Martini, Steve. The Jury (New York : Putnam Publishing Group, June, 2001).

CN: The Jury / Author Martini, Steve

New York : Putnam Publishing Group, The, June, 2001. 448 pages.

TI: The Jury

BTI: The-Jury

AU: Martini,-Steve (Author)

CR: Author

PY:2001

SO: Putnam-Publishing-Group-The

IM: Grosset-Putnam

ZA: Individual Title

IB:0399146725

ST: Active

PR: Retail Price: CND$37.99

Distributor Price: CND$37.99

SPR:38; 38

DI: Be-Jo-Sales-Incorporated; Putnam-Berkley

DW:813/.54

LC:2001-019834

DE: FICTION-LEGAL ; FICTION-MYSTERY-and-DETECTIVE-GENERAL ; PHYSICIANS-FICTION

DX: FICTION-Mystery-and-Detective-General; FICTION-Legal; FICTION-Medical

DF: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General; FICTION / Legal; FICTION / Medical

SB: Abstract-Available; Books; Reviews-Available

BI: Trade-Cloth

ZD: Publishers Weekly Fact Sheet; Publishers Weekly Fact Sheet

AB: Lawyer Paul Madriani is called upon to defend a brilliant research physician -- who just may be a killer -- in the new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Attorney. Bestselling author Steve Martini's popular lawyer-sleuth Paul Madriani is called upon to defend a brilliant research physician who just might be a killer.

RV:

Kirkus Reviews, 20010515

The San Diego power shortage must be affecting Paul Madriani: his latest high-profile legal suspenser is his weakest yet. Who stopped African-American ex-model Kalista Jordan, a Stanford Ph.D. in molecular electronics, from assuming her natural place as empress of the universe, or at least head of Prof. David Crone's Genetic Research Project by strangling and dismembering her? Veteran prosecutor Evan Tannery is convinced Kalista's killer was Dr. Crone, rattled by the sexual harassment suit she'd filed against him and jealous of the meteoric ascent that marked her as his inevitable usurper. The prosecution has a device very much like the unusual weapon, complete with nylon bundling cords, in Crone's possession, along with evidence of mounting hostility between the decedent and the accused; the defense attorneys, Paul (The Attorney, 2000, etc.) and his partner Harry Hinds, have a client who won't even tell them what his lab was working on because it was so secret, and whose bigg est concern throughout the book length trial is whether the university will take him back. It gets worse, of course, when Kalista's mother turns up at the last minute to offer evidence of a powerful motive for murder that goes far beyond sexual harassment, and the word goes out that William Epperson, the nanorobotics expert who's been working with Crone and geneticist Aaron Tash at the lab, is prepared to back her up. But in the latest of many anticlimaxes-experts whose testimony doesn't matter, forensic debates that go nowhere, charges of politically explosive scientific research that never get off the ground-the case against Crone suddenly collapses, though Martini has been provident enough to save Paul his customary final surprise. The outline for a much better novel is here: glamorous victim, well-connected defendant, bulldog prosecutor, resourceful defender, weighty issues. What a shame that everything that would make it memorable has been left blank, right down to the jury.

Publishers Weekly, 20010528

Lean, speedy and packing a wallop of a plot twist at the end, the latest Paul Madriani legal thriller shows why Martini remains one of the form's most popular practitioners. Madriani, still struggling to establish his law practice in San Diego, is defending Dr. David Crone, a brilliant genetic researcher accused of killing colleague Kalista Jordan: her strangled and dismembered body was found washed up on a beach. Not only does all the evidence point to Crone, but his lies and deceptions are starting to test the patience of Madriani and his partner, the quick-tempered Harry Hinds. There may be motives aplenty was Jordan stealing trade secrets about human genome research from Crone's clinic and taking them to a rival company? Was Crone a spurned lover of the strikingly beautiful African-American Jordan? Did he catch her trying to sabotage his research because he previously had conducted controversial studies about the intellectual capacities of the different races? Unfortunately for the prosecution, the main witness who can shed light on motive is found dead the day before he is scheduled to testify. Not only does the apparent suicide break the prosecution's momentum, it throws the whole case into chaos. In his sixth Madriani novel, Martini (The Attorney) takes the moving parts of a standard plot and spins them for maximum effect. His secondary characters, while filling stock roles, are memorable in quirky ways, and a subplot about genetic illness in the family of one of Madriani's friends is executed with skill. Fans will happily overlook the frequently awkward, listless prose the most glaring drawback in what is otherwise one of Martini's best novels to date.

Martini, Steve The attorney. New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, c2000.

