Customer Reviews

Capitol Offense: A Novel

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Following his time in DC as a temporary appointed US Senator (see CAPITOL CONSPIRACY) Ben Kincaid has returned home to Tulsa to practice law and consider a run for the permanent seat. Professor Dennis Thomas visits Ben asking the attorney to defend him on a murder rap that has not yet occurred. Dennis hates bureaucrat Police Detective Christopher Sentz who ignored his begging to do a missing person's search for his wife Josylyn. She died after being trapped inside her car for a week following an accident while her vehicle was in a ravine.

Dennis visits a hotel where Sentz is conducting a sting operation. Soon afterward someone fires seven shots at Sentz killing the cop. Dennis swears to Ben he never killed the man though his rage put him over the edge. Caught with questions of client privilege, Ben wonders if he was set up. Still even as he has a political campaign to run, Ben decides to defend the still fuming professor who is at the center of a media frenzy in which everyone believes he killed the cop, but debate whether grief or madness is a justification. Private Investigator Loving begins to uncover dark secrets involving their client, his late wife and the murdered detective that makes the defense even more insane.

The latest Kincaid thriller will delight long time fans as the hero is back in Oklahoma, but working on a case that his chief of staff tells him to drop as it is political suicide. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Professor Thomas asks Kincaid to defend him from a murder he had not yet committed. Fans will enjoy Ben's latest CAPITOL OFFENSE as he defends a client who confessed his plan before hand and was found at the murder scene with the corpse. William Bernhardt provides a strong fresh entry with a great unexpected climax and coda.

Harriet Klausner

Ben Kincaid, an ongoing character in many of Bernhardt's books, is back in Tulsa, OK, while the Senate is in recess. If you have read this series, you will know that Ben, a prominent local attorney, was appointed as a Junior U.S. Senator when the previous office holder resigned. If you haven't read this series, this book is still fine to read as a stand alone, but I would definitely go back to the beginning, to read how the characters have evolved, especially Ben.

Ben is well known for not being able to say no to anyone who needs help. In a bizarre first meeting, Professor Dennis Thomas, a teacher of Victorian literature at the University of Tulsa, basically asks Ben how to get away with murder. Ben doesn't want anything to do with this man, but has empathy for Dennis' motivation for revenge. Dennis' wife, Joslyn Thomas, a renowned cancer specialist, was left to die a slow death after a car accident, in which the police refused to search for her over a 7 day period while she was missing.

Soon after, the police officer that refused to look for Dennis' wife is found murdered, with Dennis passed out in the hotel room where the officer was on a stake-out. The murder weapon was found underneath Dennis, and he had gunshot residue on his hands. Unfortunately, Dennis claims he was unconcious for two hours after the murder, and doesn't remember any details about what occurred in that hotel room.

Ben's new wife, Christina, his law partner for many years, doesn't want Ben to take this case, as she feels it would be bad for the re-election campaign that Ben must launch in order to stay a Senator. But, true to her love for Ben, she agrees to help him, even if she does not believe this man is innocent. Dennis presents himself as a cold, calculating killer, and my feelings for him were like being on a roller coaster...one minute I had extreme empathy for him and the next, I thought he deserved everything that the justice system wanted to throw at him.

Mr. Bernhardt's portrayal of the trial itself, from the seating of the jury, the conferences with the judge, and the many battles with the district attorney are absorbing and fast paced. With a shocking twist at the end, this book will leave you impatiently awaiting the next installment!

While I haven't read the Kincaid series before, I've now become an instant fan. The premise is grabbing from page one -- when the client wants to know how to beat a murder charge ... that hasn't been committed yet. The protagonist, Ben Kincaid, is engaging, and suffers the doubts and moral agonies of a real person. And the story takes enough twists and turns to keep anyone guessing. It's been quite a while since I've read a book in one sitting, but this one caught me up in the story and didn't let go long enough for me to escape.

All of the characters have the qualities of real people, and Bernhardt has done his homework on the technical side of the issues. But Bernhardt's real strength is in the power of words. I found myself re-reading lines just because I loved the way they rolled off the tongue. My friends may find pieces of this book floating around in my conversations for quite some time. Being a huge fan of the English language, I love it when someone uses it so artistically.

