Publisher's Synopsis
"If John Grisham were a mom ... he'd be P.A. Moore." Kathy Dunnehoff, Amazon best-selling author of The Do Over. For Defalco & Defalco, murder is just another ho-hum part of their rural Montana law firm, a two-member establishment tucked above the local health food store. After moving their young family from a big city in California, these 'tall building' lawyers find themselves ostracized by the local attorneys. To make ends meet, the couple must switch sides of the courtroom, from former prosecutors putting bad guys in jail, to defense attorneys trying to get them out. Coming from a legal system that at least gave lip service to the U.S. Constitution, the stunned partners soon encounter an unscrupulous 'good old boy' network that infects Montana's criminal justice system - a handy benefit for the cops, lawyers, and judges, but often hazardous for the accused evildoers. As a mom, Paige Defalco abhors the thought of returning to a 60 hour a week work schedule. She's moved to the wilds of Montana to focus on her two kids but, like most parents, she can't escape the necessity of an income-producing job. So begins her juggling act ... When Paige accepts a job as a Kootenai County public defender, she heads to the local courthouse, daunted by the idea of representing criminals. Once inside, however, sitting in jail with client after client, each with his own story of unjust treatment by the 'Courthouse Cowboys', she realizes the line between good guys and bad guys isn't clear. Every one of them started life as an innocent, just like her own children. Because she refuses to plead everyone guilty, within a month Paige angers the judges (all two of them), the prosecutors (all six of them), the cops (in three towns), and her own colleagues (go-along, get-along officers of the court). Things slide further downhill when she rats out these legal lamebrains to the Montana Supreme Court and the ACLU, making her as popular as a malaria-ridden mosquito. In between kid sporting events and homework, Paige and husband Jack notice murder riddles peaceful Kootenai County, and the Defalcos land right in the middle of that controversy when Paige agrees to represent several of the alleged killers. One such client - disabled, 18-year-old, Ben Stagg - sits in Deer Lodge State Prison serving a 100-year sentence for a homicide he didn't commit. When Paige promises his parents she'll try to help get him out, she unravels illegal and unethical back-door machinations, unheard of except in the movies. Fighting to save her kid client from life and death behind bars, Paige finds herself threatened, investigated by the State Bar, and excoriated in the media. She unearths incest, abuse, and 'demon-possessed' attackers, enlists the help of a psychological expert in such things, and then she learns about Klinefelter's syndrome. That discovery changes everything. In Courthouse Cowboys, P.A. Moore mixes suspense, courtroom drama, and gallows humor into a fast-paced plot based in part on actual cases, public documents, and trial transcripts.
