![The Burden of Lies. By Richard Beasley.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180204011756im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/b/a/r/x/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.h0bawy.png/1514514039095.jpg)
The Burden of Lies
Richard Beasley
Simon & Schuster, $29.99
The Burden of Lies is the second Richard Beasley novel to feature maverick defence lawyer Peter Tanner. It won't be the last. At the start, Tanner is representing – diligently, without enthusiasm – a lowlife accused of defacing an Islamic primary school with racist graffiti. It makes him snippy. Tanner "prefers not to get out of bed unless blood has been spilled", and he's soon in his element, tasked with defending Tina Leonard, a self-made property mogul, from a charge of murder. The victim, Oliver Randall, was a corrupt, coke-addled banker responsible for Tina losing everything she owned, which gives her one hell of a motive. Tanner probes the possibility that the bank was involved in Randall's murder, and the truth gets slippery and more dangerous as the case unfolds. It's a pleasure to read a solid and entertaining courtroom drama, guided, in Tanner, by such a likeable loose cannon.