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Crime, justice and the law
REVIEWS BY SUKEY HOWARD
By Faye Kellerman Simon & Schuster Audio, $25 ISBN 0671582712
Scene of the crimeIt's a bad scene for San Francisco District Attorney Prentice Gates III, known as Skipper, when he wakes up in a hotel room to find the nude body of a young male prostitute in his bed. Worst of all, the man is dead, and Gates, who can't remember anything, is the prime suspect. And that's just for openers in Sheldon Siegel's Incriminating Evidence. Defense attorney Mike Daley takes the case and tells the story, and a nasty, tabloid tale it is, with constant revelations of all sorts of dirty little secrets about all sorts of powerful people. Though Daley is not fond of his client, he's determined to mount the best defense he can, even if it puts him in harm's way. Good local color, good courtroom color and a good reading by Tony Award-winning actor Boyd Gaines.
By Sheldon Siegel BDD Audio, $25.95 ISBN 0553528130
Jury dutyD. Graham Burnett, a scholar and professor of history, had looked forward to serving on a jury, but he hadn't an inkling of the impact it would have on him. He was picked as foreman of the jury that heard a complicated Manhattan murder case. It took well over a week to hear all the evidence and 66 hours of sequestered deliberation that at times "pushed civics into the realm of extreme sports" for the 12 jurors to reach a verdict. Read by the author, A Trial by Jury is his riveting anatomy of that verdict and a keen description of a difficult case and a difficult group in a very difficult dynamic. But more, it's a keenly observed revelation of what our legal system is really about, why the state carries the heavy burden of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" and how this group of disparate people came to the decision that in following the strictures of the law, often arcane and confusing, they were not necessarily carrying out justice. Fascinating and thought-provoking all the way through.
By D. Graham Burnett Random House AudioBooks, $25 ISBN 0375420398
Lucky 13The number 13 is usually considered unlucky, but when that baker's dozen is made up of well-known women mystery/suspense writers who came together to fashion a serial novel, we're definitely in luck. Naked Came the Phoenix, a classy, collaborative crime caper, is the result -- fun and flawlessly read by Susan Ericksen. As each author (and you'll recognize many of your favorites, including Nevada Barr, Lisa Scottoline, J.A. Jance, Faye Kellerman and Ann Perry) pens her portion, she can plant a new clue, introduce a new character, target a fresh victim, incriminate another suspect, tweak and twist the plot and then pass it on until the very last chapter, when the truth must out. This diabolical sisterhood obviously had a ball creating this project, and you'll have a ball listening to it.
Brilliance Audio unabridged, $27.95 ISBN 1587885735
abridged, $19.95
For goodness sakeNick Hornby asks some difficult questions in his most recent novel, How to Be Good, read by Frances Barber. And given the title, it's not surprising that they focus on what it means to be a good person, and what happens when someone tries to go beyond the everyday options. The narrator is Katie, a middle-class London doctor and mother of two, who suddenly finds that her curmudgeonly, cynical spouse has given up his put down of the world and is now trying to save it, trying to be good with a capital "G." The why's and wherefore's of his conversion, including an inarticulate faithhealer named GoodNews, take us on an interesting trip. Don't worry, this is not a diatribe, it's a Nick Hornby novel, which means quirky, funny, full of clever lines and observations. And if it makes you question your own duty to be good, so much the better.
By Nick Hornby Putnam Berkley Audio, $24.95 ISBN 039914823X
Sukey Howard reports on spoken word audio each month. |
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Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mystery series goes way beyond the usual. She always provides a well-turned plot, suspense and all the attractions of a top-notch whodunit, but her main characters set her novels apart. Rina is a deeply involved Orthodox Jew; her husband Peter, is an LAPD detective who converted for her; and one of her sons is a teenager struggling with authority. In Kellerman's latest, The Forgotten, which is also one of her best, Rina's modest place of worship is trashed and covered by anti-Semitic graffiti. When the young perpetrator is found, he, in turn, leads Rina and Peter into a labyrinth of present day hate groups and past secrets that have torn generations apart. Dennis Boutsikaris' fine performance captures the nuances of family friction and the charged atmosphere of difficult police work.
