“Perfect Alibi”
Author: Sheldon Siegel
I’ve just finished reading “Perfect Alibi” by Sheldon Siegel and now I’m attempting to write its review. Unfortunately for me, I’m having some trouble with that. No, it’s not because I’m suffering from writer’s block. I’m just at a loss for words because the only thing running through my head right now is “Wow, what a great book!” Just for the record, heaping praise on a book isn’t my customary starting point in a review.
“Perfect Alibi” by Sheldon Siegel is the seventh installment in the Mike Daley Mystery series. In this episode Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez discover that their sixteen-year-old daughter’s boyfriend Bobby has been arrested for the alleged murder of his father who also happens to be a Superior Court judge. All the evidence seems to point to Bobby as the killer yet he is emphatic that “he didn’t do it” and their daughter Grace is his only alibi. Against their better judgment Mike and Rosie take the case. In an attempt to exonerate Bobby they wind their way through some of San Francisco’s seedier neighborhoods and in doing so they uncover a sex scandal involving some of the city’s more prominent citizens.
I found “Perfect Alibi” to be a fantastic read and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Siegel is an amazing writer and he has a way of deftly enveloping you in the story. This book is legal fiction and because of Siegel’s writing style I felt as if I was personally sitting in the courtroom watching the various proceedings. I liked that the book was written in the first person and I definitely enjoyed the sarcastic and sardonic thought processes of Mike Daley.
Overall, I would say this book is a five-star “must read.”