The Fifth Letter: A Novel

Sometimes, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don't. Such is the position in which Associate Supreme Court Justice Katherine Helena Ross, the first black female on the U.S. Supreme Court, finds herself inThe Fifth Letter,the new political thriller by author Vivian Carpenter. Rooted in the historical treatment of Blacks in the United States, Justice Katherine Ross struggles to do what is right as her mother’s 1940s memoir influences her actions and emotions. Once on the Court, Katherine gains the power to ignite an involuntary retirement process to remove conservative Justice John Galt from the bench after the U.S. Constitution is amended to create an involuntary retirement process for incapacitated justices.John Galt, an outspoken egoist, survives an assassination attempt but is severely injured. He appears incapacitated. Pressures for Galt’s removal from the bench mount with his prolonged absence from the Court. However, John Galt will not resign is seat. Katherine must decide whether or not to issue the fifth letter for Galt’s retirement. While weaving through Katherine’s personal challenges,The Fifth Letterturns a spotlight on the most important issue currently facing the Court today: who is a person with inalienable legal rights in America? And it asks this question of its main character: What happens when a liberal Black female justice of the Supreme Court is caught between her conscience and the call of political expedience?PRAISE FORTHE FIFTH LETTER“Frequently political novels are a genre for truth telling. Dr. Vivian Carpenter's description of inside Washington rings true.The Fifth Lettertakes us forward to a United States Supreme Court foreshadowed by the current Court's personalities and political tilt. This novel will engage and educate its readers.”---Former Senator Bob Graham of Florida, Former Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee"The Fifth Letteris a remarkable first novel... The past informs the present in this contemplative, sophisticated judicial thriller. The moral/legal conundrum a