I heartily recommend Bernhardt's latest work. Now...on to Nemesis.

This is a must read for William Bernhardt fans. I have been hooked since I stumbled upon Primary Justice many years ago. After finishing it, I had to go back and buy the rest of the series. Now, I count the days until the next installment!

This is a great read! William Bernhardt has produced another page turner that won't disappoint! I highly recommend starting at the beginning and reading the whole Ben Kincaid series.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the Ben Kincaid series, and have to say that this entry seems to indicate that author Bernhardt has been reinvigorated.

I won't rehash the whole story line as you can get that with the product description. Suffice to say that Kincaid again finds himself defending an accused murderer in the courts of law and public opinion, the métier that Berhardt works with best. Taut, riveting court action dominates most of the book while at the same time Kincaid's associates follow a tortuous trail of clues in their efforts to uncover the truth behind the accusations.

There's a final twist at the very end of the book that came as a complete surprise to me. Well done!

This book was thoroughly enjoyable, and moved along at breakneck speed. Four and a half stars.

I have been a fan of Bernhardt's writing for decades, and have thoroughly enjoyed the development of his appealing and brilliant main character, criminal defense attorney and accidental Oklahoma senator Ben Kincaid. Capitol Offense is the best yet of the series. Bernhardt sets the stage early with the desperate pleas of a university professor to the police to find his wife, a cardiologist who never returned to their remote country home after work. The police refuse to believe her disappearance is worth their time. For seven days he begs them to help him find her to no avail. Meanwhile, in a totaled SUV crashed in a ravine, his wife lies pinned in horrific agony. No one comes to save her. Her death destroys him, and he wants vengeance against the detective who would not allow a search. When the detective is murdered, all evidence says the professor killed him. The case is hopeless, and it lands at Ben's feet.

The plot is smart and intriguing, the action rollicking and the dialog natural, but the real appeal of this story is the connection Ben forms with the doomed underdog; the empathy that fuels his motivation to forge ahead, arguing for his client's life when everyone tells him he's a fool. Ben's partner and bride, Christina, and his loyal private investigator, Loving, support and work hard for him, even risking their lives because his integrity is ironclad. They believe in him, but he is tormented with doubts about his ability to serve his client and the greater cause of justice. In Capitol Offense the implications of his success or failure reach beyond his client's freedom. Ben and his team uncover a sinister conspiracy and possible terrible, far-reaching destruction. In the end the satisfaction of justice served is short lived, because the underlying cause of the crime is much more insidious, and far from finished pursuing its evil intent. But that is another story. I look forward to the next installment of Bernhardt's work.

Professor Dennis Thomas has been pushed to the limits of his sanity --- or maybe beyond. At least that's what he wants a jury to believe. You see, he stands accused of killing Tulsa Police Detective Christopher Sentz. If you can believe it, he even sought the counsel of an attorney before the murder, inquiring about how to get away with it.

But first, let's back up a little. When Thomas's wife, Joslyn, an oncology doctor at an eminent Tulsa hospital, doesn't make it home after work one night, Thomas becomes frantic. Something must be terribly wrong, he believes. He is panicked and spends every waking hour looking for her. And when he's not out searching for Joslyn, he's at the police station, pleading with the cops --- specifically Sentz --- to open an investigation into her disappearance. As Sentz continues to refuse time after time, Thomas grows increasingly incensed. He is sleep-deprived, worried sick about Joslyn, and angry as hell that the police will not help.

Eventually, the truth about Joslyn's disappearance is discovered: she had been in an accident, trapped in her car, suffering, for a full week. She did not make it out alive. In this moment, Thomas loses not only his wife but his sanity as well. His grief, coupled with his frustration, sends him over the edge. He tries to attack Sentz, accusing him of murdering Joslyn. While he gets little satisfaction for his effort, he does receive a few nights in the local jail.

By now, most of us can sympathize with his situation: we've all felt that desire for revenge at one point in our lives. But it runs much deeper for Thomas at this point. He is driven by raw anguish and is seeking a way to settle the score...an eye for an eye as it were. He decides to enter the office of Senator Ben Kincaid, an attorney tending his law practice back home in Tulsa while there is a recess in Washington. Naturally, Kincaid declines to advise Thomas on ways to avoid prosecution if he were arrested on charges for a murder yet to be committed.

