In this 3rd book in the Jake Brigance series, the attorney represents a juvenile accused of murder. The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
It's 1990, and attorney Jake Brigance is notorious in his hometown of Clanton, Mississippi for getting an acquittal for Carl Lee Hailey, a black man who killed the two white men that raped his daughter. (This story is told in Grisham's 1989 novel A Time to Kill). In the five years since the Hailey verdict Jake's law firm has been doing pretty well with journeyman work like divorces, wills, personal injury, etc.
Now Jake's firm has a huge wrongful death suit on its calendar. Taylor Smallwood, his wife Sarah, and two of their three children were killed when their car collided with a train at a dangerous crossing. A witness said the red crossing lights were not working and the train's engineer swears they were. The Smallwood relatives are suing the railroad, and Jake is representing the family in what might be a seven figure verdict or settlement.
Thus Jake is dismayed when Judge Omar Noose......
..... 'asks' him to represent an indigent 16-year-old boy named Drew Gamble, who's accused of capital murder.
Drew, his 14-year-old sister Kiera, and their mother Josie had been living with a Clanton police officer named Stuart Kofer. Stuart was a good cop and a respected member of the community when he was sober.
But Stuart liked to drink, and when Stuart was soused he would brawl in bars and beat up his girlfriend Josie. Stuart would even hit Drew and Keira on occasion, and they were scared to death of him.
Unfortunately, Stuart's fellow cops covered up his bad behavior and didn't take Josie's 911 calls seriously - which allowed the abusive situation to continue. One night Stuart knocked Josie out and Drew was certain his mother was dead.
So when Stuart fell asleep Drew took the cop's gun and shot him in the head. Shooting a police officer is a death penalty offense in Mississippi, and Drew is facing the gas chamber despite the fact that he's only sixteen.
Jake doesn't want Drew Gamble's case, but since Judge Noose is Jake's mentor - as well as being the judge for the Smallwood wrongful death lawsuit - Jake has no choice.
Representing Drew makes Jake VERY unpopular in Clanton, especially with Stuart Kofer's family and friends, who are grief-stricken and furious. Moreover, Mississippi will pay Jake only $1,000 for representing an indigent, even in a death penalty case.
Since a guilty plea by Drew Gamble would mean an automatic death sentence, Jake has to go to trial. Jake is assisted by his friends and associates: lawyer Harry Rex Vonner;
disbarred attorney Lucien Willbanks;
and paralegal Portia Lang - who's about to start law school and will be the first black female attorney in Clanton.
Everyone knows Jake will have trouble with the Gamble case because Clanton residents are very conservative and think a cop killer should die, no matter the circumstances.
The situation puts a lot of pressure on the Brigance family, especially Jake and his schoolteacher wife Carla, who are stared at in church, getting threatening phone calls, and going broke because of the Gamble case.
Still, the Constitution says 'innocent until proven guilty' and 'fair trial'....and Jake knows his responsibility.
As the story unfolds we follow both the Smallwood wrongful death case and the Drew Gamble murder trial. For the Gamble trial, we watch jury selection; see Jake cross-examine prosecution witnesses; and observe Jake put on a defense. As usual, Jake has some tricks up his sleeve and it's informative to see him put on a case.
Additional characters from A Time to Kill put in an appearance, including law professor Ray Atlee and Sheriiff Ozzie Walls, the first and only black sheriff in Mississippi.
Even now, Ozzie can't dine in certain Clanton restaurants, which - though they've taken down the 'whites only' signs - don't welcome black customers.
The story develops slowly and the book is long, but it kept my interest throughout. I'd recommend the book to fans of John Grisham and courtroom dramas.
Rating: 4 stars
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It's 1999 and Samantha Lind lives in Fremont, just outside Chicago, with her boyfriend Nick Sullivan and his daughter Rosie.
Samantha takes Rosie out for silver dollar pancakes, picks Rosie up from school, helps Rosie with homework, and thinks of Rosie as her own daughter.
Using the stage name Ruby, Samantha also works in a club called the Lovely Lady.....
.....where she strips and dances for men who pay her and stuff tips in her garter.
Nick is disgruntled about Samantha's job, saying it makes him feel small, but - since Nick is currently unemployed - Samantha's work pays the bills.
Samantha and the other dancers at the Lovely Lady, who have different backgrounds and lifestyles, aren't really friends. However they talk and gossip in the dressing room while they get ready for work.
