I loved a previous book from this author and really enjoy legal thrillers, so I was really excited for this book. Unfortunately, it didn't wow me like I was expecting. I really enjoyed the trial elements in the plot but I could have done without the frequent transcripts of scenes from the play. It had a brilliant twist and satisfying answer to the murder mystery. However, I didn’t feel the chemistry in the romance.

With a view to looking at all the legal thrillers I've read, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book. It's a decent addition to the "whodunnit" genre. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a chance to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The story:
When a death occurs during the performance of a historical play, not only those in the room but an entire livestream audience witness the tragedy. But was it a terrible accident, or is something more sinister at play?

Sensationally, lead actor in the play, the famous Leo Lusk and ex-husband of the deceased, is arrested. Charles Konig KC is the barrister in charge of the case. But if his client isn’t the murderer, who is?

My thoughts:
“A Trial in Three Acts” is the third book I’ve read by Guy Morpuss (following “Five Minds” and “Black Lake Manor”), both of which I loved!

On the face of it, this is a less fantastical story than the author’s previous mysteries (featuring body-sharing and time travel, respectively!). However, Morpuss’s creativity still shines through with the concept of ‘SoulGene Therapy’ — the implantation of celebrity DNA (from anyone from Churchill to Oscar Wilde), to confer the celebrated characteristics of the donor on their modern day recipient. In fact, this concept provides a potential defence for the murder suspect Leo Lusk, who has received DNA from George Washington himself — could this have conferred uncontrollable war-like tendencies leading to the murder?

The defence rests in the hands of the main protagonist, reserved loner and King’s Council Charles Konig, along with his instructing solicitor Yara Ortiz — who is determined not only to win the case but also break Charles out of his shell. The two make a great team, and I enjoyed seeing them working together to uncover the dramatic truth of what really occurred that night on stage.

Morpuss was a barrister himself, and this really comes across in the detail of the courtroom battle (although as the author says himself in his Author’s Note, “I have tried to keep the courtroom experience as authentic as possible, while cutting out the dull bits”!). And one feature of the book I particularly enjoyed were Konig’s witty letters to The Times newspaper, which are interspersed throughout — and from the author’s acknowledgements, it seems this is also a hobby of his own!

This is a book that will appeal to fans of courtroom-based mysteries, and also has enough of the fantastic to satisfy Morpuss fans. Another great read!

I was attracted by the description of a UK courtroom drama, and I was not disappointed.

An easy read, but with what I felt were authentic details of a court case and the life of a KC. I enjoyed the characters and will be looking our for more about Charles Konig.

A really great gritty courtroom drama unpicking the murder of Alexandra Dyce. Charles Konig KC and instructing solicitor New Yorker Yara Ortiz are defending the prime suspect Leo Lusk. At many points the evidence appears so overwhelming that it is difficult to see whether the team will hit a breakthrough. What comes is something that I’ve never encountered before which was really refreshing.
I loved the realism of the courtroom and felt that we were gaining a proper insight into conducting a trial. I really enjoyed the format of scenes from the play interwoven with evidence and I would really love to see Charles (& Yara) in future stories.
I wasn’t so keen on the ‘romance’ plot but this is a tiny point based on how fab this book is.

Loved this book by Guy Morpuss and big thanks to Netgalley for my early copy. Set around the trial of an actor, accused of killing his ex-wife by guillotine in public during a play that’s being staged in a graveyard! The description itself is enough to lure in any thriller / crime fans. Great writing, suspense and characters it had me hooked from beginning to end.

A whip-smart mystery that's engaging and entertaining. If all murder trials were this good I'd spend more time in court!

It’s been a while since I have read a good court procedural but this has been worth the wait. Charles Koenig KC spend his time at the Central Criminal Court in London. He is planning a trip to Nepal when he is asked to take on the case of the famous actor Leo Lusk who has been accused of murdering his ex wife, the actress Alexandra Dyce. In a most gruesome manner she has been guillontined on stage in front of an audience. Told in multiple ways as the courtroom case includes scenes from the play, newspaper articles and of course witness statements which certainly added to the story.

Briefly, although not really interested in defending a celebrity, Charles, is ably assisted by the solicitor who instructed him, the delectable Yara Ortiz, from New York and he is facing his foe John Varley for the Prosecution. The case involves the play about the illegitimate daughter of George Washington and a company owned by Lusk and his ex which purports to sell the DNA of dead people to enhance their own talents. Yep balderdash!

