States of Grace (Grace Locke Mystery Series Book 1) by Mandy Miller – Review by Roxsanne Lesieur.

States of Grace by Mandy Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Grace Locke is a woman with an interesting past and an uncertain future, she is an Army veteran who served in some of the most harsh environments out there until an IED went off beneath the vehicle she was travelling in and meant she lost her leg. That was a pivotal moment in her life, like others before then, but it was a pivot that started a downward turns of events including addiction, an arrest and nearly losing her license to practice Law, but despite all of these challenges while also living in a motel and going through a divorce, Grace is tough and does what she needs to, to get herself out of the hole she has made for herself through her indiscretions.

After she has successfully finished defending another guilty party, Grace despises what she has to do to get by, but has no other choice at this very moment in time, until she sees some breaking news in the bar she frequents while she is drinking her espresso and coke mix. It is a high profile murder case where the accused is a young girl from a rich family and she realises that the mother of said girl is the very same woman who is the reason she is going through a divorce. Grace decides to pull a couple off strings she may regret so that she can be the one to defend this girl and hopefully get enough money to move up in the world again, or at least not have to live of ramen all the time.

As Grace succeeds in getting onto the case, she starts to think that maybe she has gotten in a little bit over her head as the evidence against her client continues to pile up, but the accused are always guilty aren’t they? In this case, it is the opposite and as Grace starts to dig deeper to prove her client’s innocence, she discovers that the victim was not all that they were shown to be and that they were involved in the dark side of a underground pill mill system, one that Grace is all too familiar with, but will Grace be able to gather the evidence she needs to prove her client’s innocence in time, or will the police remain one step ahead and garner the conviction they so desperately seek? This is a thrilling mystery which will keep you guessing as you follow the case along amid misdirection, secrets, revelations, grudges and guilt where nothing is as it seems and everything is on the line.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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