Defending Innocence

A Legal Thriller Filled with Gripping Courtroom Drama (Small Town Lawyer, Book 1)

By: Peter Kirkland

Narrated by: J J Hosenfeld

Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

An innocent client harbors dark secrets....

Defense Attorney Leland Monroe lost it all: his big-city job, his reputation, and, worst of all, his loving wife. Now he’s back in his hometown to hit restart and repair the relationship with his troubled son. But the past is always present in a small town.

Leland returns to find his high school sweetheart hasn’t had the easiest of lives - especially now that her son faces a death sentence for murdering his father. Yet what appears to be an open-and-shut case is anything but. As Leland digs deeper to uncover a truth even his client is determined to keep buried, a tangled web of corruption weaves its way throughout his once tranquil hometown.

Leland soon realizes it’s not just his innocent young client’s life that’s at stake - powerful forces surface to threaten the precious few loved ones he has left.

©2021 Relay Publishing (P)2021 Relay Publishing

Narrator Didn't Work for Me

Although many people have commented favorably on the narrator, I found listening to him more than a little irritating, especially when he was trying to sound like a female character, or an older man. Actually, everyone sounded like an old person other than when the narrator was reading in his normal voice. The plot was okay, but nothing special. Kind of wishing I hadn't wasted the credit.

Compassion ...was strictly circumscribed.

Almost a great start to a new series. A previously successful prosecution attorney in Charleston had loster everything when his wife died in an accident and his only son, Noah, was left seriously injured with enormous medical bills. Leland moved back to his home town, nearly penniless, and was struggling to build a new business, when a friend of Noah's is accused of the murder of his father and the boy's mother begs Leland to take on the case.
Narration of this book by JJ Hosenfeld was good, his first person recounting felt authentic, protagonists were given individual voices and the whole was well paced, calm and definitely added to the enjoyment of the story even to helping with the development of the characters. The book moves at a steady pace, the who-dun-it? aspect intriguing at first, but the ending was disappointing and felt rushed, out of place. It made the entire novel feel less than believable as a result: a pity because although bizarre, until the final chapters it had felt plausible.The

I enjoy courtroom dramas and this was enjoyable despite previous reservations noted above, and the small actual court room time in the book. Recommended for anyone else who finds pleasure in this genre and I look forward to book two

interesting Plot

This story has an interesting plot which is what drew me in. There were a few spots where it was a little hard to keep my interest in what was going on. In the end though, it was a good story

I received an ARC and this is my unbiased opinion

great book

I could not put it down . I just thought the ending was a bit rushed. but I loved the book

It was difficult….

…. to listen to the poor grammar! In fact, many times I had to stop listening, because it grated on my nerves. The use of the word “ain’t” and double negatives, such as “don’t hardly matter” or “can’t never,” etc., are absolutely unconscionable, even when portraying the South. Where is the editing? And more importantly, a lawyer with a decent education should not be using “ain’t” in every conversation! I grew up in the south and have never used the word ain’t. I am only halfway through this book, and I will persevere to finish it, but I will not buy or listen to another novel from this author. Clearly, he does not know how to speak the English language properly.

Story does not need swearing to be good

I do not understand why authors feel it is necessary to have fowl language in their stories to make them good. I did not complete the book even though I would’ve liked to but after the third FU or if an author takes the Lord’s name in vain, I’m done with them no matter how good it is.

Story teller

The voice and inflection of the storyteller was not intriguing enough for me. The overall story made sense and have a good flow

Innocence

It was pretty good. The narration was okay. Story moved along. Disappointing ending. Not highly recommend rd.

An educated attorney with bad grammar, who doesn’t know the difference between an artery and a vein.

The story was OK. I couldn’t get over the main characters or grammar, which, although not unusual, for some people, is hard to believe coming from someone with an attorney‘s education. A lot of character inconsistencies. Also, it drives me nuts when people mistake the jugular vein with the carotid artery. Just a little thing, but shows a lack of Basic information that a good author should have or at least acquire. Narration was poor.

Never Catches Up

I wish I had returned early but I kept waiting for it to get to the good stuff. To me just not a great story to begin with therefore not an exciting story to listen too.

Compassion ... was strictly circumscribed.

Almost a great start to a new series. A previously successful prosecution attorney in Charleston had loster everything when his wife died in an accident and his only son, Noah, was left seriously injured with enormous medical bills. Leland moved back to his home town, nearly penniless, and was struggling to build a new business, when a friend of Noah's is accused of the murder of his father and the boy's mother begs Leland to take on the case.
Narration of this book by JJ Hosenfeld was good, his first person recounting felt authentic, protagonists were given individual voices and the whole was well paced, calm and definitely added to the enjoyment of the story even to helping with the development of the characters. The book moves at a steady pace, the who-dun-it? aspect intriguing at first, but the ending was disappointing and felt rushed, out of place. It made the entire novel feel less than believable as a result: a pity because although bizarre, until the final chapters it had felt plausible.The

I enjoy courtroom dramas and this was enjoyable despite previous reservations noted above, and the small actual court room time in the book. Recommended for anyone else who finds pleasure in this genre and I look forward to book two.

Full of suspense, mystery and intrigue!

This is the first time I've heard of this author and I have to say I really enjoyed this book. The narrator did a great job of varying the different voices, some of them were kind of hilarious but hey it's hard for a guy to make a girls voice. This book has interesting characters and I think the author did a great job of showing how what happened changed 2 teenagers with lots on their plate. I especially liked the characters of Maisy, Jackson's mom and private investigator Trudy I think was her name. I also liked how she was able to converse with Noah in a way that really helped him. I look forward to reading more by this author or listening to his books.
I received a free code for this book from Audiobooks Unleashed to listen to on Audible. This review is my own honest opinion.

Enjoyed

I did enjoy the narration of J J Hosenfeld.

Leland Monroe, a previous top prosecuting attorney in Charleston now having to return to the small sleepy southern town where he was born. He now trying to making a living by working with a old attorney friend and struggling with such reduced finances.

When a friend of his son is charged with murder Leland becomes his defence attorney , With the help of an investigator, Munroe embarks on a quest to find some evidence to free his client.

I enjoyed listening . Recommend

Good legal thriller

Defending innocence by Peter Kirkland was a very good legal mystery story. I listened to it nearly 8 hours of multiple motives, suspect and other dirty deeds. Then the whole thing resolves in literally the last few minutes. But it doesn’t really resolve and some things are still hanging. In an otherwise very enjoyable and entertaining courtroom / legal thriller, the rush to finish makes me feel cheated. The narration by JJ Hosenfeld is very good.

Really enjoyable and entertaining

Once I got used to the narrator it all really flowed and I had to know how the story ended. I did feel like the end of the story was a bit rushed but apart from that would really enjoy more books from this author and narraror