The Case of the Colonist's Corpse

When Captain Kirk faced court-martial, he chose the best lawyer in the Federation - Samuel T. Cogley, a cranky old man who prefers books to PADDs and people to computers.

''Now, once again, it's.... SAM COGLEY FOR THE DEFENSE!''

Summary

 * From the book jacket


 * The planet Aneher II sits in the middle of the Neutral Zone, and neither the Klingon Empire nor the Federation can claim it. Under the terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, any such contested colony world will go to the party – Federation or Klingon – which shows it can best develop the planet.


 * At first the two colonies live in peace, but it's a fragile peace, one shattered when Administrator Daniel Latham, the head of the Federation colony, is found murdered, and Commander Mak'Tor, the head of the Klingon colony, is found crouched over Latham's body, a discharged phaser still hot in his hand.


 * When Lieutenant Areel Shaw of Starfleet is assigned to prosecute Mak'Tor, Sam Cogley volunteers to defend the accused Klingon. But when Cogley's own investigation provides the prosecution with its key piece of evidence and his courtroom tactics unexpectedly backfire, can even the galaxy's most brilliant defense attorney win the day in...


 * THE CASE OF THE COLONIST'S CORPSE

Background Information

 * This story takes place after and overlaps the events of.
 * This is one of several recent novels that have admitted they are an attempt to see Star Trek from the point of view of another television genre. The acknowledgments especially list Earl Gardner and his Perry Mason series. Other novels along these lines include Articles of the Federation, which gives special thanks for the style of the novel to The West Wing.
 * The edges of the pages are dyed red in order to make the book resemble a '60s-era  novel.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk
 * Spock
 * Leonard McCoy
 * Montgomery Scott
 * Pavel Chekov : Ensign
 * Samuel T. Cogley : Defense attorney.
 * Areel Shaw : Lieutenant.  Starfleet prosecuting attorney.
 * Giotto : Lieutenant Commander. Chief of security.
 * Jacqueline LaSalle
 * Peter Lawrence
 * Daniel Latham : Administrator.
 * Grigoriy Nemov
 * Helen Latham
 * Mak'Tor
 * O'Dell
 * Ronald Saygar
 * K'Vak
 * Louis Alexander
 * Homero Galdamiz
 * Khogo
 * Chiaki Iino
 * Alexander Warren
 * Sahirn P'Thall
 * Faure
 * Aaron Cole
 * Daleel P'Thall

Mentioned

 * Richard Daystrom
 * Ben Finney
 * Alexander Kirk
 * Julius Kirk
 * Peter Kirk
 * Sam Kirk
 * Kolos
 * Janice Lester
 * Carol Marcus
 * David Marcus
 * Gary Mitchell
 * Norman
 * Janet Wallace