The Local by Joey Hartstone

 James Euchre is a patent attorney in a small town in Texas that has become the center of patent lawsuits thanks to one judge, Euchre's mentor, Judge Gardner. Euchre's newest case involves a patent suit for a very short-tempered man named Amir, who has flown in from the east coast for the court case. Amir gets into a war of words with Judge Gardner. And he clearly is not a home-town boy. So when the Judge is murdered, Amir becomes the prime (and only) suspect. He wants Euchre to be his criminal defense attorney, even though Euchre has no experience in that area. He figures a local who can relate to the jurors will be able to convince them of his innocence. And so begins a rollicking ride of Euchre trying to figure out who really did kill Judge Gardner and whether his legal skills can keep Amir off death row. It's a compelling story and a quick read.