However, Thomas goes through with his plan to murder the neglectful detective and is soon arrested. Thomas claims innocence and begs Kincaid to represent him; against his better judgment, Kincaid takes the case. There is just something about Thomas that tugs at Kincaid's heartstrings. But now, Kincaid has an impossible case, one that he cannot imaginably win, at least by conventional methods. It occurs to him that they have one hope: pleading temporary insanity, which will elevate the chances of winning from totally impossible to highly improbable. It is their only shot.

Meanwhile, the District Attorney is up for reelection, giving him a lot of incentive to win the case. Besides, cop killers are particularly odious human beings, especially in Oklahoma. No one likes them, not even in prison. Thomas's future looks mighty bleak. To add to an already wretched outlook, the judge they will be trying the case before is about as unsympathetic a man as they could have found. He will make their lives more miserable than they already are.

Author William Bernhardt is a master at courtroom suspense. He puts witnesses on the stand, and the DA grills them to a charred finish. It looks like the defense doesn't have a chance. But as we all know, juries are unpredictable. Anything can happen during the course of a trial. And in CAPITOL OFFENSE, it does. The book has more twists and turns than a roller coaster and will keep you guessing the whole way through. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

Somehow I missed this Benhardt book "Capital Offense". I have read all of his others. In a way I was happy I missed it since I really enjoyed reading it. As an attorney he is different from most and this story is different from most. I could not figure out the ending until the end which is what I like when reading a mystery. I am waiting for his next book.

It might sound strange to some that a US Senator would try a criminal case during a Senate recess, but then you don't know Ben Kincaid. And you do know most of the current class of US Senators who wouldn't do anything so taxing. Their 38 week work schedule is really too exhausting to allow such activity.

Regardless, William Bernhardt has come up with a really interesting conundrum for a defense lawyer. Kincaid is visited by a troubled individual whose wife had been missing for a week. She was finally discovered in a car wreck in a remote area, but only after the local police bothered starting to look for her. The ladies husband had been begging the police about her disapperance, but he was repeatedly put off by the officer in charge. Finally after a week of stonewalling she is found after a three hour search, barely alive.

The husband visits Kincaid to discuss hypotheticals about causing the demise of the police officer in question. He is turned away, yet shortly thereafter is found unconcious in a hotel room. Also in the room is the dead police officer. Shot to death by the deceased's husband's gun.

Think that might lead to an interesting trial in the hands of a skilled writer?? As someone famous says: "You betcha."

Bernhardt does a masterful job with this story line and you will have missed a good one if you pass it by.

Is he guilty or not? This is the question that Ben Kincaid, Bernhart's successful Tulsa lawyer must ask himself. His client strolls into his office the same day that a decorated police detective is later killed, and tries to set up an insanity defense "just in case" the detective is murdered, and the client is arrested.

Hypothetical cases are not for the "by the book" Kincaid. He does not want to show that he had prior knowledge of a crime and did not report it to the authorities. As Ben wrestles with what to do about this conversation, the officer is indeed being killed, and indeed his client is found unconscious in the murder room, lying on top of the murder weapon.

Now begins the heart of the story. Why did this man kill a detective? His wife was left to die in her car. She was the victim of an apparent car accident and lay for seven days in a ravine, slowly dying of her injuries. This police detective had continuously refused to open a file to look for her. When she was finally found, her husband went a little crazy. He vowed revenge on the detective. But was he temporarily insane when he allegedly killed the detective? The convenient blackout is in question.

As Ben and his team vigorously defend their client, his investigator, Loving, is looking into the back story of the incidents that led to the accident involving Dennis Thomas' wife. Time is running out, the jury will be bringing in a verdict, can they stop the trial, can they prove someone else killed the detective, will the insanity defense work?

As we see from this novel, being guilty, and committing a crime are not exactly the same. Not guilty by reason of insanity, nullifying a jury, offering alternative scenarios to the deed, are all aspects of the trial. This does not answer the question- who killed officer Sentz?