โ Scribed by Margolin, Phillip
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
A cold-blooded murder. A beautiful suspect. An honest judge forced to do the unthinkable.
New York Times bestselling author Phillip Margolin is a master of legal suspense. In this explosive novel, a simple case of self-defense becomes a nightmare in which justice itself is held hostage.
Judge Richard Quinn is young, idealistic, and honest to a fault. That's why he's handed the most sensational homicide case in Oregon history. Locked in a race for the U.S. Senate, Ellen Crease gunned down the intruder who murdered her wealthy husband. In a single, brutal instant she became a widow, a victim, and a hero.
Yet disturbing questions remain. What secrets did the man who started his fortune running mortuaries keep that might have cost him his life? What about the son frozen out of his will? Or his wife's political enemies? And what about Ellen Crease herself?
Soon it becomes clear that a deadly plot of murder, blackmail, passion, and double cross is unfolding around Judge Richard Quinn. And unless he breaks the rules, justice will not only be blind, it will be the final victim.
In this legal thriller, a young judge in Portland, Oregon, struggles to save his marriage and his career after he becomes personally involved in the murder case he's adjudicating. The judge, Richard Quinn, is a deeply principled man who has proven himself an honorable and fair-minded public servant. When an extremely wealthy undertaker is murdered in his mansion in the West Hills of town, Quinn is chosen to preside over the case. The dead man's widow, Ellen Crease, is a driven state congressional representative who is running for a seat in the United States Senate. She's a shapely, pistol-packing Republican and a former cop. She's also a suspect, as is the dead man's underachieving son. Crease's political enemies also appear to be involved in the intrigue, but it's difficult to tell. After someone connected to the case tries to blackmail the judge for an extramarital misstep, Quinn decides to take matters into his own hands. He does some investigating, shares his discoveries with people who seem to be trustworthy (but aren't), and puts himself in harm's way.
It's interesting to follow Quinn as he grapples with the ethical issues of the case. When the blackmailers want him to tip the scales of justice one way, he considers tipping them the other direction. There is also something inherently diverting about observing a basically good man who is helplessly mired in a whole heap of trouble. Throughout the book, Quinn keeps stumbling into mortal danger and confiding in all the wrong people, digging himself deeper and deeper in trouble. --Jill Marquis
Best known for his stunning thriller Gone but Not Forgotten (LJ 8/1/93), Margolin disappoints in this new novel. Wealthy Portland, OR, businessman Lamar Hoyt Sr. is shot to death in his bed. His wife, Ellen Crease, fires upon and kills the shooter. When the forensic scientist studies the photographs of the crime scene, he sees a discrepancy in the blood spatters, which points to Crease's lying about what happened. Her arraignment and bail hearing is before Richard Quinn, an honest, by-the-book judge who is being blackmailed into ruling against Crease. Despite Margolin's storytelling ability, the novel features unadorned prose and is thin on characterization and shallow in plot. The one bright spot here is Mary Garrett, an attorney with a great deal of aplomb and courtroom savvy who should be considered for her own novel soon. For most fiction collections because of demand for the author's books.
-?Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-Univ. Heights P.L., OH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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### Product Description At the center of this legal thriller stands Richard Quinn -- a judge willing to risk his own life to see that justice prevails in his courtroom. But as Quinn discovers when he presides over the trial of a tough-talking state senator, Ellen Crease, there is not always a clear
A cold-blooded murder. A beautiful suspect. An honest judge forced to do the unthinkable. **New York Times** bestselling author Phillip Margolin is a master of legal suspense. In this explosive novel, a simple case of self-defense becomes a nightmare in which justice itself is held hostage.