What Went Wrong With Oscar Toll? is not an actual case, but rather an imaginary one based on Charles’ years of first-hand experience in the secretive world of death penalty defense. Charles is mining another part of his legal career by writing a novel, tentatively titled Houseboat Wars, about a young lawyer enlisted to help a colorful but illegal San Francisco Bay houseboat community threatened with eviction. It’s a lot of fun for the young attorney until . . . there’s a murder.