Until Proven Innocent

WINNER OF THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS READERS CHOICE AWARD 2024 
 
‘Oozes authenticity, honesty and grit’ Daily Mail 
 
THE BRILLIANTLY TAUT AND TWISTY NEW LEGAL THRILLER FOLLOWING BARRISTER LEE MITCHELL IN HER MOST CONTROVERSIAL CASE YET 
 
When the teenage son of a south London pastor is shot at point-blank range, shockwaves echo through the close-knit community. 
 
For barrister Lee Mitchell, born and raised in Peckham, the murder hits close to home. And it comes closer still when she is strong-armed into defending the prime suspect: racist police sergeant Jack Lambert. 
 
In the cut-throat world of the courtroom, where everyone has an agenda and no one is what they seem, Lee will have to choose between fighting the system and fighting for her career . . . 
 
‘A dazzling new voice’ Tony Parsons 
 
‘A legal thriller with heart and soul’ Erin Kelly

Penning a blend of legal and psychological thriller would be enough for most authors, but Williams, a barrister, deftly adds a layer of social realism. Her book teems with memorable characters from the law and the black community

Williams has used her experience as a Crown Court judge to craft a twisting legal thriller of real moral complexity

A brilliant and tense drama about legal justice that propels us well beyond the courtroom and right into the heart of a troubled community and its people

A great twisty, gritty investigation with wonderful characters culminating in an explosive courtroom drama!

Until Proven Innocent is a legal thriller with heart and soul

An authentic thought-provoking new voice in crime fiction

Compelling, smart, staggeringly relevant . . . Williams' insightful novel is pitch perfect. Outstanding

A brilliantly taut, gritty and authentic page turner that takes you on a thrilling road from the streets of London to the courtroom

Until Proven Innocent is nothing short of an astounding, brilliantly engaging book! Nicola has created one of the most daringly complex, intellectually and emotionally evocative crime stories I've read in quite some time

The gripping new courtroom thriller will hook you in

Nicola Williams started her career as a barrister in private practice, specializing in criminal law. She was a member of the first Independent Advisory Group to the Metropolitan Police Service and has been a part-time Crown Court judge since 2010. She is the author of three legal thrillers. Without Prejudice was selected for the Black Britain: Writing Back series by Bernardine Evaristo and Until Proven Innocent was the winner of the Diverse Book Awards Readers’ Choice Award 2024. Killer Instinct is her latest novel.

Lee Mitchell is out for justice. 
 
A young barrister from a working-class Caribbean background, everything is stacked against her in the cut-throat environment of the courtroom. 
 
When the fifteen-year-old son of the pastor at the local Black church is shot near her home in South London, the community is shattered. All evidence is pointing to the notoriously corrupt, racist officer Sergeant Jack Lambert. Even his own boss is certain he is guilty - but he swears his innocence. 
 
Against her will, Lee is strong-armed into defending him. With protests echoing in the streets, Lee is at the centre of the turmoil as lies, anger and mistrust spiral out of control. With the line between her personal and professional life blurring, Lee keeps asking herself the same question: 
 
How can she defend the indefensible?

A collection of rediscovered works celebrating Black Britain curated by Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo

Without Prejudice

'Impressive and unique. As relevant today as it was over two decades ago' Bernardine Evaristo, from the Introduction 
 
A gripping, propulsive courtroom thriller following barrister Lee Mitchell as she uncovers the dark secrets of London's obscenely rich 
 
Lee Mitchell is a thirty-year-old barrister from a working-class Caribbean background: in the cut-throat environment of the courtroom, everything is stacked against her. 
 
After she takes on the high-profile case of notorious millionaire playboy Clive Omartian - arrested along with his father and stepbrother for eye-wateringly exorbitant fraud - the line between her personal and professional life becomes dangerously blurred. 
Spiralling further into Clive's trail of debauchery and corruption, she finds herself in alarmingly deep waters. 
 
Can she survive her case, let alone win it? 
 
Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.

An exciting legal thriller . . . [Williams] interweaves a textured social commentary

Nicola Williams (Author) 
Nicola Williams started her career as a barrister in private practice, specialising in Criminal Law, including three successful Commonwealth death penalty appeals before the House of Lords sitting as the Privy Council. She was a legal expert on BBC World for the OJ Simpson trial verdict in 1995 and a member of the first Independent Advisory Group to the Metropolitan Police Service (following recommendations arising from the Stephen Lawrence Report [1999]). She has been a part-time Crown Court Judge since 2010. A former winner of Cosmopolitan magazine Woman of Achievement Award, she is an active volunteer for the Speakers for Schools programme, a charity which encourages young people from disadvantaged and under-represented communities to enter the professions. 
 
Bernardine Evaristo (Introducer) 
Bernardine Evaristo, MBE, is the award-winning author of eight books of fiction and verse fiction that explore aspects of the African diaspora. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other made her the first black woman to win the Booker Prize in 2019, as well winning the Fiction Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards in 2020, where she also won Author of the Year, and the Indie Book Award. She also became the first woman of colour and black British writer to reach No.1 in the UK paperback fiction chart in 2020.