I own but have not yet have read this one

RV:

Library Journal, 19990901

Lottery winner Jonah Hale's drug-addicted daughter demands a big payoff when he won't relinquish the granddaughter she left in his care, then accuses him of sexual abuse when he refuses to deliver. A famed feminist activist helps spirit away mother and daughter and then gets bumped off. Sounds like another complicated case for Paul Madriani.

Publishers Weekly, 19991129

The tireless Paul Madriani, Martini's popular lawyer/sleuth (The Judge; Compelling Evidence), barely has a chance to hang a shingle in San Diego--where he has moved to be closer to his lover, child advocate Susan McKay--before he is sucked into another engrossing court battle. When Madriani takes on elderly Jonah Hale's case, it seems at first he is dealing with a simple kidnapping. Hale's granddaughter, eight-year-old Amanda, under Hale's custody, has been whisked away by Zolanda Suade, who runs Vanishing Victims, an organization that purports to rescue kids from abusive situations. Now Suade is falsely accusing Hale of molestation to justify returning the girl to her mother--Hale's drug -addled, ex-con daughter, Jessica, who's never shown any interest in raising her child. Suade apparently has an ulterior motive: keeping Amanda in hiding until she can extort a hefty ransom from Hale, who recently won $87 million in the state lottery. Before Madriani, with Susan's expert assistance, can get far in his investigations, Suade is found shot to death, and Hale, who had plenty of motive to kill him, is arrested. Madriani is increasingly overmatched by a dogged prosecutor. Worse, those assisting Madriani in Hale's defense keep getting murdered, and Madriani may be next in line. Except for the occasional cliche (bodies lined up "like cordwood," minds "like steel traps"), Martini's prose shows marked improvement. Crisp dialogue and tart observations about legal maneuvering distinguish his courtroom scenes, and the new setting, San Diego, is colorfully rendered. It's a shame that the otherwise cleverly conceived plot falters in the homestretch with a poorly concealed twist that most readers will see coming well ahead of time. Mystery Guild main selection, Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Martini, Steve Critical mass. Rockland, MA : Wheeler Pub., c1998.

I own and have read this one.

Kirkus Reviews, 19980800

Courtroom specialist Martini, last seen reveling in the unlikely trials of ghostwriting (The List, 1997), tries his hand at a Tom Clancy premise: an errant Russian nuclear bomb in the hands of home-grown terrorists. The latest report from the weapons-dismantling plant in Sverdlovsk seems to indicate that two nuclear devices have gone missing, but the Russian reporting system since the breakup of the USSR has been so rife with inaccuracies that there's probably no cause for alarm, unless you're ex-UN arms inspector Gideon Van Ry, now charged in his position at the Institute Against Mass Destruction with monitoring such devices. Flying to Sverdlovsk, Gideon swiftly discovers that the reports are all too accurate and that the petty bureaucrats who should've been watching the barn door are mostly interested in covering themselves. Back home in Puget Sound, burned-out lawyer Jocelyn Cole's sweating the subpoena her latest client, charming, wealthy electronics manufacturer Dean Belden, has received from a federal grand jury and why, after flying her down to Seattle to testify, the client high-tails it out of the courtroom just in time to perish in a fiery crash. Meantime, militiaman Buck Thompson is working a clever, cost-effective telephone scam while disguised as a UPS driver, and widowed community college teacher Scott Taggart is vowing revenge on the government that drove his wife to suicide. As in the James Bond movies, a good deal of the fun in the early going is trying to figure out just what all these plot strands have to do with each other. Once they come together, though, Martini shifts gears to a smooth but essentially vacuous action mode, with sedentary types like Gideon and Jose Cole displaying unexpected aptitude for the Steven Seagal tasks, and the closest thing to moral complexity being the President's fears that a nuclear detonation may reveal his ties to a Russian arms dealer who slipped him too many rubles. Thunderball meets The Rock. Any resemblance to books that haven't been made into movies is purely coincidental.

