Solomon's Bluff : 9780595329342 : 13 Oct 2004 : As a teen, prosecutor Ben Santos fathered a daughter out of wedlock. Hell-bent on a career in law, he lost contact with her. A dozen years later, his failure to embrace fatherhood is his one abiding regret. Blood money claims the life of a pregnant woman. A jail snitch badgers her husband into implicating himself. Conviction seems a safe bet until the criminal lawyers go to work, bending the rules of evidence so as to profit from the husband's cellblock confidences. Santos is initially gun-shy about handling the case. His one previous murder trial ended in a hung jury. The rapist-killer, released on bail pending retrial, claimed the life of another victim. At trial, Santos parries the aggressive ploys of Vietnam Veteran-defense attorney Francisco Duran. Even so, Duran backs him into a corner. At the eleventh hour, Santos devises a strategy worthy of Solomon. Duran counters with a cynical plea-bargain proposal. Momentum turning, Santos ins