The Suspect (2007)

John Lescroart's thriller focuses on a scary truism about our legal system: Innocence can be harder to prove than guilt. That's the lesson lawyer Gina Roake learns trying to save a nature writer accused of drowning his wife despite an alibi that places him miles away. The Suspect is filled with pleasing character cameos from earlier books (including Lescroart regular Dismas Hardy) and moves briskly, but it fumbles in the final act. Roake, a gutsy yet vulnerable heroine who dives into action outside the courtroom, deserves a more worthy outing. Her scheme to unmask the killer is so preposterous and ill-advised that even Nancy Drew would scoff.