A full-length STANDALONE legal thriller from Amazon Bestselling Author Alexi Venice Monica Spade insists she isn't a trial lawyer, much less one who represents dangerous criminals. Despite her protests, the powerful Judge O'Brien orders Monica to serve as standby counsel for a young woman accused of repeatedly stabbing her boyfriend. Setting aside the day-to-day operations of her new law firm, Monica drags herself to the jail to meet her new client, Stela Reiter. A demure Romanian, Stela looks more like a meek librarian than a person capable of overpowering and stabbing a young man to death. As Monica digs into the facts of the case, she uncovers sexual innuendo and layers of international intrigue. Soon, deadly forces come after her in the form of a Ukrainian thug who will stop at nothing to get what he wants and two suspicious federal agents all too willing to put the squeeze on her. Stuck between an unrelenting judge and a killer in a pink cardigan, Monica pursues the truth in court while fighting to keep her new girlfriend, Shelby St. Claire, out of harm's way. Set in in the dead of winter in surprisingly progressive Apple Grove, Wisconsin, Standby Counsel will keep readers' hearts racing.