No Defense (Barbara Holloway Novels)

Wilhelm, Kate

ISBN 10: 1470889838 ISBN 13: 9781470889838

Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2013

Synopsis

Lara and Vinny Jessup had a lovely May-December marriage. It renewed his lease on life after a battle with cancer, and it rescued her from a bad first marriage. And then Vinny was found dead. Initially, the sheriff in Loomis County thinks that Vinny died when his car rolled over on a bad curve on Lookout Mountain. But then he finds a gunshot wound. Was it suicide, or was it murder? With a large insurance policy as her motive, Lara could have staged the death ... or so it appears to the sheriff. Barbara Holloway is a trial lawyer who tends to take on difficult cases, but in every previous case she has had some fragment with which she could build an argument. She finds herself drawn to the Oregon desert to take on this case, accompanied by her associates: her colleague Shelley with her Barbie-doll looks, the inimitable detective Bailey Novell, and her father Frank. But the case itself is as dead as the desert. Is there any defense at all? Compelling and distinctive, this drama demonstrates anew why Kate Wilhelm is considered a master of the form.

About this title

Review:

Frank and Barbara Holloway, the Pacific Northwest father-daughter legal duo familiar to Wilhelm's (For the Defense, Defense for the Devil) many fans, go east of the Cascades to Oregon's ruggedly beautiful high desert to investigate the strange death of Vinny Jessup. Was it a suicide staged to look like murder by Vinny's young wife Lara in order to collect a big insurance policy? Or was it murder set up to look like suicide by a right-wing judge in line for a nomination to the Supreme Court---the man Vinny Jessup believed responsible for framing his beloved younger son for murder nearly two decades ago? Wilhelm's strong suit is character development; here she introduces Manny Truewater, an intriguing Native American lawyer who was Vinny's partner and best friend (and worthy of a starring role in his own book), and also adds new dimensions to both the Holloways with a love affair that tests Barbara's commitment to her personal independence and a nascent career for Frank as a published writer. She's at her best when describing the power structures of a small town and the relationships that tie the Jessups to the ambitions of the people who really run things; while the pace is leisurely, the writing is assured, the ends neatly tied up, and the gorgeous landscape of a harsh and rugged region beautifully depicted. --Jane Adams

About the Author:

Kate Wilhelm is the bestselling author of dozens of novels and short-story collections. Among her novels are the popular courtroom thrillers featuring attorney Barbara Holloway. Her other works include the science fiction classic Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. Born in Ohio, she now lives in Eugene, Oregon.

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1470889838
• ISBN 13: 9781470889838
• Binding: Audio CD