In Her Defense: A Mercy Law Thriller

By Laura Carpenter

Justice fails where process leaks. Defence counsel Cassidy Hart has built a career on keeping the pipes clean-and on never promising what the facts can't carry. When a woman falls from a luxury tower, the city chooses its most convenient suspect: Aidan Ward, a contractor with proximity, motive-shaped rumours, and the wrong midnight on a CCTV clip.The evidence looks neat: a timestamp that says 00:00, a red car in a gas-station camera, an access badge that reads like authority. But neat is not the same as true. A concierge's careful ledger, an elevator system with drift, and a vendor's "seven-day purge" policy whisper that something uglier is at work: time itself has been bent.
With a technologist who can translate logs into English and a regulator who believes in receipts, Cassidy pulls the thread: Slack exports with edits that matter, a fake badge laminated on prop stock, a streetcar window (TRAM) reflecting a face in the dark, and a sync job that moved midnight just enough to ruin a man's month. What begins as a defence becomes a demand for reliability-because a system that can't tell the time shouldn't take anyone's life apart.
As the case widens, so do the risks: a break-in at the fledgling Mercy & Law office, a judge forced to recuse, a Crown team that would rather not admit their pipes leak. Cassidy refuses shortcuts. She rebuilds the record-calibrate the lens, correct the timestamp, map the camera's field of view-until the story the evidence tells is one a jury can trust.
Taut, humane, and fiercely procedural, In Her Defence is a cinematic legal thriller about proving reality when cameras lie and clocks disagree. Expect courtroom electricity, tight cross-examination, and the quiet courage of people who do the boring work that makes verdicts worthy of belief.
What readers will love: - A whip-smart heroine with rules ("tell the truth early," "keep the pipes clean") and a soft spot she won't apologise for.
- High-stakes investigation built from real-world tech: CCTV calibration, NTP drift, data exports, chain-of-custody done right.
- A city that feels lived-in: concierge desks at 3 a.m., rain on glass, streetcars scanning the night.
- Justice that isn't a punchline but a practice-consent orders, retention reforms, and accountability that sticks.
For fans of Michael Connelly, Alafair Burke, and Steve Cavanagh-readers who crave prestige clarity, emotional resonance, and evidence that actually adds up. Book One in the Mercy & Law series, In Her Defence stands alone while opening the door to what comes next.
Clean but gripping: no graphic gore, no cheap twists-just relentless momentum, layered characters, and the earned hope of a future worth defending.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G1K7SY34
• ISBN13: 9798273710986
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"