This is an entertaining read, the unbelievable becomes even more unbelievable by the page, but results in an engaging story. I loved how Charles laid out the English court procedure so meticulously contrasting it with the equivalent US system. A really enjoyable legal drama with plenty of humour amongst the courtroom drama. I particularly enjoyed the verbal banter between Charles and Yara and I really hope the author brings them back in another book. 4.5⭐️

I’ve been delaying adding my review of A Trial in Three Acts as I’ve been trying to come up with clever words to describe just how much I enjoyed this book. However, I’m not a writer, merely a reader and have failed! Let me just say that if you enjoy an intriguing and clever mystery, a fantastic courtroom drama and a wonderful array of characters, then you need to read this book immediately. The writing is superb and Charles Konig is quite simply my favourite character so far this year. I’m going to be mortified if this is his only outing and this isn’t the start of a lengthy series.

I was nervous at first with the list of characters and the different ways of story telling, with scenes from the play, witness statements and newspaper articles, but the writing was so good that it kept me enthralled and entertained.

Thanks to NetGalley and Viper, Serpent’s Tail & Profile Books for an eARC of this book.

Just Delicious..
A successful smash hit play, a beheading live on stage and the ultimate murder trial. With a wonderfully eclectic and eccentric cast of characters populating a wildly propulsive and entertaining plot bubbling with twists, red herrings and a clever narrative laced with witty asides, this is a unique and compelling read. Just delicious.

A trial is rather like a play.
We wear our costumes. We perform to the audience.
And on a good day no-one gets murdered.
The hit play Daughters Of The Revolution has a stunning finale. The lead actress, Alexandra Dyce, masked, walks to the guillotine and is executed, her head clearly coming off. It’s a clever trick, involving a rotating disc and a dummy strapped into the mechanism under the stage which is beheaded. Only on one fateful performance, it wasn’t Alexandra who walked to the guillotine – because she was strapped in the place of the dummy…
KC Charles Konig is brought in to defend Leo Lusk, co-star and ex-husband of Alexandra, but he wasn’t the only person who had a motive. And it seems that finding the real killer is the only way for Konig to win the case, given that Lusk really isn’t helping his own defense…
Well, that was an interesting one. I’ve not read Guy Morpuss before, but I gathered he has a reputation for writing slightly weird crime fiction – time travel, multiple personalities, that sort of thing – so this seemed to be a departure. There is some stuff about genetics that caused me a bit of concern over where it was going, but for the most part, this plays out like a traditional murder mystery.
It did start a little slowly, and at one point I did put it down, but it’s to the book’s credit that I went back as I was curious as to what happened. I also wanted to read more about Charles and his co-counsel Yara Ortiz. There’s a clever move here, as given that she is from New York, Morpuss is able to contrast the UK and US court systems and explain to readers why things are happening this way in the court. The seveloping relationship between the two characters is very well done as well.
It has to be said, once one thing happens, the murderer became somewhat inevitable to me, but I was still somewhat perplexed as to what exactly happened on the stage. It’s a clever solution, clever in its simplicity, but there is a question as to how what the perceived truth was had been accepted as surely doing a particular something would have been extremely difficult to achieve, something nobody questions.
Regardless, this is a very enjoyable read. Morpuss hasn’t done a series of books yet, but I have to say, I’d be very keen to read more of Charles and Yara.

A cleverly plotted and incredibly detailed legal mystery which follows barrister KC Charles Konig defending a high-profile murder case where a Hollywood legend is accused of murdering his ex-wife.
It does get quite involved and it would be easy to get bogged down in the detail, but it’s a good read particularly for anyone with an interest in the machinations of the Bar.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book, especially Charles and Yara, but I couldn’t get into the lengthy play excerpts

This was great fun with an excellent curmudgeonly hero in KC Charles Konig who has no real interest in cutting short his holiday climbing K2 to work on a murder case.

It is a cozy, legal thriller, well over the top at times but well crafted and plotted with some memorable characters.

A really good read by an author who is well experienced in the court system and has come up with a winner.

I really enjoyed this story, the way the trial unfolded alongside the play made me think of classic whodunits. The format was very clever as well laying out scenes from the play, clippings from newspapers, witness statements and the storyline in a way that was seamless and so engaging to follow. The main character was also brilliant, unassuming enough to allow the trial to happen and for us to forget who we are watching it through at points, but with enough character to make him someone that the reader feels invested in.

