The Hidden Law — Michael Nava

State Senator Gus Pena faces a murder conviction for killing a man while driving drunk. Even so, he still has his sights set on becoming mayor. And with his suave, slick demeanor, he's primed to pull it off--until someone guns him down in cold blood.

With the Chicano community demanding justice, the LAPD arrests Michael Ruiz, a hot-tempered teen who had spat violent words about Pena while they both attended a drug rehab center. Believing in the troubled youth's innocence, lawyer Henry Rios takes the case, despite the fact that he's in the middle of a wrenching breakup with his HIV-positive lover, Josh.

As his personal life unravels, and the cops and press rush to judgment on Ruiz, Rios penetrates the highly protected world of L.A. politics to ferret out a most unlikely killer....