by Joey, Hartstone is a legal thriller set in Marshall, Texas, the capital of intellectual property litigation. James Euchre is a patent lawyer defending a difficult client, flashy tech entrepreneur Amir Zawar, against a charge of copyright infringement. The case gets complicated when Euchre’s mentor, federal judge Gerald Gardner, is murdered and Zawar emerges as the chief suspect after clashing with Gardner in a violent in-court incident. Euchre isn’t experienced in murder cases, but he’s roped into the case anyway, which takes some impressive twists and turns along the way. The small town setting and well-paced courtroom drama make this an appealing debut novel from film and TV writer Hartstone.