First time read for a Paul Madriani book and I really enjoyed the plot and character, Paul Madriani, and especially the courtroom scenes which were a good portion of the book. Great secondary characters too, well described and vivid.

Believe I might be a ‘frustrated wannabe lawyer.’ Always, always enjoy these genre of books. It's one of the reasons I loved The Lincoln Lawyer so much. I've read a lot of lawyer/courtroom books; more two hands worth, I'm sure.

Great storyline, too, and the ending, well, usually I don't get the 'whodunit' but this one, it was a total, complete surprise to me and was uncovered only in the last five pages or so. What a surprise, a total surprise.

Goodreads friend Jim said Martini got somewhat old to him, but now I'm anxious to read another. Not now, but in the near future so he'll be added to the vast collection of series that I'm reading. No worries though. What's another series when I like the character so much, in part, just because he's a lawyer.

My only gripe, why doesn't he fire his incompetent secretary? She gives women a bad name because of her lack of brains. Not that she has to be smart, just smart enough to be in the real world and function like she has something 'upstairs.' Only thing that rings now is S-T-U-P-I-D. OK, there I go trying to re-write portions of the book which I really hate for reviewers to do, including myself; but folks, I hate stupid and she just takes the cake. Paul (and Martini) please, just fire her fancy, dancy ass, no one would miss her.

I found this book a difficult read, but persisted in small intervals as I wanted to know the ending. At times the author’s vocabulary was frustrating to me and I had to stop and look up several word meanings. Certainly the major reason why I read it over such an unusually long period of time, which is out of character for me when it comes to reading.

The storyline was good, a few surprises and an unexpected ending answering the “who-done-it” question.

If you're looking for great literature...look elsewhere, but for what this is, and is obviously designed to be...a pulp legal thriller, it is quite nicely done, with a nice little, but not totally unexpected, twist at the end. Gee, does anyone else think Paul Madriani could be a pseudonym for Steve Martini?

This was a good book. This new-to-me author really surprised me. So first, let me talk about some things that bothered me. I can't actually say I didn't like them, but these things bothered me. This author tried too hard. He wants the reader to think. And he wants the reader to think he is smart. He used a few big words that I didn't know, and that hasn't happened to me in a long while. One or two, maybe, but many, words like "venireman," "attrited," "percipient," and "subaltern," to name a few. He also uses the term "body English" instead of "body language" and that just bothers me. One more thing is that he uses this phrase tooooo often: "He makes a face like..." He makes a face like - is this for real. He makes a face like - are you kidding me. Instead of all the "makes a face likes" he could insert actual dialogue.

On to the good. The main character is Paul Madriani, a defense attorney now that he has struck out on his own. Newly separated from his wife, he had an affair with the boss's wife. That explains why he is no longer with Potter, Skarpellos. He comes to terms with Ben, his old boss, on the eve of Ben's death. It looks like suicide, but the medical examiner classifies it as homicide. Almost immediately, Ben's wife Talia is arrested. She goes to Skarpellos for help, and he pays for an attorney during the pre-trial hearings, but after she is held over for trial, she needs a real defense attorney. Naturally, she asks Paul, her former lover, for help. I won't spoil the rest.

Steve Martini does a good job humanizing his characters. Most of them are dynamic characters with both good and bad qualities, though there are two characters that are basically stereotypes. The main characters are well developed. The book was a little slow to start, and sometimes I felt like I had to plod through some areas where Paul is simply thinking, but, overall, it was interesting, and there is a super-twist at the end. This conclusion won't disappoint.

This book popped up in my Goodreads recommended about a month ago. I was immediately intrigued by the Madriani / Martini parallel, but what truly captured my attention was the description. The brief summary did little to give away who was murdered and focused more on a lawyer, rather than the victim/perpetrator, which I found that many of the mystery-like books I had read did. I immediately added it to my want to read and once the opportunity arose to pick up a new book, I instantly gravitated towards this one.

