A Clear Conscience
by By Fyfield, Frances
Category: Fiction , Mystery & Detective , General

Fyfield takes us back into the life and world of Helen West, Prosecutor for the Crown. Overwhelmed by her own crisis of faith, Helen has put her beliefs - in the law, in her job, in herself - under the razor-sharp attorney's scrutiny she normally saves for the witness stand. What she finds is that winning her cases no longer triggers the satisfaction and excitement it once did. Frustrated with justice-by-the-rules, haunted by the "knowledge of guilt and misery" it gives her, and surrounded by people in both her professional and personal lives who believe that the rules can work only by being stretched, Helen is beginning to think they may be right.Now - as if someone had designed a test case for her - Helen becomes involved in the private and legal life of a battered woman whose shockingly dire circumstances might, to some minds, be deemed excuse enough for even the most gruesome crime. As the "truth" about the woman's actions is revealed - piece by piece, version by version - Helen must confront the arrogance and cynicism that have crept up around her sense of compassion and justice, and that may have skewed her judgment, shrouding her conscience in order to keep it clear...