The Widow
A small-town Virginia lawyer with a gambling addiction becomes entangled with an elderly widow's disputed fortune and finds himself accused of her murder. The book is a character-driven legal thriller and whodunit aimed squarely at adult readers, with moderate content concentrated in violence, substance use, emotional abuse, and a brief suicidal ideation passage in the final chapters.
Chapters to know about
Simon's gambling addiction and financial desperation are established early and recur throughout; his losses with bookies are referenced repeatedly as a driver of his bad decisions.
Clyde Korsak, drunk and carrying a pistol, forces his way into a lawyer's office, assaults him, and throws hot coffee in his face. A secretary seizes the gun and fires a shot into the ceiling to drive him out. Physical injuries and a subsequent arrest are described.
Elder financial exploitation of Eleanor by multiple attorneys, including the protagonist, is examined at length; Clyde's threatening behaviour toward Eleanor is also present across this section.