Publishers Weekly, 19980831

A militia group in the Pacific Northwest becomes the world's newest nuclear power in this by-the-numbers thriller by the author of The List and The Judge. Lawyer Jocelyn "Joss" Cole sees a big retainer when she's hired by Dean Belden to handle his company's incorporation filings. But after Belden gets a federal subpoena, Joss sees him die in a fiery seaplane explosion. Now she's the only visible link to Belden's company (which was on the receiving end of two decaying nuclear weapons smuggled into the U.S. out of Russia), and that brings her to the attention of arms inspector Gideon van Ry, of the Institute Against Mass Destruction. After the feds determine that the militia has possession of the weapons, Gideon and Joss join the race to try to avert nuclear disaster. Of course, there are complications: the militia group is being fronted by a foreign power in order to circumvent U.S. nuclear retaliation policy, and the President is in CYA (cover-your -ass) overdrive because his party accepted a campaign contribution from the chief Russian culprit. But even with a SEAL assault on the militia stronghold, double crosses galore and an ingenious ending, the book offers too few surprises, too little suspense and too little emotional involvement. The characters have no inner life, and the plotting is sketchy from the start, when it's explained that dummies were used to cover up for the two missing nukes--dummies that conveniently drop off the weapons count while there's still time to foil the bad guys. The few crucial coincidences stick out like red flags because Martini makes more of them than he makes of the people around them. (Sept.)

School Library Journal, 19990200

YA--Intense military action combines with international intrigue to make this nuclear-age thriller a page-turner. The story starts out with numerous plots and characters, each interesting in itself, and all are pulled together by a gripping conclusion. Jocelyn Cole, an attorney living on a remote island in Puget Sound, is hired to represent a client incorporating his electronics business. After her client is subpoenaed to testify before the federal grand jury for international armaments smuggling, Jocelyn watches in horror as his plane explodes, with him onboard. She is then assaulted and held hostage by her "dead" client on an island where a homegrown militia is assembling a nuclear device. The bomb is destined for Washington, D.C. The clock ticks ominously as Jocelyn and an employee of the Institute Against Mass Destruction race to stop the detonation. The unique glimpse into the manufacturing, storing, and eventual decay of the nuclear arsenal stored around the globe makes this an insightful, informative, and terrifying novel.--Anita Short, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

Martini, Steve The list. New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, c1997.

Bought @ Basically Books, 8 Aug. 2000

I own and have read this one

RV:

Kirkus Reviews, 19961215

So you thought it was all fun and games having a breakout novel? Come listen to Martini, on leave from his series about defense attorney Paul Madriani (The Judge, 1996, etc.), spin this wild and wooly tale of a pseudonym caper from hell. Life hasn't been kind to Abby Chandlis. She's going nowhere in her Seattle law firm; her second career as a novelist is stalled; her shiftless ex is behind in his payments, leaving her dining on cat food. But Abby has an ace in the hole: a new novel that could hit the bestseller list with the force of a pile- driver. Could hit, if only Abby weren't so unglamorous (she's pushing 40), so shopworn (those old novels turn out to be worse than no help), so unpromotable. So Abby and her roommate Theresa decide to find a front, some male model who'll masquerade as ``Gable Cooper'' for a percentage of a take that stretches higher than Jack's beanstalk. And even though the front that Abby ends up with, soldier-of-fortune/failed novelist Jack Jermaine, isn't exactly what she was looking for, the two storm through a brightly malicious pipe dream of literary celebrity, as Abby sticks like glue to her supposed client's side while big-ticket agents, publishers, and producers fight over them like so many jackals. But even before take -charge Jermaine spirits his dazzled ghostwriter off to the Caribbean for some sun and sex, clouds have gathered on the horizon. Theresa has died in a suspicious accident that seems meant for Abby; Theresa's low-life husband Joey follows apace; the Seattle police are looking for Abby; so is a scandal-sheet reporter; and finally Abby wonders whether her own legal claim to her chart-busting novel might be a lot more slender than she thought--and might be based a little too exclusively on the testimony of her late friend. Absolutely irresistible balderdash--The Pelican Brief for everybody who isn't John Grisham. (First printing of 400,000; $350,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild/Mystery Guild main selection)

Library Journal,

19961001

When an unpretentious female author seeks to boost the appeal of her latest novel by hiring a charismatic, devilishly cute male to pose as the book's author, she underestimates his commitment to keeping their agreement a secret. From the best-selling author of The Judge (LJ 1/96).

Library Journal, 19970200

Attorney-turned-novelist Martini (Undue Influence, LJ 6/15/94) writes about attorney-turned-novelist Abby Chandlis, who stretches the practice of ghost-writing to an extreme and perilous level. Fearful that glamour instead of grammar sells books in today's shallow publishing industry, Chandlis creates Gable Cooper, a strong, handsome, but definitely fictitious alter ego who as "author" of her new novel should assure its success. Possessed of these qualities, rugged Jack Jermaine seems ideal for the role. However, his spooky past and dangerous tendencies soon cause Abby to regret the entire scheme. This is a competent thriller, but many readers may find difficulty sympathizing with protagonist Chandlis. Recommended only for comprehensive suspense collections.--John Noel, Tennessee Tech Univ. Lib., Lebanon

