HER COLD JUSTICE

4 stars out of 5

This, the third book in the series featuring legacy hot-shot defense attorney Keera Duggan, hits close to home. Her firm’s investigator, JP Harrison, has learned that his nephew, Michael Westbrook, is the prime suspect in the double homicide of a Seattle drug smuggler and his girlfriend. Of course, Keera must do what she can to help, so she enrolls the help of the firm’s co-workers, her sisters Ella and Maggie, and even her semi-retired father, the legendary, even hotter-shot Patsy Duggan.

It is, as were its predecessors, an engaging story that’s easy to read. I suppose I would carp that it’s a bit too heavy on exposition than I like – what someone is wearing or the style of a house can be relevant, of course, but I really don’t care about all the accessories nor what color the shutters are. But more to the point, Michael – who does have a record of not exactly following the letter of the law – insists he’s innocent. When a couple of crucial pieces of evidence are found at his home, he claims the murdered guy – who he was helping with various chores – said they were gifts for his significant other that he didn’t want her to find before her birthday. Instead (oops), they contained illegal drugs.

Enter another hotshot attorney – Kim Tran – this time a prosecutor and likely candidate for a much higher government office and comes from a disturbing background. She’s nothing if not ruthless, as Keera’s father Patsy can attest (he’s gone head to head with her in the courtroom before). But that may be a plus, since he knows how she thinks and can give his daughter a heads-up when needed. Also enter detective Frank Rossi, with whom Keera has had a kind of arm’s length relationship that so far hasn’t gone much of anywhere. But he and his partner also get entangled with some of the questionable details of Keera’s current case – most notably the prosecution’s focus on incriminating testimony from two incarcerated “snitches.”

Early on, readers follow the progress of the trial – always a treat for me, at least, to get details of what happens in a courtroom – as well as the behind-the-scenes investigations to get to the truth. I won’t say the final revelation came as a surprise – I’d guessed it much earlier on, in fact – but from my perspective, getting it right usually trumps getting smacked in the teeth with a shocker ending. The fact that I stayed up half an hour past my bedtime to finish the book is telling as well – at my age, I need all the sleep I can get.

Bottom line? Another solid entry in the series, and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for once again allowing me to keep up with the action by way of a pre-release copy. Good job!

Her Cold Justice by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer, January 2026); 369 pp.