The Wages of Sin: An Ozarks Mystery by Nancy Allen

Elsie is an assistant prosecutor.  She's good at her job and enjoys winning her cases.  The County Prosecutor, Madeline, doesn't like her much but she likes her results.  With a case where Madeline is going to ask for the death penalty, she's forced to work with Elsie because the other assistant doesn't believe in the death penalty.  When the prosecutors are already feeling conflicted and stressed you can tell this isn't going to be an easy case.

Witness Impulse sent me an ARC of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published and you can pick up now.

This is a twisted messy tale of poor folks who do drugs and party until they get mean.  The dead woman and her dead baby she was carrying has created a homicide that makes everyone upset.  The father of the unborn child is the murderer, he admits it.  Her six year old daughter was looking in the window and saw him do it.  It looks like it should be a easy case.  Not so...

Another assistant prosecutor was camping and saw the man abusing the woman and he walked away and called as soon as he got cell phone service.  She got killed a few days later.  The cop gets questioned why, after all the domestic abuse calls, the woman was still living with the man.  Nobody is looking good during this court time.  Even worse, the woman herself had AIDS and gave it to the man who killed her.  The jury is listening to all this and wondering who is the guiltiest.

While this case is going on, the young girl is being harassed by the drug dealers.  She's in big danger but can trust no one in her life, not even Elsie.  When Elsie finds out why and figures the implicatons out, she's solved the case but can she save Ivy?

This court case is not dry and boring and with so many new points coming in from right and left, Elsie has to be on her toes.  This is not just a murder case.  It's well worth the read.