Con Law by Mark Gimenez

Hardback:  "So people all over the country write to you and ask for help?  Like you're some kind of superhero or something?"

John Bookman - Book to his friends - is a tenured professor at the University of Texas School of Law.  He's thirty-five, handsome and unmarried but seldom without a female companion.  He rides a Harley and wears jeans and cowboy boots and his hair too long to suit the conservative dean.  He teaches Constitutional Law, reduces senators to blithering fools on political talk shows, writes scathing op-eds and is often mentioned as a future Supreme Court nominee.

But Book is also famous for something more unusual.  He likes to take on lost causes and win.  Consequently, when he arrives at the law school each Monday morning, hundreds of letters await him from desperate Americans around the country seeking his help.  Every now and then, one letter captures his attention and Book feels compelled to act.  Specifically this one.

Dear Professor Bookman, 
Remember me?  Nathan Jones?  I was your intern for one month four years ago...I work in our Marfa office which we established to represent our largest client, an oil and gas company...They're fracking in the Woodland shale field north of town.  Professor, our client is contaminating the aquifer...I have proof...I took the matter to my senior partner...He told me to keep my mouth shut...But I don't know what to do.  Can you help me?...
Regards
Nathan
PS I think someone followed me home last night.  My wife is scared.

Then Nathan dies in a one-car accident on the north side of Highway 67.  Sheriff Brady Munn investigates the accident and reports that Jones apparently fell asleep, ran off the road, lost control of his vehicle, and crashed into a pump jack.

"A car accident,"  Book said.  "Same day he mailed the letter...I don't believe in coincidences."

"They killed Nathan, Professor," said Brenda Jones, Nathan's widow.  "They said he was speeding, but Nathan never drives fast...Professor, you were his hero.  Be his hero now.  Give him justice.  Find his truth.  It wasn't an accident."

In the first of a thrilling and cleverly-written new series from the author of international bestsellers, Professor Bookman - with his latest law school intern in tow on his Harley - investigates a murder in the corrupt world of art and fracking in deepest, darkest Texas, in Con Law (2013).

About the author:  "I grew up in Galveston County, Texas.  I attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and earned a BA in Political Science with honours.  I then attended Notre Dame Law School in Indiana and earned a JD degree magna cum laude.  I practiced law with a large Dallas firm and became a partner.  After ten years, I left to practice solo and to write.  I have written six previous novels.  I live outside Fort Worth with my wife and two sons."

Rating:  6/5