ULTIMATE JUSTICE: A Novel Hardcover - 1999

From the publisher

This gripping new legal thriller by Mimi Latt, former trial lawyer and the author of "Pursuit of Justice" and "Powers of Attorney," is about an idealistic Deputy D.A. embroiled in the reinvestigation of a twenty-year-old case -- when new evidence comes to light that implicates her own father in a shocking crime.

Young, attractive, and ambitious, Alexandra Locke left New York, where she had a promising career as a prosecutor, in order to be with her dying mother in Los Angeles. Known to be tough but fair, she is a rising star in her field and devoted to her job. But family, and especially her mother, come first, so Alexandra hesitatingly accepts a position in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office -- where her father Thomas Kendell is District Attorney. For both father and daughter, it is an uncomfortable situation; for the other attorneys in the office, it smacks of nepotism. For the first time in her career, Alexandra finds herself on the outs with her peers.

While visiting her mother in the hospital, Alexandra hears the stunning deathbed confession of another patient, a woman who claims that Alexandra's father was involved in a shocking, long-forgotten murder and cover-up. When Alexandra checks up on the woman's extraordinary story, she finds that the death in question was determined to be an accident -- a conclusion that even the family of the dead man agrees with. Her father is dismissive of the entire incident -- his mind is on the upcoming primary and his own re-election, and he wants no outside distractions, especially one that might implicate him in a possible past crime. Alexandra is about to give up her investigation when she suddenly finds herself introuble with the law herself: police, acting on an anonymous tip, have searched her apartment and uncovered a stash of drugs. Someone is desperate to keep her from digging any further into the past and is willing to go to any lengths to warn her away from reopening the case. Instead of being scared away, Alexandra is more determined than ever to find out what "really" happened that day over twenty years before.

Was it really just a hunting accident that left the father of two young children dead in the woods? Or was it murder -- a crime of passion in which the dead man's best friend shot him down in cold blood? The deeper Alexandra digs, the more questions arise and the more complicated, puzzling, and dangerous the mystery grows. As Alexandra digs deeper, she soon finds herself drawn into a web of family secrets so dark that she wonders if even her father knows the entire truth -- and what his part was in it.

As Alexandra races against time, she is forced to confront demons of her own -- her strained relationship with her father, made even more so by the recent events; a strong attraction to a former lover, now a high-powered attorney, conflicting with her attraction to the handsome, brooding son of the dead man; and attempts by a jealous and power-hungry woman in the D.A.'s office to discredit her and her investigation.

Filled with fascinating characters, riveting action, and surprising twists and turns, "Ultimate Justice" is a legal thriller that holds the reader's attention to the last page.