When a new girl called Jolene comes in for a shift, chitchat about a dead girl found at the side of the road - and jokes about the killer frequenting the Lovely Lady - make her jittery.
Samantha tells Jolene it's just a stripper ghost story, but Samantha is spooked as well, and starts to look at her clients more warily.
After that Samantha takes newbie Jolene under her wing, giving the girl advice about makeup, stripper shoes, and how to make money at the club.
Then one night Jolene gets high and can't finish her shift. This is a firing offense, but Samantha tells the boss, Dale, that someone must have drugged Jolene. Samantha offers to drive Jolene home, and Dale gives Samantha the address.
The next morning, Samantha's car is found in a ditch, Jolene's body is discovered nearby, and Samantha is missing.
Detective Victor Amador and his partner Detective Holly Meylin catch the case, and proceed to interview Samantha's boyfriend Nick, relatives of the girls, employees of the Lovely Lady, clientele of the club, etc.
The police suspect the perpetrator patronizes the Lucky Lady and Holly asks a stripper called Georgia (stage name Gigi) to be a Confidential Informant and report anything suspicious. Georgia resists the idea but, with the correct incentive, decides to help.
Most of the story is told from the rotating points of view of the main protagonists, including Samantha; Georgia; Detective Victor Amador; Detective Holly Meylin; Samantha's boyfriend Nick; Nick's daughter Rosie; and the killer. There are also snippets from other dancers and a bouncer, who provide a sense of what it's like to work in a strip club.
At the Lucky Lady, after every shift, a stripper has to pay sixty dollars to the house, forty to the bouncers, twenty to the deejay, and twenty to the house mom - all of which provides incentive to coax lots of money from the customers. The customers, in turn, range from men out for a little entertainment to perverts.
As the narrative unfolds we learn that Samantha has a genetic condition that precludes childbirth; Detective Victor Amador knows a superior officer is corrupt; Detective Holly Meylin is mourning the death of her baby son; Georgia planned to attend college until her mother got dementia; Dale assiduously keeps the club running and on the right side of the law; and more.
The strip club provides an intriguing background to this thriller, which has unexpected twists and a dramatic climax.
The author, Marie Rutkoski, worked as a stripper to pay off student loans, and her first-hand knowledge of the job is evident in the book.
Thanks to Netgalley, Marie Rutkoski, and Henry Holt & Company for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
New York literary agent Isaac Vargas's star client is M. M. Banning (Mimi), a middle-aged writer who wrote her only novel, titled 'Pitched', when she was nineteen.
The book, about a gifted young baseball player who loses his mind and dies, won a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and became a cult favorite. The book still has thousands of rabid fans, who swarm Banning if she shows her face in public.
Thus Mimi has become something of a recluse, holed up in her expensive Los Angeles home.
One day Mimi calls Vargas to say she's writing a new book. It seems Mimi has been bilked out of her fortune by a crooked investment advisor and is about to lose her house and the copyright to Pitched. To recoup her finances, Banning has to pen a second novel. Mimi makes two demands of Vargas: a huge advance and an assistant, chosen by Vargas and paid for by the publisher.
Vargas decides to send his editorial assistant, a twenty-four year old accountant, computer whiz, and artist named Alice Whitley to Los Angeles.
Alice expects to help Banning shepherd her book to completion. Instead, Alice becomes the defacto guardian of Banning's nine-year-old son Frank, a gifted boy on the autism spectrum.
Frank has special needs, but they're more in line with the foibles of an eccentric wunderkind than a child who struggles with schoolwork.
Alice quickly learns the two rules of Frank. Rule one: No touching Frank's things. Rule two: No touching Frank. For any 'touching' to occur, Frank has to give prior permission. Rule breaking can result in Frank screaming; throwing things; banging his head on a table or wall; lying on the floor and going stiff; or other inappropriate behavior.
Frank's idiosyncrasies also extend to his wardrobe, recreational preferences, and conversations. Frank dresses as 'characters', and depending on his mood might be outfitted in a cravat and smoking jacket; zoot suit; deerstalker hat and caped overcoat; yachting blazer and captain's hat; cutaway coat, morning pants, spats, and top hat; pinstripe suit, wingtips, and monocle; or other unusual attire purchased from online catalogues.
