Local Rules

The old county courthouse casts the longest shadow in Green Hills, Texas, and when former San Antonio Assistant D.A. Jordan Marshall is ticketed for speeding, he's hauled before the bench of Judge Richard Waverly. His Honor has a job for a city lawyer like him: serve as court-appointed defender for Wayne Orkney, a local boy charged with the attempted murder of his own best buddy. When an outrageous bail is set, Jordan knows his sullen client is being railroaded. The defendant stands speechless before the court, the whole town arrayed against him--and it's up to Jordan to find out why.

Laura Stefone, the brilliant court reporter, is hesitant to share information with Jordan. But her wit and enigmatic gaze intrigue him as powerfully as the story he's discovered: the town's seventeen-year-old golden girl was murdered on the same day as Wayne's fight. No arrests. Few clues. And the unofficial suspect is Wayne. Jordan feels the weight of an unaccustomed burden: his belief in his client's innocence. When the charges against the boy escalate to capital murder, he must risk the wildest stunt of his courtroom career--and serve a truth that could destroy a town's faith in its heroes.