Compelling Evidence is the first book of the series (something I hadn't realized until after finishing reading) and provides an introduction into the life of Paul Madriani, a defense lawyer who was recently catapulted from fame after a scandalous incident with his partner at the firm/long time best friend. After Ben, the partner/friend, asks Madriani to come back to help with the firm due to Ben's Supreme Court nomination, Ben is found dead in an apparent suicide. Closer examination of the evidence leads to a murderous cause of death. As cops scramble for clues, Talia, Ben's wife comes under scrutiny. A lack of an alibi, complicated with circumstantial evidence, lands Talia with a 1st degree murder charge. Madriani comes to the aid of Talia, the subject of the very incident that ended with him leaving the firm. The trial of Talia is complicated further by high-end prostitutes, money laundering at the firm, self-protective judges, and a scandal threatening to destroy the case.

I ended up liking this book more than I was expecting; while I knew lawyer + courtroom drama = clickbait heaven for me, this book was more than just another legal thriller. I truly think that this book resonated with me because of Paul Madriani as a character. I felt that Martini made Madriani an imperfect character who often straddled the line between unlikable and admirable. Madriani became the perfect example of overlap between good and bad, blurring the line with moral issues. I couldn't help but compare this book to another legal book I read recently by John Grisham, and I have to say that I feel like Martini developed his characters to a far better degree than Grisham. Even Martini's secondary characters developed throughout the story while I felt that even some of Grisham's main characters didn't. Another thing that truly stood out to me were the courtroom scenes. Often, these back-and-forth scenes can turn dry, yet I felt that the courtroom scenes in this book were some of the best pages.

A teeny tiny detail, but I did dislike the rather abrupt ending. I feel like Martini could have placed a few more breadcrumbs throughout the book alluding to the murderer  while also developing the Tony did it storyline  rather than cramming in the clues at the last minute to end the book on a high-note. It seemed to me that Martini was scrambling to end the book on a twist after an unshocking verdict.

I really wanted to give this book a 4-star review but somehow couldn't do it. If Amazon had halvies, I'd give it a solid 3.5. It was a good book, my first by Steve Martini. It was the first featuring his series protagonist Paul Madriani. The story was interesting but I didn't find myself looking forward to reading it. Martini was a practicing attorney and journalist and obviously knows this material but I thought some of the legalese made the story drag at times. There were some uneven themes like the occasional mention of a call girl that I assumed would impact the story more than she did. It's dated (early 90's), and some aspects are a little offputting, like phonetically spelling out the testimony of an African American janitor that seemed a bit racist. He also refers to attorneys with expensive pens as "spear chuckers." Not in a racial way but it still doesn't sound good. He mentions things like pay phones that make you have to stop and remind yourself of when this story takes place. Good writing, solid character development, clever conclusion, definitely held my interest throughout. Liked it a lot, just didn't love it. I got a Goodreads deal on this book for $1.99. That seemed appropriate.

A year after he's fired from the California law firm of Potter, Skarpellos by Ben Potter, who's found out he's having an affair with Ben's wife Talia, corporate-turned-criminal lawyer Paul Madriani is asked to join Talia's defense—on a charge of murdering Ben on the eve of his nomination to the Supreme Court. It's the other partner, Tony ("the Greek'') Skarpellos, who inveigles Madriani to put aside two other investigations—helping county medical examiner George Cooper figure out who abandoned his daughter to burn to death after a car crash, and defending high- profile hooker Susan Hawley, who doesn't want to implicate her well- placed clients in "boinkgate'' even if she's granted immunity—and to sign on as assisting counsel to nitwit glamourpuss Gibert Cheetam, who promptly runs Talia's defense into the ground and jumps ship after the grand jury indicts her. So Madriani, his affair with Talia making him painfully vulnerable, takes over as chief counsel, infuriating his estranged wife Nikki even before he realizes that Skarpellos, who stands to inherit the hugely profitable firm if Talia takes the rap, has set him up. Martini (The Simeon Chamber, 1988), whose early scenes could have used some advice from assisting counsel too (the obligatory between-the-sheets flashback is introduced by noting ``the cold wetness of my own passions, a small portion of which had pooled in the creases of the sheets beneath where her loins had rested''), rouses himself for the well-paced trial scenes, which heat up even further when news of the Talia/Madriani affair reaches the ears of the presiding judge, determined that no mistrial's going to stand in the way of his reelection—and when Madriani decides to pin his hopes on an all-out assault on Skarpellos. The final surprise, though, is eminently guessable. Martini is no Scott Turow—his characters are thinner, his prose flabbier—but his legal intrigue will probably keep you up just as late.

