Blood Perfect: A Joe Turner Mystery

Criminal Defense Attorney Joe Turner finds himself defending a man who seems all too guilty in Blood Perfect. When Joe hears from Amanda “the one who got away” Kensey, she is reaching out to him to let him know there is a gardener that her mother knows who needs a defense attorney. The man, Allston Walker, is accused of stabbing his landlord over a late rent payment. The landlord claims he was sleeping at the time and that Mr. Walker came in and stabbed him with a knife. Walker says he didn’t do it, however, his deadpan personality and lack of willingness to help Joe make this case a tough one. With shady characters who seem to know something but are keeping their mouths shut, Joe really has his work cut out for him. Joe starts falling for Amanda all over again and she seems to be falling for him. With romance in the air, Joe finds himself distracted, thinking about Amanda. He knows he needs to hustle to find evidence or witnesses to prove his client is innocent though.

Blood Perfect is written extremely well with an excellent plot and colorful characters. Joe Turner is both self-loathing and sarcastic which makes him the perfect defense attorney. Many times, when there is court dialogue included in a story, the author gets carried away with all of the legal jargon. In Blood Perfect, the chapters that take place in the courtroom are easy to read and easy to follow. I felt this made the story flow more smoothly and connected the dots so that the reader could see what Joe’s next move should be. Does he need another witness? Is something missing that he overlooked?

Because this book is part of a series, one might think it would be difficult to understand Joe as a character without reading the other books. This is not the case. Blood Perfect reads well as a standalone book and the author gives the reader some of Joe’s history without pausing the main story. Joe’s backstory about his father being killed and how the author integrates Joe’s father’s best friend, Matt into the story really helps the reader to get to know a little more about Joe and his upbringing.

Overall, Blood Perfect is a fantastic read for fans of courtroom drama, light detective work, and endings with a twist. This book will keep you interested from cover to cover.