. I found the book to hold my interest and still be relaxing. It made me feel good. Ethics and morals were a reflection of what we need to focus on.

Promising but a little Disappointing

I liked the small-town plot but I had problems with plot as initial charge seemed too weak for Police to pursue and the ending could have been OK but was very rushed.

Rushed ending

the story had a small amount of courtroom plot. The ending came very abruptly. it was almost as if the publisher told the author, your out of time, finish the book in under 500 words.

Good Story but Bad Grammar

I saw some other reviews talking about how bad the Main Character, Leland's, grammar was.
Being from South Carolina, I just smiled thinking they must not be from the South.
But NO! Y'all, this guy's double negatives, wrong verb tenses, and constant use of the word "ain't" was cringe-worthy.

No educated person from SC speaks this way. And it's not to relate to poor clients or seem like a good-ole-boy. He even thinks phrases like "ain't never done nobody no harm". It is ridiculous.

On top of that, he is supposed to be flat broke (can't even get his broken car window replaced for $350) but he eats out every single meal, and even treats others to restaurant meals and take-out daily. They do still sell Raman and peanut butter in SC and educated people know if they can afford meals out or not.

That being said, I thought the plot was really good and loved Leland's relationship with his son Noah. I also thought the description of Leland's return to his small hometown (in disgrace) was pretty realistic. It helps that he knows a lot of the locals from high school, but he also gets some smart comments from people who never left town and are maybe jealous that he was successful.

I liked the ending and loved the narrator and will probably try the next in the series to see if the author read some reviews and toned down the hillbilly talk.

Narrator Didn't Work for Me

Although many people have commented favorably on the narrator, I found listening to him more than a little irritating, especially when he was trying to sound like a female character, or an older man. Actually, everyone sounded like an old person other than when the narrator was reading in his normal voice. The plot was okay, but nothing special. Kind of wishing I hadn't wasted the credit.

interesting Plot

This story has an interesting plot which is what drew me in. There were a few spots where it was a little hard to keep my interest in what was going on. In the end though, it was a good story

I received an ARC and this is my unbiased opinion

Great first book

It looks like there are two more books series. Can’t wait to read the next book.