Keep reading with this topic. For my first book, I find it quite interesting.

Compelling Evidence by Steve Martini is the first book of the Paul Madriani legal thriller series. Unlike many mysteries, the setting does not factor into the story until the very end, when a bridge over the American River (CA) is mentioned. Paul Madriani is a defense lawyer in a solo practice. He formerly worked for a high-powered law firm, before his affair with a partner's wife led to a quick exit. Now the partner, Ben Potter, is short-listed for a Supreme Court position. With his departure for Washington imminent, Ben is concerned about the personal use of trust funds by partner Tony Skarpellos. He asks for Paul to investigate.

Before Paul can start, Ben is found dead, apparently a suicide. Paul doesn't believe it. Neither does Paul's police detective friend "Coop". When Ben's widow Talia, Paul's former lover, is charged with murder, she asks for Paul to defend her. The circumstantial evidence all points to Talia, but Paul senses it's a frame. He suspects Tony, who stands to inherit all if Talia is convicted.

Paul tangles with a hostile judge ("the coconut") in the courtroom. He fears key facts may not be allowed into evidence; justice may not prevail. After a press leak that Paul had an affair with Talia, his credibility with the jury seems doomed. But hang on, there's a surprise twist at the end.

Like another reviewer, I didn't realize this audiobook from the library was an Abridged version. It seems all the audiobooks in the series are. That does explain what seemed to be an abrupt shift in courtroom scenes (at first Paul cannot introduce Tony's inheritance if Talia is convicted, then suddenly he can question Tony about it - seemed odd).

I didn’t realize until I finished this book that I added it to my “want to read” list 3 years ago! Well I’m glad BookBub put an offer out there to buy at a discount, because it was worth it!

As is sometimes the case with authors I haven’t previously read, it took me a while to get into Compelling Evidence. Maybe it’s adjusting to a writer’s style, but I trudged through the first half. By the 2nd half, however, I couldn’t put the book (or Kindle in my case) down. The courtroom writing was real and dramatic.

I definitely recommend others to read this book and I will be adding the 2nd Paul Madriani book to my list to read!

Not my cup of tea... Ik kon er maar moeilijk in raken en hoewel de hoofdstukken niet zo heel groot waren had ik telkens het gevoel alsof er maar geen einde aan kwam. Het is van hetzelfde genre als John Grisham, dus nu weet ik zeker dat de kant van rechtszaken en advocaten gebrabbel gewoon niet mijn ding is. Jammer, maar in ieder geval heb ik het geprobeerd!

If you like a good rollicking courtroom drama, with plenty of theatrical biffo, you'll love this book.

Its very well written, and the characters are larger than life.

The problem as always, is how to end such a drama. The verdict can be anticlimactic, if there isn't some massive big twist to follow up, and that has become the standard fare. Unfortunately in this case the "twist nobody saw coming" is simply nonsensical. That's the thing with fiction, you can right any weird ending you want.

This was my first Steve Martini book, for me it was a page turner. I liked the story and the ending was a complete surprise. I also enjoyed the vocabulary and terms Steve Martini used throughout the book. I found myself looking up more words than I usually do while reading a book.

Read this old book, written in 1992, the first in the Paul Madriani series. Really enjoyed it because it is a thorough court room drama, with great scenes, arguments, judgements on motions.
Paul Madriani lands as the defending counsel for the wife of his ex boss who is murdered on the eve of his elevation to the supreme court and the wife is the prime suspect.
Steven Martini is skilled at writing a legal thriller. Makes it really interesting. Goes into the details of every small judicial point, evidence, forensics. I have read a lot of his books and was glad to read this old book which is still relevant.
Strongly recommended for fans of legal fiction.