Conspiracy Theory
Searching for a plot for his next legal thriller, D.C. area lawyer and novelist Michael Harris stumbles across a conspiracy theory that may have put his own life at risk.
Five years ago, Gloria Hale, the President's wife, was assassinated by a lone gunman, who was himself killed in a shoot out with a security guard while trying to escape. At the same time and hotel, a young lawyer, Marsha Hart, disappears in the chaos after the shooting, only to have her murdered body turn up a few days later, her murder never solved.
Michael Harris is a D. C. area lawyer with a second career as a novelist, but after a very successful debut, his subsequent legal thrillers have been less and less successful. With one more book due under his contract and desperate to revive his flagging career, Harris is stumbles across the voluminous research done by a recently deceased former Secret Service agent obsessed with proving that the First Lady's assassination was a conspiracy. Thinking he might be able to turn one of these wildly unlikely theories into his next book, Harris begins to look into the matter. He doesn't turn up anything but his inquiries might have set something into motion - leading to another murder, a fire destroying the original evidence, and an attempt assault of Harris himself. This might be a coincidence or Harris may well be the next target in an increasingly deadly conspiracy.
Phillip Margolin
I grew up in New York City and Levittown, New York. In 1965, I graduated from The American University in Washington, D.C. with a Bachelor’s Degree in Government. From 1965 to 1967, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. In 1970, I graduated from New York University School of Law. During my last two years in law school I went at night and worked my way through by teaching junior high school in the South Bronx in New York City. My first job after law school was a clerkship with Herbert M. Schwab, the Chief Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals. From 1972 until 1996, I was in private practice specializing in criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. As an appellate attorney I have appeared before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Oregon Supreme Court and the Oregon Court of Appeals. As a trial attorney, I handled all sorts of criminal cases in state and federal court and I have represented approximately 30 people charged with homicide, including several who have faced the death penalty. I was the first Oregon attorney to use the Battered Women’s Syndrome to defend a battered woman accused of murdering her spouse.


