Crime of Privilege

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE SACRAMENTO BEE

In the tradition of Scott Turow, William Landay, and Nelson DeMille, Crime of Privilege is a stunning thriller about power, corruption, and the law in America—and the dangerous ways they come together.
 
A murder on Cape Cod. A rape in Palm Beach.
 
All they have in common is the presence of one of America’s most beloved and influential families. But nobody is asking questions. Not the police. Not the prosecutors. And certainly not George Becket, a young lawyer toiling away in the basement of the Cape & Islands district attorney’s office. George has always lived at the edge of power. He wasn’t born to privilege, but he understands how it works and has benefitted from it in ways he doesn’t like to admit. Now, an investigation brings him deep inside the world of the truly wealthy—and shows him what a perilous place it is.
 
Years have passed since a young woman was found brutally slain at an exclusive Cape Cod golf club, and no one has ever been charged. Cornered by the victim’s father, George can’t explain why certain leads were never explored—leads that point in the direction of a single family—and he agrees to look into it.
 
What begins as a search through the highly stratified layers of Cape Cod society, soon has George racing from Idaho to Hawaii, Costa Rica to France to New York City. But everywhere he goes he discovers people like himself: people with more secrets than answers, people haunted by a decision years past to trade silence for protection from life’s sharp edges. George finds his friends are not necessarily still friends and a spouse can be unfaithful in more ways than one. And despite threats at every turn, he is driven to reconstruct the victim’s last hours while searching not only for a killer but for his own redemption.

Praise for Crime of Privilege
 
“Twisting, engrossing, irresistible.”—William Landay, author of Defending Jacob
 
“Stunning . . . an outstanding crime story.”—Library Journal (starred review)
 
“A terrifically entertaining race of a read . . . jam-packed with intelligence, insight, morality and heart. Top-notch and highly recommended!”—John Lescroart
 
“A gripping thriller . . . an unsettling, multilayered look at the insidious symbiosis between power and corruption.”—Maclean’s
 
“A legal thriller and a murder mystery cloaked in pure enjoyment . . . The author’s wit, dry and cutting, is razor-sharp.”—Bookreporter
 
“An engaging, very well-paced novel . . . exciting and unpredictable.”—Examiner.com

Walter Walker is a trial lawyer in San Francisco. He lives in Marin County, California, and on Cape Cod.