An insignificant case : a thriller / Phillip Margolin.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A new standalone legal thriller from the international bestselling author of GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

Charlie Webb is a third rate lawyer who graduated from a third rate law-school and, because he couldn't get hired by any of the major law firms, has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court appointed cases. Described as "a leaky boat floating down the stream of life," Charlie has led unremarkable life, personally and professionally. Until he's appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested - again - for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he's also an accomplished card shark and burglar and while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner's safe.

Not knowing what else Sabatani has stolen, Webb negotiates the return of the painting and "other items' for the owner dropping charges against Sabatini. But the contents of the flash drive threatens very powerful figures who are determined to retrieve it, the restaurant owner (Gretchen Hall) and her driver (Yuri Makarov) are being investigated for the sex trafficking of minors, and there are others who have a violent grudge against Sabatini. When a minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie Webb, an insignificant lawyer assigned to an insignificant case, is faced with the most important, and deadliest, case of his life. Going back to his long-time bestselling roots, Phillip Margolin returns with a brilliant standalone legal thriller in the tradition of John Grisham.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Margolin (Betrayal) delivers a far-fetched legal thriller about an Oregon attorney who gets tangled up in an ever more ominous web of organized crime. Charlie Webb has led an undistinguished career after graduating from a third-rate law school. Things change when restaurant owner Gretchen Hall and her associate, Yuri Makarov, are found murdered in a park near downtown Portland, with a painting partially covering Gretchen's corpse. The artist, Guido Sabatini, is arrested for the killings, because he'd recently broken into Gretchen's restaurant to steal back his painting and, in the process, ended up with a flash drive full of evidence that she and Yuri were sex trafficking young girls. Guido hires Charlie to defend him, thrusting the lawyer into his first high-stakes case. As Charlie fights to keep Guido free, he learns that some of the Pacific Northwest's most powerful people belonged to Gretchen's sex trafficking ring, and they'll stop at nothing to keep their secrets hidden. What begins as a captivating, noir-tinted tale grows increasingly absurd as the twists stack up, culminating in a dreary conclusion sure to make readers groan. This squanders its potential. (Nov.)

Booklist Review

After seven books in the Robin Lockwood series, perhaps Margolin was in the mood for something different, or perhaps he found a story that wouldn't work as a Lockwood novel. At any rate, this stand-alone legal thriller is terrific. It features a mediocre lawyer, Charlie Webb, who specializes in mediocre cases, mostly involving people from his, shall we say, undistinguished past. When Charlie, acting as a court-appointed attorney, takes on the case of an artist who's been arrested for stealing a painting (his own--it's complicated), he doesn't anticipate the sort of dark dealings he's going to uncover, and he certainly doesn't expect that this will be the case that will change his life. In many ways this book is a blast from the past: Margolin, a criminal defense attorney, got his literary start in the 1990s writing compelling, memorable legal thrillers (his first two novels were Gone, but Not Forgotten and After Dark). This reads a lot like those early works. He might not be as well-known as John Grisham, but Margolin is just as talented a storyteller, and this winning novel showcases his gifts for plotting and character design.

Kirkus Book Review

After an unusually bumpy ride, an unprepossessing Portland lawyer comes into his own. Charlie Webb was a mediocre student who graduated from a third-tier law school and now runs a modest practice. He's exactly the sort of nothing-burger attorney you'd expect the court to appoint to represent Lawrence Weiss, who calls himself Guido Sabatini and tells everyone he's the reincarnation of an Italian Renaissance painter. Weiss/Sabatini has been arrested after breaking into Gretchen Hall's restaurant, La Bella Roma, to steal back the painting he sold her for $500 because he's incensed to hear that it's stashed away in her office instead of hanging in the dining room for everyone to enjoy. Charlie quickly negotiates a deal that will set his client free if he returns the painting. But the case is more complicated than he realizes, for in addition to reclaiming his painting, Weiss, or Sabatini, also opened Gretchen's safe and helped himself to a thumb drive he thought might be interesting. Since the drive turns out to contain information that links Gretchen to a dastardly series of crimes, the stakes of this insignificant case rise exponentially. And that's all before a shooting that will force a very unwilling Charlie to defend his first client, who's now charged with murder. Margolin deals out the complications as deftly as a card shark, and if the revelation of the actual culprit, whose identity is the least surprising feature of the story, seems to come unduly early, don't worry: He has plenty more tricks up his sleeve. An inventive legal thriller that manages to spend remarkably little time in the courtroom. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.