With a plot that could have been taken from any popular television drama, Incriminating Evidence is an entertaining legal thriller digging into the world of dirty politics and the seedy underbelly of city life. With 17 years as a practicing lawyer lending him credibility, Sheldon Siegel draws together a believable characters and gritty story line in what is the sequel to Special Circumstances.
Incriminating Evidence aims to explore the darker side of life in sunny San Francisco. Siegel relates the sad story of a needy kid pushed through the cracks by a corrupt social worker and the horrible effect the kid’s death has on the people around him. For the political bigwigs of the Mission District, life is
just about making a fast buck, regardless of who gets hurt along the way.
Fast-talking lawyer and aspiring politician Prentice Marshall Gates III, otherwise known as Skipper, wakes up one morning to discover he has "a situation." Somehow, the body of a dead male prostitute has made its way into his hotel room mere weeks before a big election.
Desperate to save his endangered political career, he calls on Mike Daley, his old legal partner to help him out. There is only one catch: he was the one responsible for Daley’s dismissal from the prestigious partnership. Swayed by his new firm’s need for money, Daley accepts the challenge of a case he doesn’t think he can win and a client he can’t stand.
Siegel is an excellent dialogue writer, an important skill considering much of the action takes place in a court room. His law experience becomes evident in Daley’s critiques of the prosecution, who often has the right objections, but on the wrong grounds. These observations typically include what would constitute a properly formed objection. Daley’s own methods of intimidating witnesses and playing to the jury are written with familiarity and avoid going over the top.
Stylistically, Siegel falters when it comes to physical descriptions, often relying on tried and true generic images of "full, red lips"
and "thick, dark hair." No distinguishing physical features lend personality to his cast-just the same
lips and hair, as the countless characters before them.
The only digression in an otherwise focused plot comes midway through the novel, with the death of Dayle’s mother. Mentioned very little in the first half of the novel, Margaret’s death seems a sad, unnecessary event, especially since after the first two paragraphs she is not mentioned again.
With minor flaws in an otherwise sound second novel, Siegel’s sharp courtroom scenes and motley crew of characters give an entertaining edge to otherwise familiar territory.