It was also a breath of fresh air to read a story based in an English court trial, American court drama is also fun but I feel like that is what you see more commonly in books and film/tv. Reading the methodical way that our main character laid out his case made it difficult to put the story down, I kept saying one more witness, one more article and the next thing I knew I was finished.

I hope the author writes more books especially if they were to write another book with our main character back for another trial.

I read an arc of this book through netgalley

Desperate to get away on a trekking holiday after a trial, Charles Konig KC finds himself instructed by American lawyer Yara Ortiz to defend a Hollywood actor, accused of the murder of his wife.

Leo Lusk took on a role in a play he co-wrote for a chance to reconnect with his daughter, Francesca. Since his divorce from Alexandra Dyce, he believed Alexandra was turning Francesca against him. However, Leo finds himself sharing the stage not only with his daughter, but also his ex-wife as Francesca has insisted her mother also be given a role.

Unsurprisingly, tensions flare up during the production. Alexandra was not a nice person, putting up the backs of many of her fellow actors and production staff. When the execution scene goes wrong and she is guillotined for real, live on stage, Leo is the prime suspect and put on trial for her murder.

The historical play about the illegitimate daughter of George Washington had run for over a year of sold out shows. Staged in a cemetery in London, it may hold the answers as to what happened.

While the play is a drama staged by actors, the novel gives us an insight into the theatrics of court and the egos of KCs. Casting the accused as an American actor with an American lawyer allows us to compare how trials work on both sides of the Atlantic, contrasting British court process with what many of us are familiar with in American movies and series.

Primarily set in the courtroom, the cross examinations of witnesses, and Yara Ortiz being unfamiliar with the British courts system allows the processes to be explained to the reader without overwhelming us with legalese, making this a very readable story.

The dramatics of the courtroom are interspersed with the theatrics from the stage, as excerpts from the play are submitted in evidence, and we get to see what happened on the stage and behind the scenes, how the tensions spilled over into the performance. Did Leo really murder his ex-wife? Charles Konig, while wanting to create reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury to have his client acquitted, is given plenty of opportunity to point the finger elsewhere. But after putting his client on the stand, it becomes clear that the only way to win the case is to find out what really happened that night on stage.

An excellent legal mystery with plenty of dry humour and drama, and I hope to see Charles and Yara again soon!

Thank you to the author, Viper Books and NetGalley for a digital advance copy for review.

I’m sorry to say this was a book that I struggled with and although I did finish it it’s not my favourite by this author. Sometimes you pick up a book and it’s hard going and this was one of those for me , the writing was good and that’s what kept me going and having read other books by this author I shall always be on the lookout for his next book and I am sure that others will enjoy this one more.
My thanks to NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail / Viper / Profile Books for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately this one didn't work for me. I struggled with the story, narrative voice, and characters. I loved the premise and there was so much potential in the story but right now unfortunately it didn't land for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books | Viper for this digital review copy of "A Trial In Three Acts" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

A murder has taken place in a cemetery, during a play where a fake guillotine blade is replaced with a real one and an actor is decapitated. What a fun premise!

There is lots of discussion of the play, the history the play was based on and the relationship between the victim, her ex-husband and her daughter, all of whom were acting in the play.

An interesting and enjoyable book, although I found the barrister's love interest to be a little unconvincing.

When leading lady Alexandra Dyce is beheaded live on stage - everyone is a suspect. Defence Barrister Charles Koenig is brought on board to defend the accused, he knows it could lead to better cases. What a surprising conclusion!!

Leading lady Alexandra Dyce is murdered on stage and even though a lot of the cast have a motive, it’s her ex husband who is charged. Defence barrister Charles Konig is brought in and it becomes clear that the clues are in the play itself.

Having read previous books by this author I trust him to create unique, well crafted stories. This was another intriguing mystery with more focus on the courtroom element, which I liked. I also enjoyed the premise of this being combined with a murder in a theatre. As the author works in this field, you can tell the environment and legal aspects are factual. I was interested to gain new knowledge in this respect. However saying that, at times it felt as though I wasn’t reading a fictional novel with the excess legal elements, which hindered my enjoyment.

I found the overall story to be quite slow and although I enjoyed that the story wasn’t told traditionally and instead in mixed media, I found that I did not really enjoy the play transcripts, finding these hard to follow. Even though the storyline was clever and complex, it required full attention to decipher what was going on and I found I had to reread parts as it was easy to get lost. Overall though I appreciate the quirkiness and idea behind this and am interested to see what the author comes up with next. 2.5 - 3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.