Missing Witness » (Reprint)

Gordon Campbell lives with his wife, United States District Judge Tena Campbell, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he practices law with the firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

In this electrifying debut thriller, a brilliant defense lawyer takes on a murder case with ingenious twists

Phoenix, Arizona, 1973. A beautiful woman, armed with a gun and accompanied by her twelve-year-old daughter, enters a house. Shots are fired. The woman and her daughter leave the house. Inside, her husband lies dead.

The case seems open and shut. The cops, the attorney general's office, and the media are certain the woman is guilty. The only witness to the shooting is in a catatonic state and cannot testify. But the murdered man's wealthy father believes he owes the woman something and hires Dan Morgan, the best lawyer in Phoenix, to defend her.

When the legendary criminal attorney takes on a case it's to win, no matter what the odds. But for Morgan and his young protégé, Doug McKenzie, there are no easy answers, only mysteries, and the question of innocence and guilt take on profound new meaning.

Combining the riveting suspense of Presumed Innocent with the raw ambition and power of All the King's Men, this full-bodied novel introduces a writer of great skill and insight into the human character.

Publishers Weekly

In his promising debut, trial lawyer Campbell delivers an intriguing, if often overly technical, story of long-buried family secrets and the blurred line between lies and the truth. In 1973, Doug McKenzie, a new associate at a prestigious Phoenix firm, is thrilled to work with famed trial lawyer Daniel Morgan. When the son of a wealthy rancher is shot dead in his home, Morgan and McKenzie are hired by the victim's father, Ferris Eddington, to defend his daughter-in-law, the beautiful Rita Eddington. McKenzie has known the Eddingtons since childhood and can't believe Rita killed her husband. But when the only other suspect is Rita's mentally disturbed 12-year-old daughter, Miranda, McKenzie knows it will be the trial of his life. While Campbell certainly knows the ins and outs of the legal system, the plot meanders in the middle, becoming too bogged down with procedural particulars to sustain the reader's interest. Despite an outcome that's not as surprising as it should be, legal suspense fans will be well rewarded. Author tour. (Sept.)