The Lawyer's Tale

While tracking down the only existing reel of a $40 million film, Harry Cain, the defender of Hollywood's rich and famous, must defend a wife accused of murdering her Japanese millionaire husband.

Legal brinkmanship sp ok and cunning courtroom strategy animate this uneven tale of a famous litigator working the glittery turf of contemporary Los Angeles. Harry Cain (last seen in The Sunset Bomber ) here brings his special talents to the aid of Oscar-winning director Joe Miletti, who is fighting for control of a $40 million film; to Aaron Fernbach, a studio head who has been wrongfully fired; to Fumiko Masami, a mysterious Japanese widow on trial for her husband's murder; and to numerous challenges confronting his family and friends outside the courtroom. None of these cases is straightforward, nor are the tactics of Cain, who plays--fiercely and successfully--to win. The plot meanders from case to case, connected by the subplot of Cain's wife Nancy's battle with terminal cancer. Though the pace is lively, Kincaid's careless prose and celebrity name-dropping are distracting. And Cain's genius, while impressive in the courtroom, is harder to credit as he applies it to a friend's marital problems, or to maneuvering Nancy into an experimental treatment program. Moreover, Cain lacks any worthy adversary--no other character is more than a stick figure. Mean, powerful movie mogul Yank Slutsky never seems a threat, and rival attorney Bailey "Scumbag" Scumeo is merely a straw man. Nonetheless, Kincaid, through his clever portrayal of legal and extralegal oneupsmanship, does weave a tale that entertains.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Harry Cain, star of Kincaid's earlier Sunset Bomber (Linden Pr., 1986), is back strutting his stuff in the high-powered courtrooms of Hollywood, defending the rich and famous. Resplendent in his never-wrinkled Armani suits, he whisks the reader through a series of ingeniously crafted defenses with wit and panache. Equal part James Bond and Perry Mason, he extricates a lady from a steamy case of blackmail, the widow of a Japanese billionaire from a murder rap, and a famous director from a $40 million suit for the disappearance of a film. Watch out, John Grisham, fellow lawyer Kincaid is after your spot on the best-seller lists. Essential for popular fiction collections.
- Susan Clifford, Hughes Aircraft Co. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.