From Library Journal
The loyalty of suspense and mystery fans is not fickle, so long as the author produces credible characters and allows them to develop; humor and a certain feckless quality in a major character are lagniappe and much appreciated. Cruel Justice is just such a treat. Tulsa defense lawyer Ben Kincaid finds himself with a hopeless case. His client is a mentally challenged, confessed killer. Moreover, there's a serial killer on the loose in the city, Ben's sister hands him a baby and disappears, and his mother comes to town. Ben and his helpers scramble against the clock to develop a defense for his client. The author plays fair, dropping clues in all the right places and building the scaffolding for the sequel. If the humor is occasionally a bit broad and the minor characters a bit one-dimensional, true genre fans won't care; they will be too busy hunting for Bernhardt's previous books (e.g., Double Jeopardy, Ballantine, 1995) and waiting for the next. For all popular collections.-?Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Here Bernhardt reintroduces attorney Ben Kinkaid, absent from his previous book, Double Jeopardy , to star in another superb legal thriller. Bernhardt is expert at maintaining a keep-'em-guessin' quality as Kinkaid, a lawyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, becomes involved in a an old murder case: a woman was found impaled by a golf club in the country-club caddy shack. One of the caddies was incarcerated, but because of problems stemming from his limited mental faculties, he is being brought to trial 10 years after the murder occurred. Kinkaid reluctantly takes the case, for a voice keeps telling him he needs to pursue a practice loftier than representing "hard-luck stories." Meanwhile, a rash of child molestation and murder has thrown the city into a panic. Twists and turns and several subplots only add to the deliciousness of the complicated story line as Kinkaid unearths connections between Tulsa's upper crust and the city's drug-dealing underworld. Those very connections eventually answer the question of who really was the golf club^-wielding murderer. Wonderfully diverting reading. Brad Hooper


Book Description
"A thoroughly entertaining page-turner."
--Phillip Margolin

Leeman Hayes, a black teenager in Tulsa, is accused of brutally murdering a young woman. As attorney Ben Kincaid struggles to pull together a defense, a young boy is falling into the clutches of a child molester. Ten-year-old Abie Rutherford, lonely and desperate for approval, thinks the handsome, smiling stranger in the baseball cap might be that friend he has longed for.

When Abie Rutherford vanishes without a trace one hot summer day, Ben Kincaid, like everyone else in Tulsa, fears the worst. Then a bone-chilling discovery compels Ben to forge a link between the missing boy and the seemingly hopeless case of Leeman Hayes--thereby igniting the fuse for the most explosive courtroom case of Ben's career.

"An enthralling murder mystery . . . The ending is both surprising and explosive."
--The Sunday Oklahoman


From the Publisher
The authors I edit tend to attract devoted -- one might even say passionate -- readers. And readers who relay the depth of their passion in letters. William Bernhardt is one perennial recipient of zealous fan mail. (One admirer wrote that she has "never been much of a novel reader. In fact, the last entire book that I can remember reading was TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, when I was in high school." But a friend handed her CRUEL JUSTICE -- and she "just simply could not put it down."

A more recent example of this ardor came in a letter from a U. S. Army private stationed in Bosnia:

"I've been in country for six months now. During the day we are occupied with all kinds of work, but at night we try to come up with anything fun that would keep our minds off the fact that we are isolated from our families, disconnected from our lives back home, and jeopardize our lives being in Bosnia. Our amusements are limited to reading, watching old movies, playing games, and listening to music. I have never been a reader. As a matter of fact, I hate reading. But after looking through our miniature library, I discovered CRUEL JUSTICE. I thought I'd give it a try. . . After reading the first five chapters of your novel, I couldn't put it down. I read it during my breaks, during meal times, during my free time, and before going to bed. . . It took me only four days to read CRUEL JUSTICE. Now a book that's 464 pages would usually take me at least two weeks to read. But your book is so clever that I just didn't want to put it down. . . Thank you for sharing your talents with everyone. You have a great gift."

Needless to say, once I learned about this soldier's enthusiasm for William Bernhardt, I arranged for copies of other Bernhardt novels to be sent his way.

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher


From the Inside Flap
"A thoroughly entertaining page-turner."
--Phillip Margolin

Leeman Hayes, a black teenager in Tulsa, is accused of brutally murdering a young woman. As attorney Ben Kincaid struggles to pull together a defense, a young boy is falling into the clutches of a child molester. Ten-year-old Abie Rutherford, lonely and desperate for approval, thinks the handsome, smiling stranger in the baseball cap might be that friend he has longed for.

When Abie Rutherford vanishes without a trace one hot summer day, Ben Kincaid, like everyone else in Tulsa, fears the worst. Then a bone-chilling discovery compels Ben to forge a link between the missing boy and the seemingly hopeless case of Leeman Hayes--thereby igniting the fuse for the most explosive courtroom case of Ben's career.

"An enthralling murder mystery . . . The ending is both surprising and explosive."
--The Sunday Oklahoman

ANNOTATION

The fifth novel in the legal thriller series starring attorney Ben Kincaid--by the author of this month's new hardcover, Naked Justice. A 10-year-old case of brutal murder at a posh country club. A 10-year-old boy who has vanished and is feared to be the victim of a child molester. When Ben Kincaid discovers the shocking link between these cases, it ignites his most explosive courtroom confrontation. HC: Ballantine. (Fiction--Mystery)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Ten years before, Leeman Hayes, a black teenager, was accused of brutally beating a young woman with a golf club at a posh country club in Tulsa. Kinks in the legal system have kept Leeman locked up without a verdict for a decade. Now the case is finally going back to court, and Ben Kincaid has stumbled into the job of defense attorney. But what possible chance does he stand against Tulsa's crack prosecutor, Jack Bullock? Nothing short of a miracle is going to save Leeman Hayes from the death sentence.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

The loyalty of suspense and mystery fans is not fickle, so long as the author produces credible characters and allows them to develop; humor and a certain feckless quality in a major character are lagniappe and much appreciated. Cruel Justice is just such a treat. Tulsa defense lawyer Ben Kincaid finds himself with a hopeless case. His client is a mentally challenged, confessed killer. Moreover, there's a serial killer on the loose in the city, Ben's sister hands him a baby and disappears, and his mother comes to town. Ben and his helpers scramble against the clock to develop a defense for his client. The author plays fair, dropping clues in all the right places and building the scaffolding for the sequel. If the humor is occasionally a bit broad and the minor characters a bit one-dimensional, true genre fans won't care; they will be too busy hunting for Bernhardt's previous books (e.g., Double Jeopardy, Ballantine, 1995) and waiting for the next. For all popular collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/95.]-Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.

BookList - Brad Hooper

Here Bernhardt reintroduces attorney Ben Kinkaid, absent from his previous book, "Double Jeopardy" , to star in another superb legal thriller. Bernhardt is expert at maintaining a keep-'em-guessin' quality as Kinkaid, a lawyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, becomes involved in a an old murder case: a woman was found impaled by a golf club in the country-club caddy shack. One of the caddies was incarcerated, but because of problems stemming from his limited mental faculties, he is being brought to trial 10 years after the murder occurred. Kinkaid reluctantly takes the case, for a voice keeps telling him he needs to pursue a practice loftier than representing "hard-luck stories." Meanwhile, a rash of child molestation and murder has thrown the city into a panic. Twists and turns and several subplots only add to the deliciousness of the complicated story line as Kinkaid unearths connections between Tulsa's upper crust and the city's drug-dealing underworld. Those very connections eventually answer the question of who "really" was the golf clubwielding murderer. Wonderfully diverting reading.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING