Robin Lockwood is back in the third novel in this excellent legal suspense series, A Reasonable Doubt by bestselling author Phillip Margolin. Robin is fairly inexperienced as a practicing attorney, but was made a partner in a busy law office headed by famous criminal attorney, Regina Barrister, who has been forced to retire due to early onset Alzheimer’s. Robin is a Yale law graduate, and former MMA fighter, and while fairly new at prosecuting cases, holds her own. Years before, Regina defended a magician who was accused of two murders. Now he’s back performing onstage and has a new trick. He calls his old law firm to secure a patent on this new trick, and although the law firm can’t do the patent, Robin is invited to see the trick performed. Robert Chesterfield performs the trick perfectly, but disappears.

Margolin is an excellent storyteller, and knows how to build suspense. He is also good at developing his characters. Robin is likeable, as well as the supporting characters in the law firm. Robert Chesterfield is not at all likeable, and readers will have an instant dislike toward him. Readers aren’t the only ones who dislike him, though, because he is subsequently murdered in a bizarre string of events that seem impossible because the murder happens while he is onstage performing his amazing trick in front of an audience. Luckily Regina has some moments when she remembers things and when some of her legal brilliance shows through. This helps Robin with the case, and coupled with Robin’s expertise, there is a chance the case can be solved.

As usual, Margolin delivers an excellent thriller that will keep readers on the edges of their seats. This is a great series, and this novel is highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I typically like Margolin's books (I think I have read a few). The plot in this one was fun, and the format was interesting. Going back in time, and then forward let get to know the suspect/victim well.

I thought the random sex scenes were unnecessary, as were the pick up lines and comments from some characters were odd as well. Felt kind of like the setting was actually a bar in the 1950's or perhaps the 1980's if there was some kind of resurgence for the those type of sexual comments/pick up lines. Whatever it was, it didn't feel like it was part of the late 90's or the present time. Not because sex or pick up lines don't occur, but these felt dated and oddly placed.

I will admit I right away suspected the person who was guilty of Chesterfield's murder, but didn't figure out who she was until it was explained, so that was nice for someone who loves mysteries.

I read as a standalone and I suspect the first two dealt more with character Regina Barrister than Robin Lockwood, who appears to have taken over her spot in the Portland law firm.

When magician Robert Chesterfield appears at the offices looking for Regina, he is told she retired and is directed to Robin. But it's not a matter for Robin's expertise and after consulting with Regina regarding her former client says buh-bye. Regina takes us back twenty years to the case and introduces us to a number of new characters.

Back to Robin's reign, an invitation to appear for a special, private showing of Chesterfield's show-stopping trick does just that with his untimely death. More characters are introduced. That death seems to set off a spate of deaths, tied to the much earlier case. Robin coordinates with the local detectives, including Jeff, her new roommate with privileges and her investigator.

Chesterfield is not exactly a character you'll come to love and no one else did either. The storyline goes a bit off-track, becoming somewhat convoluted, with attempts at throwing in some red herrings.

First, I couldn't get into Robin's shoes and Jeff left me a bit cold. She is smart, strong (former MMA), independent, and deciding she doesn't need a backup, goes after the perp herself.

The plot didn't move with quite enough speed for me, slowing in the middle, losing my interest. While I do enjoy a legal thriller and certainly a mystery, this one doesn't really pull off the latter since it was guessed pretty early on. The conclusion wraps most loose threads but really at this point rather anti-climatic.

I received this digital download from the publisher through NetGalley and appreciated the opportunity to read. This author has quite a track record and perhaps it's just that this one didn't hit my buttons. 3..5/5 stars

In Philip Margolin’s latest legal thriller, Robin Lockwood, a former MMA fighter and Yale Law graduate (who appeared in Margolin’s recent books The Third Victim and The perfect alibi) joined a hotshot law firm shortly before attorney Regina Barrister (a recurring character in Margolin books) started deteriorating mentally due to Alzheimer’s. One of Regina’s former clients, a magician named Robert Chesterfield, shows up at the law firm seeking help from his old attorney in acquiring patent protection for a major new trick/illusion. Although this is out of the scope of the law firm’s normal areas of expertise, Robin looks into his previous relationship with the firm and finds that twenty years ago, he was arrested for two murders and one attempted murder, and was involved in the suspicious death of his very wealthy wife. Regina defended him, he resumed his career as a magician in Las Vegas, and now he’s back.

When he debuts his new trick, he disappears at the end, and the story revolves around whether his disappearance is related to one of the many people who have a reason to hate him, where his body is, and even whether he might possibly have faked his own disappearance and is alive somewhere.

TBH, I’ve been a Margolin fan for many years, but the past couple of books have been sort of meh for me. This one was kind of plodding and seemed to go in several directions while doing a lot of skipping around in time. The ending was predictable (and I’m someone who almost NEVER solves the mystery ahead of time). I do like Robin and have long enjoyed Margolin, otherwise it would be fewer than three stars, but…that’s all I can go on this one.Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for this honest review.

Magician Robert Chestfield appears in Robin Lockwood's office looking for help in acquiring a patent for a new illusion he has created. She's not sure she can help , but promises to look into it. What she finds is that Chestfield, once charged with two murders and an attempted murder, was defended by a former colleague of Robins ... Regina Barrister.

The story takes place in back and forth fashion, so the reader gets detailed information about that time 2o years before, Regina did successfully defend him, and Chestfield went on about his life.

Now, 20 years later, he debuts his new trick ... disappears from a coffin ...and never reappears.

Is his disappearance tied to one of the many people who have good reason to hate him? Was he killed and his body disposed of, or did he use his considerable skills to engineer his own disappearance?

There are many with reason to want the man dead ... including his former wife and present wife... collectors for a Las Vegas casino where Chestfield owes a large amount of money ... another professional magician whose most popular illusion was outed by Chestfield ..... a man who was embezzled by Chestfield and was never charged ... the daughter of his first wife after her mother died under suspicious circumstances .. the list goes on and on. This was not a well-liked man.

A bit different from this author's earlier books, nonetheless, the plot was tightly woven with a story within a story. The man characters are skillfully drawn ... with most of the spotlight on Regina and Chestfield. Robin plays a minor part until closer to the end. The suspects are many and varied and they all bear watching very closely.

Many thanks to the author / St Martin's Press / Minotaur Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction/legal thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Another FANTASTIC mystery by the master! Margolin brings back criminal lawyer Robin Lockwood for another great book. Margolin never disappoints his readers.

At the outset I have to say, I really love books by Phillip Margolin, and this one was no exception. He is an auto-buy author for me, especially with his recent legal books featuring Robin Lockwood. Although there are two books before this one, I think it could likely read as a stand alone as well.

This is the third in his Robin Lockwood series, and features not only Robin, but her mentor Regina Barrister too. The book begins in the present, with a shocking event, and then moves backward to the past. Throughout the book the story moves back and forth from past to present, chronicling the actions of a magician, Robert Chesterfield, and how criminal allegations and suspicious activities have led him to retain both women over two time frames.

Robert Chesterfield, a professional magician, is a man with enemies, and as the story moves forward you begin to wonder who among these enemies can be trusted and who is suspect. His character was very intriguing and entertaining, you feel the need to see what happens to him.

Robert is involved in multiple murder investigations, and initially retains Regina to help him. Years later he comes to Robin to retain her to assist with patenting a magic trick to reclaim his fame. As the book moves forward, the past and the present collide and leads to a very intriguing mystery.

I thought the story was captivating and I honestly didn’t know how it would end. While I always enjoy the characters of Regina and Robin, the other cast of characters in this book really made the story. Even though Robert was far from perfect, his actions made the book interesting, and his work as a magician added an extra element to the story. Margolin does a great job creating complexities for Robert without making the reader dislike him and without him appearing unrealistic.

I would recommend this as a fun mystery with legal elements. I thoroughly enjoyed the pace of the book, and felt that it was just as good as all of Margolin’s past ventures. The only drawback is that I now have to wait for the next one to be released.

This was a four star book for me and I thank Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced copy for review.

A Reasonable Doubt is the 3rd Robin Lockwood mystery by Phillip Margolin. Released 10th March 2020 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and available in hardcover, mass market paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

This is ostensibly a crime thriller with a lawyer protagonist. She's a former mixed martial arts fighter as well as a trial lawyer and part time sleuth. The plot is engagingly twisy but tended to wander a bit and flip back and forth between the present day and earlier plotlines without much delineation.

This is also the third book in the series and having read this one as a standalone, I found myself having a difficult time building a rapport with the characters. I'm sure fans of the earlier books won't have the same problem, but some of the secondary characters were difficult for me to keep track of.

The main plot arc included a lot of stage magic, illusions, and the show people who make the tricks work. I have always been fascinated by illusion and stage tricks and enjoyed that part of the plot. The author also includes some legal procedural content which I found fascinating (he's a former trial lawyer, so seems to know what he's talking about).

While the author is undeniably gifted and writes engagingly, for me the plot got bogged down in secondary (and tertiary) plot threads mostly concerning what a jerk the murdered magician was and how much he deserved his fate.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

This is the third in the series featuring Robin Lockwood and, while best read in order, it works well as a stand alone. Robin is an interesting character, being a former MMA fighter and a top notch lawyer. Regina, her former boss, has had to retire from the firm due to the onset of Alzheimer's. One day a former client of Regina's (known to many as the Sorceress due to her wizardry in the courtroom) shows up and wants her to help him patent a magic trick because Lord chesterfield is an illusionist. One with a very shady past which includes suspicion of murder. Back in 1998 Regina had defended him against those charges. Now Robin, an equally sharp lawyer, has crossed paths with him.
I don't want to risk giving any spoilers so I will just say that I usually don't really enjoy mysteries that change time periods, etc. but I happily make an exception for this one. Not only is the puzzle a very enjoyable and complicated, twisted one, the fact that it involves magic makes it a winner for me. I also like the setting of Portland, OR, an area I'm familiar with. If you like court room drama, police procedural, strong female characters, Agatha Christie and magic, give this one a try. For me it was reading time very well spent.
My thanks to the publisher MacMillan and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy.

i was given this book from netgalley and publisher for an honest review and opinion.
i have read many books by this author and have followed the robin lockwood series from the begining. i was excited to receive this book to review because it has been on my rader for a while. the author did not disappoint!
the book was page turning and gripping from the first couple of pages. i did not want to put the book down. i liked the idea of a magician being charged and than released on murder charges only to disappear. there are a lot of characters that it does tend to get confusing but i feel like the author does that a lot and i didn't find it hard to follow but sometimes had to back track to make sure i remember what was going on.
if you are looking for a good thriller check out this one. i feel like it is more murder mystery of who did it than a legal thriller.

Disclaimer: I have been sent a copy of this book for review purposes. This has not influenced or affected my opinions in this review.

A Reasonable Doubt is a complicated twisting tale which gets more curious by the page. From the very first sentence you immediately descend into the chaos of the investigation. This is one of those books which I flew through and pretty much read in one sitting. With every new chapter, there are new layers of mystery and chaos which are being piled on top of each other. However, A Reasonable Doubt can sometimes come across as a bit confusing. Nevertheless, I was on tenterhooks throughout reading this. The ending is one I did not see coming. If you enjoy a thriller completely filled with twists and turns and added levels of mystery with each chapter, then I highly recommend this book to you.

*3 stars*

Thanks to Minotaur Books/ St. Martins Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. I've read many of Philip Margolin's books in the past and always enjoyed them. This is my first in the Robin Lockwood series, even though this is book 3 in the series. I found it perfectly fine as a stand alone. It is labeled as a legal thriller but I didn't find it much of a legal thriller versus a who did it mystery. I found there to be far too many characters in the book, leading to confusion and by the end of the book I honestly didn't care who did it! Sorry, but I don't think this is one of Margolin's better novels.

I read and enjoyed the first two books in this series so I was happy to read this new entry. I enjoyed it as much as the first two. I like Margolin's style of writing and the great characters in these books. The pacing of the book is good, the characters likable, and the story interesting.

This book had a unique twist with the premise of magic thrown in. It was interesting seeing stories of the magician from two different time periods. There were lots of clues and an intriguing mystery. I did manage to guess 'whodunnit' shortly before the reveal.

This is a good old-fashioned mystery!

Unfortunately, the plot blurb is the best part of A Reasonable Doubt.

I love the plot. A magician, formerly charged and released on murder charges, disappears while performing his latest trick.

However, the book itself felt disjointed and disorganized. Timelines are juggled as both the magician and his former attorney’s tales are told. Maybe it’s just me. I enjoyed the previous book in the series, Perfect Alibi, much more. Hopefully, other readers will like A Reasonable Doubt more than I did. For me, 3 stars.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve read several books by Phillip Margolin. I like his writing style. Easy to read and faced paced so it makes it fun to look forward to. I highly recommend this book.

The book had a very nice background to it which was unusual. It was magic and illusion at the very highest level. Chesterfield considered himself the very best, but he was greedy - he came from a very poor and harsh background and he made up a story that he was from an aristocratic home. He married well and was determined to get his hands on a fortune as well.

He also had a gambling problem which he thought he could wish away but would not go away with increasing debts. When he was indicted for murder he turned to a law firm and the lawyer who had got him free on two previous charges of murder. It seemed so suspicious when he was indicted for the third time. There seemed to be a pattern for the murders but Robin Lockwood was clever and the defense was very poorly prepared and so Chesterfield got away with it once again.

But his end was coming soon and when he was killed in front of a huge audience with no clues as to how it was done and by whom, Robin was again in charge of the case and through a clever process of detection and deduction the trail was found and followed.

The story runs between two time lines - that of Regina's defense of Chesterfield years ago and then coming to Robin's defense of today. It was not exactly confusing but may have been done with less of the past and more of the present.

The story is a quick read and the final outcome was a surprise.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of A Reasonable Doubt. I have not read anything by Phillip Margolin before, but I will definitely look for more. I really enjoyed this book even though it is the third in a series. I like a fast, plot-driven novel and this definitely fits the bill.

I received a free electronic ARC of this modern legal mystery/police procedural on February 22, 2020, from Netgalley, Phillip Margolin, and Minotaur Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. If you love Oregon or don't know anything at all about it, you will love it by tales end. Phillip Margolin tours us through the best parts of Portland with warm descriptive passages that make you need to visit.

Robin Lockwood had been the first girl in her state to place in a boy's high school wrestling championship and competed in her university fielded top NCAA Division I squad, she is an exercise guru and runner, and a top of her class legal master. You just have to root for her throughout this tale of woe.

A Reasonable Doubt is the third in Phillip Margolin's Robin Lockwood legal thrillers. If you enjoy mysteries surrounding magicians, this book is for you. Robin has an intense and thorough legal mind and has been added to the roster of Portland, Oregon lawyers in the firm that originally included Regina Barrister, now retired. In March of 2017, British citizen Roger Chesterfield approaches the firm looking for Regina, to handle a 'little problem'. Regina had been able to help him out of another little problem years ago and he remembered her fondly. Finding her retired, he pays a retainer to the firm of Barrister, Berman & Lockwood to assist him in obtaining a Copywrite for his latest magic act, The Chamber of Death, before he began using it in his Las Vegas act. Oh, and he might be needing a 'top-flight criminal attorney very soon. Robin accepts a retainer on the copyright problem but does not commit the firm to any criminal work until she has some facts.

Which was a good thing - everybody and his Uncle are after Roger Chesterfield, from Las Vegas mob boss and his debt collectors, ex-wives, and most of the magicians you can bring to mind. Currently, he is suspected by Westmont Country Club of cheating at cards, making passes at most of the staff and some of the wives, and expecting his current wife to foot all his bills. Jane Dowd is loved and respected by everyone who knew her and her super-wealthy deceased first husband, and the club is not slow in circling round to protect Lily. Unfortunately Lily cannot see through the charm, and the couple withdrew their participation in the Country Club, removing Lily from her circle of supporters.

And Regina, though much is fuzzy in her current memory, remembers that the case she had covered for Roger - two murders in 1997-1998 - he slipped out of serving time for due to a technicality. Her advice to Robin - don't trust Roger Chesterfield.

And then new murders start turning up, including one at the
Westmont Country Club. Portland Police detectives Martin Quinlan and Roger Dillon are excellent in their coverage of these new murders and a couple of older ones, but brash Peter Ragland, the spoiled son of an old well-loved DA, manages to give the cases away through shoddy work.

But then there are more dead bodies...

This was the first book that I have read by this author and it will not be the last. I enjoyed this book.

The premise of this story was interesting - magic, murder and mayhem, some interesting, exceedingly bright and talented people, some equally dull and warped, all wrapped in a mystery. The Prologue introduces the protagonist, Robin Lockwood as she examines the illusion and the crime to be solved. A few pages into the book she says “giving away the secret behind a magician’s trick should be a criminal offense”. Hmm the irony is that this is precisely what she has to accomplish to solve the ultimate case.

I was interested but as I read on I became less involved and attributed it to the writer’s style.
I found the dialogue in this book off-putting. It was stilted, jerky and often simplistic . Who ever heard of a District Attorney going out to arrest a suspect and “cuffing them”. No once but twice. Really?! There were so many unnecessary uncomfortable “things” thrown in that added nothing to the story.

While I thought this book could have been better it was neither a total hit nor a total miss. Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books/ St. Martin’s Press for a copy.