The Ophelia Cut

A man who raped a young woman has been murdered, and the police name her father, Moses McGuire, as the prime suspect. Attorney Dismas Hardy agrees to defend him. McGuire is his brother-in-law and an old friend, so the case is personal from the first day.

The evidence against McGuire keeps growing. He has also started drinking again, and time in prison could bring old secrets into the open, secrets that threaten the careers of Hardy and his closest colleagues.

With the facts stacked against his client, Hardy builds his defense around raising doubt in the minds of the jurors. Then he spots a different line of attack, a legal move that looks simple but carries heavy consequences.

Hardy's loyalty to family pulls against his own interests as the trial approaches. The legal thriller turns on whether the new strategy can save McGuire, and on what Hardy and the people around him will have to pay for it.