I like a compelling and intense courtroom drama, and this book gave it to me. And, if you pay attention, you can pick out some hidden clues (which I missed completely). Then you might be able to guess the identity of the killer before the reveal (I didn't). I was so tempted to read the ending prematurely! There were plot twists, red herrings, surprises and a suspenseful and thrilling ending. The descriptions are vivid and the characters are fleshed out except maybe for one - the cause of the courtroom drama, Judge Armando Acosta. What makes him tick? The book is also written in 1st person by the main character, lawyer Paul Madriani - a man with a sense of honor and convictions.

Paul Madriani is a widower and a single parent to young Sarah. He is also a lawyer. He must juggle his career and his parenting responsibilities. Lenore Goya is chief deputy prosecutor for Capital County. In a previous book, she saved his life. Lenore comes to Madriani needing help with a friend named Tony Arguillo, a police officer, who is in some difficulty. Madriani comes up against Judge Armando Acosta (A.K.A. the coconut) who is his arch nemesis and arrogant, abrasive, and a bully. Acosta is presiding over a Grand Jury which is looking into corrupt police officers and union finances. Tony is a suspect in a previous incident where another policeman was killed. Madriani is fighting to keep Tony from having to testify when Acosta is charged with soliciting a prostitute - how fortunate is that? - Madriani is ecstatic!

The police used a decoy named Brittany Hall to snare Acosta. Could Phil Mendel, head of the corrupt Police Assn., and a man with an immense ego and terminal ambition be involved? Lenore is fired by Coleman Kline, the county's new D.A. because he is cleaning up his office and they also hate each other. Lenore and Madriani team up, and she takes Acosta on as a client when he is kicked off the bench. The decoy, Brittany Hall, is later found murdered and Acosta is arrested. Lenore and Madriani do something so obviously stupid that she, knowing something she shouldn't and is found out, must forfeit Acosta's case to him. Now Madriani is forced to defend a man he hates but who he knows has been set up and is innocent.

Harry Hinds provides the comic relief. He is Madriani's acerbic friend and a lawyer who has an office down the hall. Harry frequently does research and investigating for Madriani and assists during a trial. Since all the judges in the county have recused themselves, an outsider from another county named Judge Harland Radovich is brought in. He wears cowboy boots, an out-of-doors complexion, and takes a common sense approach to the law rather than that of a legal scholar. There is one child that testifies, Kimberly Hall, Brittany's daughter who was hiding in a closet during the murder. That's a heart-wrenching scene. The courtroom scenes are riveting and nail-biting.

The author is a former trial attorney and knows legal strategies, intricacies of courtroom battle, machinations, and games that lawyers play. He engages the reader. The book did start out slow, but picked up speed and had a satisfying ending. Highly recommended - a compelling courtroom drama.

EXCELLENT!!! didnt get it till almost the last page - great read

Interesting

This book it was good but kinda moved a little slow for me. Took me a while to get through it but once I got into it a-ways, I had to figure out what happened next. It's interesting to figure out what happened towards the end though. I would say read it if you're following the series.

Attorney Paul Madriani has an adverse risk relationship with Judge Acosta. However, when Judge Acosta is accused of murder, Paul finds himself reluctantly agreeing to defend the judge.

Excellent courtroom mystery. I loved every minute!! Earlier today I picked up another book written by Steve Martini. Once done with this short review.......I'll be deep into another of his books.

The Judge by Steve Martini is the fourth book of the Paul Madriani mystery series set in contemporary "Capital County". Paul Madriani, defense attorney, hates judge Armando Acosta, with good cause. Paul has "The Coconut" in mind when he muses "the judiciary is still the one place in our system where authority can be abused with virtual impunity". As a favor to Lenore Goya, chief prosecutor of Capital County, Paul has agreed to represent police officer Tony Arguillo, a neophyte cop only 4 years on the force. Tony is a pawn in The Coconut's grand jury investigation into police corruption (in general) and the police union (in particular). A war they would drop if "the blue flu" (a rash of cops calling in sick) would stop. "It is true what they say about most judges. The principal qualification for the office is that they are lawyers who know the governor." To Paul, The Coconut in charge of a grand jury is like "a pedophile in charge of a day-care center".

The Coconut is forcing Tony to testify against fellow cops, or go to jail (where he will be violently attacked, likely killed). Paul tries to reason with The Coconut, who feigns moral indignation, which "is like spinning gold from straw, given the man's limited virtue".

