West Coast Verdict

They lost New York because somebody else broke the rules. Now the rules may be the only thing that can save them.

Peter Fraser and Tony Armstrong were rising lawyers at one of New York's most prestigious firms until a corporate fraud scandal destroyed their reputations. Set up as scapegoats by the partners they trusted, they cross the country to San Francisco determined to rebuild their careers-and never compromise themselves again.

Then Isabella Moretti walks through their door.

The Morettis are one of San Francisco's most notorious families. Patriarch Vincenzo Moretti insists they have left organised crime behind, building a legitimate empire of property, hospitality and logistics. But his volatile brother Frank still belongs to the old world.

When prosecutors uncover a brutal debt collection, a missing associate and financial connections reaching deep into the Moretti businesses, Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Hale believes she knows exactly what happened.

The Morettis didn't go legitimate.

They simply learned how to hide.

Peter and Tony see something different: a family with a violent past trying-imperfectly-to escape it. And they know better than most that reputation is not evidence.

As the case moves towards trial, Tony's growing attraction to Isabella threatens professional boundaries, while Peter's estranged thirteen-year-old daughter arrives in San Francisco carrying her own judgement of the father she believes disgraced their family.

To win, Fraser and Armstrong must expose the weaknesses in a powerful prosecution without pretending their clients are innocent of everything.

Because the Morettis may not be guilty of the crime they're charged with.

That doesn't make them innocent.

West Coast Verdict is the gripping first Fraser & Armstrong legal thriller-a story of courtroom battles, organised crime, friendship, family and the dangerous distance between the truth and what can be proved.