A Matter of Life and Death by Phillip Margolin (ereader with dictionary TXT) 📕

Q&A at a book signing, I am often asked how I got the idea for my book. In the first section of A Matter of Life and Death, Robin Lockwood represents a man who is going through a sex change operation on a charge of prostitution. Transgender issues have featured prominently in the media in recent years, but I came in contact with them as a young lawyer in the 1970s when I represented a man who was transitioning to a woman who was charged with prostitution. One of the leading experts in the field was an Oregon doctor. His testimony was the key to getting a not guilty verdict.

To defend my client, I had to learn what a person who changes his or her sex goes through. It’s quite an ordeal, and I developed a lot of sympathy for people who go through the procedure. When I decided to revisit my case in this book, I contacted Amy Penkin at the Transgender Health Program at OHSU. She brought me up to speed on the changes that have occurred since the 1970s. I really appreciate the time she took to meet with me.

Later in A Matter of Life and Death, Robin cross-examines a fingerprint expert. In September of 2019, the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association held a seminar on forensic science. Gentry Roth of Mach 1 Forensics gave me a lot of the information about fingerprint identification. Thanks, Gentry, for taking the time to tell me what I needed to know to write this trial scene.

Dr. Don Girard and Dennis Balske, dear friends, also helped me with my research.

As always, I am extremely grateful to Jennifer Weltz, my agent and first reader, and to the terrific team at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.

My books are always joint endeavors, and my brilliant editor, Keith Kahla, gets a lot of the credit if you thought A Matter of Life and Death was an enjoyable read. If you didn’t, the fault is mine alone. I also want to thank Hector DeJean, Martin Quinn, Sally Richardson, Alice Pfeifer, Ken Silver, David Rotstein, Chris and Sara Ensey, and everyone else at St. Martin’s for their fantastic support.

Finally, I want to thank my fabulous wife, Melanie Nelson, for making me happy every day.

ALSO BY PHILLIP MARGOLIN

Heartstone

The Last Innocent Man

Gone, But Not Forgotten

After Dark

The Burning Man

The Undertaker’s Widow

The Associate

Sleeping Beauty

Lost Lake

Worthy Brown’s Daughter

Woman with a Gun

Vanishing Acts (with Ami Margolin Rome)

Amanda Jaffe Novels

Wild Justice

Ties That Bind

Proof Positive

Fugitive

Violent Crimes

Dana Cutler Novels

Executive Privilege

Supreme Justice

Capitol Murder

Sleight of Hand

Robin Lockwood Novels

The Third Victim

The Perfect Alibi

A Reasonable Doubt

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PHILLIP MARGOLIN has written over twenty novels, most of them New York Times bestsellers, including Gone But Not Forgotten, and the previous novels featuring Robin Lockwood, The Third Victim, The Perfect Alibi, and A Reasonable Doubt. In addition to being a novelist, he was a longtime criminal-defense attorney with decades of trial experience, including a large number of capital cases. Margolin lives in Portland, Oregon.

Visit the author’s website at

www.phillipmargolin.com, or sign up for email updates here.

or find him on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/PhillipMargolinAuthor.

    

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 CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Prologue

Part One. The Oldest Profession

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Part Two. No Holds Barred

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Part Three. A Matter of Life and Death

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Part Four. The Farm

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Part Five. The Wages of Sin

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-Two

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Four

Chapter Fifty-Five

Chapter Fifty-Six

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty-One

Acknowledgments

Also by Phillip Margolin

About the Author

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH. Copyright © 2021 by Phillip Margolin. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Cover design by Jonathan Bush

Cover art: judge © Comstock/Getty Images; wooden wall © Stockbyte/Getty Images

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-1-250-25842-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-250-25843-4 (ebook)

eISBN 9781250258434

Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

First Edition: 2021