"Acosta does not have a high opinion of cops. To him, the competent ones are people to be shot at in times of danger; the more inept can spit-polish his black, pointy cowboy boots in moments of tedium...his bailiff does the chore."

Even if the reader hasn't read earlier books in the series, by the first dozen pages it's obvious Paul and The Coconut are long-standing enemies.

Back at Paul's office, his partner Harry Hinds is "picking through candy from a dish on the receptionist's desk, the remnants of Christmas leftovers he has fingered and passed over for half a year. By the rules of some Darwinian law of sweets, these have suddenly become edible". A subtle message that Harry is a lightweight 'partner' of no particular significance to the story. How/why Harry became Paul's partner is unexplained, likewise if Harry ever had an impact in previous cases.

Paul does not normally represent cops. He's only doing so as a favor to Lenore. At Paul's first meeting with Tony, "he does the natural cop's thing when cornered, a lot of bravado". Tony won't share what he knows, even under lawyer-client privilege. "...law enforcement's true and highest credo, the ultimate rule of survival on the street: Never give up a fellow cop." Tony has been doing the accounts for the Police Association headed by Gus Lano, "a man with an immense ego and terminal ambition".

The first surprise plot twist is The Coconut's arrest for solicitation. Now the grand jury investigation is no more...obviously Brittany Hall, a decoy for Vice, set him up. Police union wins the round! Next surprise twist: shortly after Lenore (DA) interviews Brittany about the solicitation case, Lenore is fired by her new, over-ambitious boss Coleman Kline. Next surprise: Brittany is murdered.

The wildly improbable has become reality: Lenore and Paul are defense counsel representing The Coconut. Opposing counsel: the vindictive, sneaky Kline. Presiding judge Radovich "is not one to reason on a high level", which Kline discovered early on, and "all day he played the judge like a piano". The court case is "a cross between Carnival and a public hanging, with hucksters peddling snake oil from the tailgate of your television set".

Dirty tricks are the order of the day: Lenore is dismissed from the case; a police officer disguised as a cable TV repairman plants drugs in Paul's home. Paul's quick thinking avoids that frameup. But the officer returns one dark night...tries to go upstairs where Paul's daughter is sleeping. Paul's a widower; wife Nikki died two years ago. Their daughter Sarah (age eight) is "master of the stall". She can "take an hour to make her bed in the morning and another to brush her teeth....Put her in the shower with a bar of soap and she will drain the local reservoir."

Great courtroom scenes and more surprise plot twists make this chunkster a page-turner. An attentive reader will notice a dangling clue in testimony....followed up much later in a suspenseful, deadly scene.

Great read. Entertaining, suspenseful, author Martini at his usual best. HEED: Do NOT read ahead.

Good courtroom drama. I have enjoyed this series.

If you like courtroom drama, then this series is for you. I find the back and forth between lawyer and witnesses so interesting and love how things fall together. I especially loved the ending in this one with payback being a b****!

This was published in 1995, so the introduction of cell phones as regular business does not seem to be a factor here. In fact I don't even think they were mentioned. Refreshing!

I am giving this 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait to see what happens next in this series.

Excellent read from an excellent writer

A superb entry in this series. The courtroom scenes were dynamic, as a judge and his lawyer defend against a murder charge.

Perché nessuno mi ha mai parlato di Steve Martini? Da amante del genere, ormai, mi sento a dir poco offesa. Dove ti sei nascosto finora? Non lo so. Ma grazie al cielo ti ho beccato, e puoi star certo che farò di tutto per leggere molto di più.
C'è ben poco da dire, ragazzi, mi sono innamorata. Come nelle più belle storie * LMFAO * è successo per caso, eppure eccoci. Ho scovato questo libro in biblioteca poco meno di un mese fa e sebbene non sia riuscita a leggerlo chissà quanto velocemente, mi è piaciuto davvero un sacco. Non tanto per la storia - su quello nessuno aveva dubbi - ma proprio per lo stile. Così ironico e spigliato che veramente non penso riuscirò a farne più a meno. Anche i personaggi non sono niente male!
Sebbene questo libro sia il terzo, mi pare, della saga con protagonista Paul Madriani - non mi scoccia aver cominciato proprio da questo. Anche perché pure qua, grande Classico Disney... Il che mi riporta indietro ai bei tempi in ho conosciuto Kathy Reichs - la mia autrice preferita del genere - e non potrei essere più felice di così.