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Perfect Alibi

Sheldon Siegel
MacAdam/Cage (2010)
ISBN 9781596923362
Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for RebeccasReads.com


“Perfect Alibi” is the seventh outing of the wonderful lawyer-duo of Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez.  For those who come in late, Mike Daley is a former priest turned former corporate lawyer turned pucca defence lawyer. Rosie Fernandez is also a lawyer who has come back to life after a life threatening bout with cancer. Both are partners, and these two engaging protagonists have been created by lawyer-author Sheldon Siegel. And oh,…Daley and Fernandez had been married for a while before they called it quits.  While family life didn’t work for them, both make a crackling duo in the courtroom.

This time round, the lawyers are called into a case in which there might arise conflict of interests. Their sixteen year old daughter Grace is dating Bobby Fairchild, the son of a respected judge and a neurosurgeon. The Daleys are fond of their daughter’s choice but all that changes when they get a call from Grace announcing the death, rather murder, of Bobby’s father, Judge Fairchild. Bobby is soon targeted as the main suspect. It seems that when Bobby returned home one night after a date with Grace, he found his father’s dead body. But the police believes it otherwise. Bobby, it seems was having a hard time adjusting with his parents. They were on a brink of divorce, acrimonious to the core and of course unfaithful. Bobby and his brother lived as strangers and the police claim that the reason for murder was Bobby’s psychological distress. The only alibi and the perfect alibi that Bobby has is Grace…and their lies the problem for the lawyers in Daley and Fernandez. How they solve the case without putting strain over Grace is the plot of this novel.

Siegel’s other novels all have silver screen potential but this is the first novel I have read, which seems to be written specifically for the screen. Spread over a seven day period in the life of Daley and Fernandez, the crisp, taut and suspense filled narration is a perfect flow and I would love to see it on screen, sooner than later.

“Perfect Alibi” is to put it in a cliché a perfect read. Don’t just read it, buy it and read it.


Reviewed by Charline Ratcliff for RebeccasReads (08/10)


I’ve just finished reading “Perfect Alibi” by Sheldon Siegel and now I’m attempting to write its review. Unfortunately for me, I’m having some trouble with that. No, it’s not because I’m suffering from writer’s block. I’m just at a loss for words because the only thing running through my head right now is “Wow, what a great book!” And just for the record, heaping praise on a book isn’t my customary starting point for a review.

“Perfect Alibi” by Sheldon Siegel is the seventh installment in the Mike Daley Mystery series. In this episode Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez discover that their sixteen-year-old daughter’s boyfriend Bobby has been arrested for the alleged murder of his father who also happens to be a Superior Court judge. All the evidence seems to point to Bobby as the killer. Bobby is emphatic he didn’t do it and Grace, Mike and Rosie’s daughter, is his only alibi. Against their better judgment, Mike and Rosie take the case. In an attempt to exonerate Bobby, they wind their way through some of San Francisco’s seedier neighborhoods. In doing so, they uncover a sex scandal involving some of the city’s more prominent citizens. The question is: will the attorneys be able to uncover another suspect before Bobby and Grace face criminal charges?

All in all I found “Perfect Alibi” to be a fantastic read. It was interesting and held my attention completely. Siegel is an amazing writer; he has a way of deftly enveloping you in the story and because of this more often than not I felt as if I was personally sitting in the courtroom watching the various proceedings. I enjoyed that the book was written in the first person and I liked the sarcastic and sardonic thought processes of Mike Daley.

“Perfect Alibi” is a definite “must read” and I feel it belongs on the shelf right next to John Grisham’s books.