The Arraignment

SteveMartini has crafted yet another legal nail-biter in The Arraignment,featuring perennial favorite Paul Madriani.

Aftera lawyer-friend is killed along with his client in a hail of gunfire outsidethe federal courthouse in San Diego, attorney Paul Madriani takes on anotherclient he believes is involved at the edges of the double murder. He takes thecase not to defend the man but to find out who killed his friend and why. Paulis tortured by questions of conflict, his duty to a client who may have killedhis friend, and the need to know the truth, wondering whether he himself hadbeen marked for death only to have a friend die in his place. Paul findshimself with a window into places he never wanted to go, drawn into a vortex ofcrime that spans the Americas.

Ashe searches for the killer, Paul rides the crest of a dangerous wave involvinginternational drug deals and the people who murder for money. Suddenly herealizes it is not heroin or cocaine that resulted in the murder of his friendbut a priceless piece of pre-Columbian art, something so dazzling in theinformation it holds as to be one of the treasures of the ages.

Ina quest that takes Paul from California to Mexico and the Guatemalan border, hediscovers that while the motive to kill may be driven by distant, exotic, andancient artifacts, the killer, like a serpent, lies much closer at hand.