THE BRIEF is the first crime novel in an exciting historical series, the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers – gritty, hard-boiled mysteries set in 1960s London.

The Brief

(Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers Book 1)

By Simon Michael

Publication Date: 10th June 2020

Publisher: Sapere Books

Page Length: 279 Pages

Genre: Historical Thriller

Guilty until proven innocent…

London, 1960

Barrister Charles Holborne is not popular. A Jewish East Ender with a rough past, he is ostracised by his anti-Semitic and class-conscious colleagues who don’t want him in their prestigious Establishment profession.

And the bitterness Charles feels at work is spilling over into his personal life, putting his marriage under strain.

When a high-profile murder case lands on his desk, Charles is hopeful his fortunes will turn around. But after a shocking crime is committed, he finds himself on the other side of law…

Can he outwit those trying to frame him? Will he manage to unmask the real criminal?

Or will he find himself on trial for murder…?

Pick up your copy of 

The Brief

HERE!

Simon Michael

Simon Michael, often referred to as “the British John Grisham”, is the author of the best-selling London 1960s Charles Holborne series, featuring his antihero barrister, an East End villain made good but struggling in his West End profession. 

Simon was published in the UK and the US in the 1980s and returned to writing when he retired from the law in 2016. The Charles Holborne series, The Brief, An Honest Man, The Lighterman, Corrupted, The Waxwork Corpse, Force of Evil and the latest, The Final Shot, have all garnered strong reviews for their authenticity and excitement.

Simon’s tales from the Bar and the plots for his novels are based on his criminal practice, his life and that of his own family. Refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, the Michael family arrived in the Port of London in 1492 and remained in the East End for the next 450 years. Simon believes himself to be the only member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple formerly to have been a council labourer, a van driver and a gardener. Once qualified he practised as a barrister for 37 years, working at the Old Bailey and other criminal courts, defending and prosecuting a wide selection of murderers, armed robbers, con artists and other assorted villainy. The era about which he writes, the 1960s, was the “wild west” of British justice, a time when the Krays, the Richardsons and other violent gangs fought for control of London’s organised crime, and the corrupt Metropolitan Police beat up suspects, twisted evidence and took a share of the criminal proceeds. Simon weaves into his thrillers real events of the time, the cases on which he worked, and his unusual family history.

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