A Murder of Crows (1998) on Netflix

Plot summary

Thurman Parks III, a wealthy childhood friend of defense lawyer Lawson Russell, is accused of raping and murdering a stripper named Jeanie Brussard in New Orleans. Judge Wiley Banning is part of a plan to have the charges dismissed; Russell, who knows Parks is guilty, tries to step back from the case, and the judge threatens his career. Russell accuses Parks in court, the judge declares a mistrial, and Russell is disbarred for life. Thirteen months later he lives in Key West and works as a fishing guide, blocked on a book about his own experience. He befriends Christopher Marlowe, a retired teacher who gives him a manuscript to read; after Marlowe dies, Russell publishes the novel as his own and it becomes a best-seller. Detective Clifford Dubose then receives an anonymous copy of it.