A Higher Duty
by Peter Murphy
Set in the 1960s, A Higher
Duty is a complex tale of law, crime, passion and ambition.
We follow the fortunes of members
of Bernard Wesley’s chambers throughout the book. In particular we meet Kenneth Gaskell, who lets
his emotions get the better of him in a potentially disastrous way, and Ben Schroeder,
a pupil whose background threatens to make him an outsider in the privileged
world of the bar.
The story starts with a
shocking incident which resonates throughout the book, but which you will
probably feel differently about before you reach the end, and along the way
touches on some dark areas of human life.
The author has had a career
in the law and this shows in the richness of detail about life in chambers and
in court which is threaded through the book. I liked this aspect of the book,
and found the details convincing and absorbing.
A large number of
significant characters carry the story and a couple of times during the reading
I felt that I was being pulled in too many directions and that my ability to
sympathise with all the characters was in danger of being diluted. However, in
the end all the strands are pulled together successfully and do need to be
there.
The author pulls off a very
effective job of making the reader sympathise by the end with characters who at
the beginning seem wholly unsympathetic. Again, this makes for a very
satisfying read.
Overall, I recommend this as
a novel for those who enjoy crime and/or law stories complete with some excellent
and unexpected touches.
Many thanks to the publisher
for a review copy of this book.
You can find out more and
buy a copy here.
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