The Color of Justice was a fantastic read! I ended up listening to the audiobook I borrowed from the library instead of reading my e-review copy and it was such a good listen! The narrator was amazing.

I was drawn into the story right away and I loved how it was written. I kept trying to figure out what the truth was and, I've got to say, the ending SHOCKED me!

All in all, The Color of Justice was a great read and I recommend it to fans of mysteries.

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I received a free copy from NetGalley. A white lawyer in the 60s has to protect his family and loses his other clients in order to defend a black man that he thinks is innocent. Not too different from other stores of this type. The twist comes when his grandson comes back to the same small town years later and you get to see what did and didn't change as a result of that 60's lawyer's work. An interesting mystery and law story.

This was a story of racism in the deep South of America. A young black man is accused of killing a young white women. The attorney who takes the case on, is compelled by his upbringing as a pastors son, to use his beliefs to prove the innocence of he accused. After the case is finished the book moves forward to the grandson of the attorney and what really happened next. Thrilling styory.

Ace Collins takes us back to a bitterly divided South in The Color of Justice, a novel about a young black man accused of murdering the teenage daughter of a prominent white family. When the young man's mother tearfully seeks the assistance of Coop Lindsay, a young white attorney whose family has deep roots in their small Mississippi town, Coop is just intrigued enough to consider representing Martin. It doesn't take long for Coop to figure out that the evidence against Martin is fishy.



Nevertheless, the whole town, at least all the white people in town, are convinced that Martin is guilty. As word gets around that Coop will be defending him, the town turns against him, even burning a cross in his yard. Coop finds an unlikely ally in a local millionaire, whose old money runs the town.



The Color of Justice takes a jarring turn about two-thirds of the way through. The trial concludes, but Collins jumps forward from 1964 to 2014, when Coop's grandson, also named Coop, comes to town. His purpose is to look into the 1964 murder case, but he gets drafted to assist with a new murder mystery. We learn that the first Coop, along with Martin, disappeared as soon as the trial ended. That mystery and the new mystery end up mingling, and young Coop has to use his insight, just as his grandfather did, to come to unpopular conclusions in the name of justice.



By linking these two stories, a half century apart, Collins adds a level of interest to The Color of Justice, which otherwise would have been a pretty straightforward murder mystery. I enjoyed it, with some reservations. The whole culture of the South theme seemed artificial, for some reason. I felt like Collins may have cribbed a bit too much from To Kill a Mockingbird and the like. I don't know if a story about justice in the South in the 1960s can avoid stereotypes and easy categorization. Also, I'm not a lawyer, but it seemed like Collins played fast and loose with court procedures, especially in the 2014 trial.



Overall, The Color of Justice is entertaining. Coop is easy to cheer for, and Martin and his mother are well-written as the justice-seeking minorities with all the odds against them.





Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!