Expert Witness

It's mid-November and nurse practitioner Elle Larson is gearing up for another quiet Thanksgiving in Charlotte. Twenty-nine, single, and struggling to keep her geriatric care management business afloat, Elle is eager to please when her mentor, attorney Tommy Sumpter, asks her to do a medical evaluation of an elderly client for his upcoming guardianship hearing. Elle's resolve quickly turns to chaos after she arrives at Charlie Blackwell's mansion and finds him comatose from a fentanyl overdose. When she discovers his missing caregiver's dead body later that morning, what started as a typical day on the job quickly becomes the most difficult case of her career. Now Elle must decide if facing an unknown killer is worth securing a fair trial for Charlie-and saving both of their lives.

Set against the backdrop of mid-1990s Charlotte, North Carolina, this debut novel by nurse practitioner-turned-author Karen Knutson, is equal parts vibrant and chilling; a smartly written mystery that sheds light on elder abuse in America.