Ties That Bind by Phillip Margolin (2003, Abridged, Compact Disc)

On the outside, Amanda Jaffe has healed from the traumatic events that concluded the sensational New York Times bestseller Wild Justice -- but inside, she's struggling to regain her self-assurance. When she is forced to represent a pimp accused of murder (a case no other lawyer will touch), her client threatens her, strirring up the trauma to such an extent that she must finally seek the help of a psychiatrist. Her opponent on the murder case, ADA Tom McCorkle, is a local hero -- he won the Heisman Trophy and secured for University Oregon its only victory in the Rose Bowl 15 years earlier -- who is embroiled in his own crisis of confidence, because his popularity is based on a lie. When two people involved in Amanda's case also wind up murdered, Amanda's investigation reveals strange links between a powerful group of men and a drug-related bloodbath many years before. They're called "The Courthouse Athletic Club" -- but who are they? -- why are they interested in a small-time pimp? -- and is it possible that their power and influence reaches all the way to the Presidency?