If I'm Dead
A Rachael Knight Story
Marcia Clark
Read by January LaVoy

Hachette Audio
April 3, 2012 / ASIN: B007R06ZOQ
Mystery / Audio download (Unabridged) / Run Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Amazon

Reviewed by Jo Rogers

If I'm Dead is not a long story, but it is packed with action and description of case evidence. It is one of the stories about Los Angeles Assistant District Attorney Rachael Knight. Rachael is a prosecutor from the special cases division. This is a special case, all right. She has what she believes is a murder, but there is no body, no evidence to speak of, though she has the name of the victim and the name of her killer. All she knows for certain is that Melissa Hildegard is missing and she left a diary that stated that if anyone read that diary, it was because her husband, Saul Hildegard, had killed her.

Forensics had found one tiny drop of blood in Melissa's SUV, Melissa's blood, and evidence that a cleanser had been used on the inside of the SUV. No murder weapon had been found. A bloody scarf had been found along with a suitcase that matched the set Melissa owned. It wasn't much to go on, but there was a motive, a multimillion dollar motive. There was a prenuptial agreement that left Saul out in the cold if there was a divorce. Could Rachel make the murder charge stick? She would do her best.

The court battle is quite interesting, under the circumstances. There are surprises along the way. There is the problem of Rachael's colorful language, profanity by another name. Rachael is well known for that, and one would have to change her personality to remove it. The other characters are equally believable. The plot is an attention grabber, and that plot will not be resolved until the very end. Even Rachael doesn't know how it will end. So, listen to If I'm Dead, and enjoy.