Blind Justice, by Anne Perry
The Book
When one of Hester's new nurses starts crying at work, Hester believes something is terribly wrong. Through encouragement, Josephine tells Hester her father has been pressed into giving to his church more money than he can afford to give. He is on the verge of financial collapse. Hester, remembering the fraud case that caused her father to commit suicide, empathizes. Hester decides to go to the the church to see for herself. Her husband, Commander William Monk of the Thames River Police, reluctantly agrees to let her go, alone if she must, with Scuff if at all possible.
Scuff is initially confused by the outing, and quickly becomes bored. But when he deduces that Hester is investigating, he turns his keen mind to the task of trying to unearth something crooked. Scuff tells Hester he thinks she needs to do something.
Hester takes the books of the church's charity to Squeaky Robinson, who determines there is quite a bit of fraud at the church. Armed with this knowledge, Monk convinces the locals to prosecute the pastor, Abel Taft. They choose not to tell Sir Oliver Rathbone since he's been raised to a judge and the case may come before him. Eventually, it does.
The case rests on the prosecutions ability to show that no money given by parishioners went to any of the purported charities. The math is difficult because the money slushed through several entities, but in the end it wound up back the the pockets of Abel Taft.
While on the stand, Robertson Drew, bookkeeper for the church, lies by painting several good people as hapless, immoral or both. The jury can trust this man of God, that Hester and the accountant are just wrong. During this testimony, Sir Oliver realizes Drew was in one of the men in the unsavory photos bequeathed to him by his father-in-law Arthur Ballinger. Sir Oliver decides to turn the photograph over to the prosecution.
When the prosecution uses it on the stand to impeach the character of Robertson Drew, the trial, which had been headed for an acquittal, now seems to rush to the correct conclusion. But, the next morning when Abel Taft doesn't show up for court, the case is dismissed because it seems Taft has killed his entire family before killing himself.
However, somebody knows what Sir Oliver has done. Before long he is arrested for perverting the course of justice. He must stand trial. Now as the accused, Sir Oliver is behind bars, and unable to represent himself. Powerless, he must trust his friends to help him the best they can.
Monk, Hester, and Scuff all try. But Monk has his superiors breathing down his neck to distance himself from Sir Oliver, and Hester is too prominent to get anywhere. With their normal avenues shut down, what will they do to save Sir Oliver, or is it all too late?
My Thoughts
How Much My Library Card Saved Me
This book came to me from from my own library. It's a 338 page first edition that entered my library on September 3, 2013. This is after I moved to IL from NC. There are no card holders in the book, proof that my library was already on a scan system by that time. The book is in very good condition, with no dog ears or marks in it. My corrector of the record has not been in this book and there is at least one error I caught. As a former library trustee, I will not mark a library book. But yeah, I'm going to be fixing these in personal copies. The inside flap says the book orginally retailed for $26.00, that's the number I will use.
Library Books
Private Books
This Book $00.00
Total of Private Books $55.75
Total of All Items Reviewed This Year $388.58
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