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'Impressive and unique. As relevant today as it was over two decades ago' Bernardine Evaristo, from the Introduction
A gripping, propulsive courtroom thriller following barrister Lee Mitchell as she uncovers the dark secrets of London's obscenely rich
Lee Mitchell is a thirty-year-old barrister from a working-class Caribbean background: in the cut-throat environment of the courtroom, everything is stacked against her.
After she takes on the high-profile case of notorious millionaire playboy Clive Omartian - arrested along with his father and stepbrother for eye-wateringly exorbitant fraud - the line between her personal and professional life becomes dangerously blurred.
Spiralling further into Clive's trail of debauchery and corruption, she finds herself in alarmingly deep waters.
Can she survive her case, let alone win it?
Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.
About the author
Nicola Williams started her career as a barrister in private practice, specializing in criminal law. She was a member of the first Independent Advisory Group to the Metropolitan Police Service and has been a part-time Crown Court judge since 2010. She is the author of three legal thrillers. Without Prejudice was selected for the Black Britain: Writing Back series by Bernardine Evaristo and Until Proven Innocent was the winner of the Diverse Book Awards Readers’ Choice Award 2024. Killer Instinct is her latest novel.Bernardine Evaristo, MBE, is the award-winning author of eight books of fiction and verse fiction that explore aspects of the African diaspora.
Her novel Girl, Woman, Other made her the first black woman to win the Booker Prize in 2019, as well winning the Fiction Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards in 2020, where she also won Author of the Year, and the Indie Book Award. She also became the first woman of colour and black British writer to reach No.1 in the UK paperback fiction chart in 2020.
In 2025 she was awarded the Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution Award. Her other awards and honours include an MBE in 2009 and an OBE in 2020. Her writing spans reviews, essays, drama and radio, and she has edited and guest-edited national publications, including The Sunday Time's Style magazine.
Bernardine is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University, London, and President of the Royal Society of Literature. She lives in London with her husband.
www.bevaristo.com
Summary
'Impressive and unique. As relevant today as it was over two decades ago' Bernardine Evaristo, from the Introduction
A gripping, propulsive courtroom thriller following barrister Lee Mitchell as she uncovers the dark secrets of London's obscenely rich
Lee Mitchell is a thirty-year-old barrister from a working-class Caribbean background: in the cut-throat environment of the courtroom, everything is stacked against her.
After she takes on the high-profile case of notorious millionaire playboy Clive Omartian - arrested along with his father and stepbrother for eye-wateringly exorbitant fraud - the line between her personal and professional life becomes dangerously blurred.
Spiralling further into Clive's trail of debauchery and corruption, she finds herself in alarmingly deep waters.
Can she survive her case, let alone win it?
Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.
Report
An exciting legal thriller . . . [Williams] interweaves a textured social commentary Bad Form
