Witness for the Defence

A young barrister's calculated future collides with an old love in this gripping Edwardian mystery. Henry Thresk has traded love for ambition. Raised to depend on a family that views him as lesser, he has carved his own path through the British legal system, seven years of relentless work toward becoming a barrister. A holiday in Sussex offers brief respite, but when he meets Stella Derrick, he refuses to let distraction derail him. Love can wait. Success cannot. Eight years later, Thresk is a respected lawyer in Bombay when a photograph stops his breath: Stella, married to Captain Ballantyne, a man twice her age, clever in politics and languages, and revealed to be a brutal tyrant. Before Thresk can devise her rescue, the captain is found dead, shot with his wife's rifle. Now Thresk stands as a witness for the defence, his career and freedom wagered on a woman he barely knows, and on truths that threaten to destroy them both. Mason transforms his own stage play into a novel of considerable craft, layering legal intrigue against colonial India with genuine moral weight. The result is a page-turner that asks what we owe those we've loved, and what we're willing to sacrifice to correct old wrongs.