Lee Mitchell is a thirty-year-old barrister from a working-class Caribbean background: in the cut-throat environment of the courtroom, everything is stacked against her. 
 
After she takes on the high-profile case of notorious millionaire playboy Clive Omartian - arrested along with his father and stepbrother for eye-wateringly exorbitant fraud - the line between her personal and professional life becomes dangerously blurred. 
Spiralling further into Clive's trail of debauchery and corruption, she finds herself in alarmingly deep waters. 
 
Can she survive her case, let alone win it?

Nicola Williams

Compelling . . . The slow-burning Lee Mitchell legal thriller sees Nicola Williams consolidate her status as one of the more interesting British practitioners of the courtroom procedural . . . Williams knows her background intimately, be it law firm or court of justice, and this authenticity shines through and raises the book to an extra level

Not only convincing but also fascinating . . . . The trial scenes are full of drama and the case plays out against a background of racial and class prejudice , which gives weight to this entertaining exploration of guilt and innocence

A cast of characters you will love, a story that keeps you turning the pages

Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC, author of 'Rough Justice' and 'Unlawful Killings'

Killer Instinct is a richly-textured legal thriller with a riveting cast of characters. Taut, twisty and brimming with authenticity, it pairs a gripping plot with a timely theme. Class, privilege, wealth and entitlement are all put on trial in this compulsive tale

Unique and fascinating . . . I was hooked as the suspenseful drama, characters, plot twists and deep insights as they unfolded

An intense legal thriller by an authentic modern voice

Greg Mosse, author of 'Murder at Church Lodge'

An elegant, well-structured legal thriller, rich with authentic detail and characters that walk off the page . . . this is the inside scoop of the dark fears beyond the prestige and passageways of power, where reputation is everything . . . A contemporary London court murder within a bubbling cauldron of class divides, dirty secrets and intrigue held taut by a latent, violent compulsion . . . An exemplary work in concealing to reveal and revealing to conceal

Nina Bhadreshwar, author of 'The Day of the Roaring'

Gripping and propulsive . . . Killer Instinct is Nicola Williams' best book yet . . . Nicola lays out the knotty threads of the story with the same restraint that her protagonist brings to the law (and that Nicola herself undoubtedly brings to her other profession) . . . Often I found myself reading way past my bed-time because I just had to know what happened next!

Judith Bryan, author of 'Bernard and the Cloth Monkey'

This gripping, unputdownable murder mystery prompts us to question the justice system and our own assumptions

S. I. Martin, author of 'Incomparable World'

Vividly sketched barristers with very different social backgrounds, and with secrets to hide, affect the outcome of a manslaughter trial with a shocking twist

Rhys Taylor, barrister, arbitrator, mediator 

When the Head Clerk at her Chambers is murdered, Lee Mitchell doesn’t know who she can trust. 
 
One of the last people to see him alive, the crime is pinned on Junior Clerk Dean who ‘seems like the type’. Working-class and still living on the estate where he grew up, he has the most to gain from Tom’s death. 
 
But Lee knows how easily prejudices can snowball into convictions – and steps in to defend him. As the trial progresses, people Lee has worked with for years become suspects as her Chambers crumbles into a world of chaos and deceit. 
 
And, what of the diary, whispered about by those at Chambers? The one Tom used to blackmail Lee’s friends and enemies alike to do his bidding? The one containing secrets some might kill to keep hidden? 
 
Maybe finding it will be the key to solving his murder. Or maybe some secrets are better left buried . . .

Nicola Williams

Praise for Killer Instinct

Compelling . . . The slow-burning Lee Mitchell legal thriller sees Nicola Williams consolidate her status as one of the more interesting British practitioners of the courtroom procedural . . . Williams knows her bac ...

Not only convincing but also fascinating . . . . The trial scenes are full of drama and the case plays out against a background of racial and class prejudice , which gives weight to this entertaining exploration of ...

A cast of characters you will love, a story that keeps you turning the pages

Compelling . . . The slow-burning Lee Mitchell legal thriller sees Nicola Williams consolidate her status as one of the more interesting British practitioners of the courtroom procedural . . . Williams knows her bac ...

Not only convincing but also fascinating . . . . The trial scenes are full of drama and the case plays out against a background of racial and class prejudice , which gives weight to this entertaining exploration of ...

A cast of characters you will love, a story that keeps you turning the pages

Compelling . . . The slow-burning Lee Mitchell legal thriller sees Nicola Williams consolidate her status as one of the more interesting British practitioners of the courtroom procedural . . . Williams knows her bac ...

Not only convincing but also fascinating . . . . The trial scenes are full of drama and the case plays out against a background of racial and class prejudice , which gives weight to this entertaining exploration of ...

A cast of characters you will love, a story that keeps you turning the pages

Books by Nicola Williams

Series by Nicola Williams

Lee Mitchell

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