A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci

 The year is 1968. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King have both been killed. And racial tensions are high, especially in a place like small-town Virginia.  Jack Lee is a white lawyer. When a Black housekeeper he has known his whole life asks him to represent a Black man, Jerome, arrested for killing the elderly white couple he worked for, Jack is reluctant, but he says yes. And that starts a firestorm in his hometown. He starts out with a judge who seems  fairly open-minded then that one is inexplicably replaced by one from out of town who may have more racist leanings. And the case seems to be drawing all kinds of national attention for some reason. Jack thinks he is really in over his head then Desiree Dubose, a Black lawyer from Chicago who has even argued before the Supreme Court, shows up on his doorstep and wants to take over the case, Jack insists that they work on the case together. And though it's a bumpy relationship, they do learn to work as a team with a common goal of saving Jerome from the electric chair.

Even though it's reminiscent in some ways of Time to Kill or To Kill A Mockingbird, Calamity of Souls is an engrossing story with memorable characters. The way it ends makes me think it might be the beginning of a new series featuring Jack and Desiree.