For fun, Frank enjoys movies, especially vintage black and white ones. Some of his favorites are White Heat; My Man Godfrey; Sunset Boulevard; Casablanca; It's a Wonderful Life; Titanic; and more.
Frank also likes to talk, and seems to know arcane facts about almost everything. For example, when Alice takes Frank out in the car, he tells her, "Isadora Duncan met an untimely end in France on September fourteenth, 1927, when her scarf got entangled in the wheels of the convertible she rode in." And when the subject is bombs, Frank observes, "The Enola Gay, the airplane that dropped the first atom bomb, was built in Omaha in 1945."
Mimi dearly loves her young son, but - while she's writing her book - puts him almost exclusively in Alice's hands. Thus, while Mimi holes up in her office, Alice drives Frank to school and picks him up; prepares his meals; takes him to museums; plays with him; watches movies with him; supervises his bath time and bedtime; and so on.
Frank functions pretty well at home, but his manner of dress and behavior make him a target at school, where kids tease and taunt him. Alice has to deal with this on top of everything else, and it's taxing.
The one time Mimi is obligated to take her son to school she wears "the type of outfit you'd expect Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly to wear to cocktails: a little black dress, big black sunglasses, gloves, and pearls."
Together, Frank and Mimi "were the only pair on the playground dressed like they were going for drinks at the Algonquin after a funeral."
Despite everything (or maybe because of it), Alice forges a close bond with Frank and he cares for her as well.
The other important person in Frank's life is Xander, a quixotic piano teacher and handyman who periodically comes and goes from the Banning home.
Frank loves Xander, but the man's irresponsibility is a problem.
As the story unfolds we learn of tragic incidents in the lives of some characters, which explains their subsequent behavior and makes them more sympathetic. Frank is an absolute joy, and one hopes he retains his quirkiness while becoming a successful adult.
I was a little disappointed with the ending but this is a very good book, highly recommended.
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
Rating: 4 stars
In this 19th book in the Dismas Hardy series, the attorney gets involved when a released prisoner is murdered. The book can be read as a standalone but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.
*****
Eleven years ago, Paul Riley was convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman named Dana Rush. Riley's case was subsequently taken up by the Exoneration Initiative (EI), which helps people who were wrongly convicted. The EI got a confession from another convict, and Riley was released from prison.
Since then Riley has moved into a garage apartment on his father's property, got a job in a restaurant, and taken up his old vocation - burglary. One evening, Riley comes home with a good haul of jewelry and money and gets shot in the head.
Riley's dad tells the police he heard the shot and saw Doug Rush, the father of the raped girl Dana Rush, leaving the property. The police take the ID seriously because Doug - who STILL believed Riley was guilty - railed against his release and threatened to kill him.
The police arrest Doug Rush and botch the job by kicking and beating him while he's helpless on the ground. A video of the assault is uploaded to the internet and the police are vilified for brutality. This being the case the police want a quick conviction, so they look a tad less bad.
Meanwhile Doug hires Wes Farrell - a former District Attorney who's now a defense lawyer in Dismas Hardy's law firm - to represent him. Being on the prosecution side has infiltrated Wes's psyche and he believes all defendants are guilty, including Doug. As things play out, Doug forfeits his million-dollar bail by not showing up for his preliminary hearing, and Wes feels somewhat vindicated in his opinion.
Then Doug is found murdered and the police, who are embarrassed by the whole business, drag their feet on the investigation. Wes Farrell and Dismas Hardy - whose law firm got a $100,000 retainer from Doug - feel they owe him a debt. So the lawyers enlist the help of private detective Abe Glitzky, who was once Head of Homicide for the San Francisco Police Department. Abe sets out to discover who killed Doug, believing it's the same man who shot Paul Riley. So two birds with one stone.
During Abe's investigation he speaks to various people, including Doug's neighbor, Doug's lady friend, the members of Doug's motorcycle club, and people associated with Paul Riley.
Additional deaths blur the picture, and at one point Abe, a happily married man, gets the come-on from an interviewee, which made me laugh. 😄 Abe also contacts a lawyer at the EI, who admits the EI doesn't always get it right and some guilty convicts have been sprung from prison.
Though this is a Dismas Hardy book, the novel is mostly a police procedural focused on Abe Glitzky. I like police procedurals and Abe is an appealing character, so that's fine with me.
Thanks to Netgalley, John Lescroart, and Atria Books for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
