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Informationen zum Autor The #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark wrote over forty suspense novels, four collections of short stories, a historical novel, a memoir, and two children’s books. With bestselling author Alafair Burke she wrote the Under Suspicion series including The Cinderella Murder , All Dressed in White , The Sleeping Beauty Killer , Every Breath You Take , You Don’t Own Me , and Piece of My Heart . With her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, she coauthored five suspense novels. More than one hundred million copies of her books are in print in the United States alone. Her books are international bestsellers.Alafair Burke is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels, including The Better Sister , The Wife , The Ex , and Find Me , in addition to the Under Suspicion series, coauthored with Mary Higgins Clark. A former prosecutor, she now teaches criminal law and lives in New York City. Klappentext In the third thrilling installment in the bestselling Under Suspicion series from #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Clark and Burke, TV producer Laurie Moran puts everything on the line to help a woman she thinks was wrongfully convicted of murder. The Sleeping Beauty Killer Prologue Will the defendant please rise? Casey’s knees wobbled as she rose from her chair. She stood with perfect posture—shoulders back, gaze ahead—but her feet felt unsteady beneath her. The defendant. For three weeks, everyone in this courtroom had referred to her as “the defendant.” Not Casey. Not her given name, Katherine Carter. Certainly not Mrs. Hunter Raleigh III, the name she would have taken by now if everything had been different. In this room, she’d been treated as a legal term, not as a real person, a person who had loved Hunter more deeply than she’d ever thought possible. When the judge gazed down from the bench, Casey suddenly felt smaller than her five-foot-seven frame. She was a terrified child in a bad dream, staring up at an all-powerful wizard. The judge’s next words sent a chill through her entire body. Madame Foreperson, have you agreed upon a unanimous verdict? A woman’s voice responded. “Yes, Your Honor.” The big moment was finally here. Three weeks ago, twelve residents of Fairfield County had been selected to decide whether Casey would go free or spend the rest of her life in prison. Either way, she’d never have the future she’d envisioned. She would never be married to Hunter. Hunter was gone. Casey could still see the blood when she closed her eyes at night. Casey’s lawyer, Janice Marwood, had warned her against trying to read anything into the jurors’ facial expressions, but Casey could not resist. She stole a glance at the forewoman, who was short and plump with a soft, gentle face. She looked like someone Casey’s mother would sit next to at church picnics. Casey remembered from voir dire that the woman had two daughters and a son. She was a new grandmother. Surely a mother and grandmother would see Casey as a human being, not simply a defendant. Casey searched the forewoman’s face for some sign of hope, but saw nothing but a blank expression. The judge spoke again. Madame Foreperson, would you please read the verdict into the record? The pause that followed felt like an eternity. Casey craned her neck to scan the crowd seated in the courtroom. Directly behind the prosecution table sat Hunter’s father and brother. A little less than a year ago, she was going to join their family. Now they stared at her like a sworn enemy. She quickly looked away to “her...