Publishers Weekly, 19970121

The title refers to the New York Times bestseller list, which 40-ish Seattle lawyer and literary novelist Abby Chandlis hopes to climb with her own to-die-for commercial novel. Abby's experience with three previous novels that "died on the shelves," however, has made her distrust publishers. She believes that her new book will get the recognition and money it deserves only if it's associated with a devastatingly handsome male face. So she's marketing it under the pseudonym of "Gable Cooper" and winds up striking a deal with Jack Jermaine, the shadowy elder son of a South Carolina military family, to pose as the hunky writer. Abby quickly finds that this kind of barely legal deceit has nasty side effects. Her home is trashed and her best friend, Theresa, is electrocuted by a rigged fuse box. Theresa's ex, a violent drunk, turns up underwater, while Abby's own ex, a weasely lawyer, comes sniffing, lured by the scent of Abby's money. Jermaine's handsome, "dangerous" looks and demeanor, meanwhile, drive up the price of the book and its sequel into the mid-six figures. In the heat of success, Abby and Jack's business arrangement turns to romance, but there are facts Abby doesn't know about her new partnership that could get her killed. Martini (The Judge) clearly had a good time writing this fanciful book, in which he manages to incorporate multiple settings, invent gossamer disguises for important publishing personalities and skewer the machinery that produces blockbuster books. The fiery finish and final revelations put Martini's new novel squarely in the commercial territory tracked by "the list"-never mind the ironies of the book being a likely blockbuster in its own right. 400,000 first printing; $350,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild main selections. (Feb.)

Martini, Steve The judge. (New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, c1995).

A judge is arrested on charges of soliciting prostitution. Though they have been enemies in the past, he asks Paul Madriani to save his career from impending doom. The police officer who made the arrest is murdered. Pb $6.99

Kirkus Reviews, 19951115

Great news for California lawyer Paul Madriani: His nemesis, Judge Armando (``the Coconut'') Acosta, has been charged first with solicitation and then with murder. Madriani's only problem is that, against all odds, the judge has become his client. It happens like this: Acosta's vendetta against Madriani's client Sgt. Tony Arguillo, alleged to have cooked the Police Association's books, collapses when Acosta is picked up for offering to pay reserve police deputy Brittany Hall for the kinds of favors Madriani has always assumed he enjoys. But the audiotape Hall made of their encounter turns up silent (some technical glitch) and then so does Hall herself, bludgeoned to death. Arguillo's cousin Lenore Goya--the prosecutor whose preparation of the solicitation case is ended when D.A. Coleman Klein, a political comer who doesn't like subordinates who stand up to him, cuts her loose--agrees to take on the Coconut's defense. But her attempt to join the solicitation charge with the homicide backfires when her status as Acosta's former prosecutor forces her to step aside, and Madriani's left holding the bag. The case against Acosta--no alibi, a highly improper appointment on Hall's calendar for the afternoon of the murder, forensic evidence that places her body inside his car, his broken eyeglasses left at Hall's place, except for a sliver lodged in her foot--lacks only an eyewitness. No, the only eyewitness, Hall's five-year -old daughter Kimberly, can place both Goya and Madriani himself on the scene. Meantime, the Police Association has been working overtime to discredit Madriani in order to burn the judge. The resulting legal/extralegal slugfest (marred only by Madriani's endless glosses on every action and every speech, as if he were a color commentator on a baseball broadcast) has something for everybody, even readers who think they can see every twist coming. Not as dense with surprises as Undue Influence (1994), but right up there with the rest of Martini's dependable output: a guaranteed rush for fans of courtroom drama. (Literary Guild main selection; Mystery Guild selection)

Library Journal,

19960100

Judge Amando Acosta is out to break the police union. A labor dispute is looming and this strikes fear into the hearts of the city fathers. Striking fear into the heart of policeman and union bigwig Phil Mendel is Acosta's grand jury investigation. Caught between the two is Tony Arguillo, policeman and union bookkeeper determined to protect the blue, and his lawyer, Paul Madriani. Acosta wants Tony to testify about union financial improprieties and its bosses or Acosta will put Tony in jail. The judge has also leveled the same threat at Tony's lawyer. To break the impasse some of the more faithful union members set up a sting operation. The judge is arrested for soliciting an undercover reserve deputy for sex. But fate has something else in mind for the lawyer and the judge. The sting operation decoy, Brittany, is murdered. The judge is accused and arrested again. As Acosta's defense lawyer, Paul Madriani, prepares his case with the help of ex-assistant D.A. Lenore, the mystery deepens and the evidence piles up against His Honor. It is not until the final pages that the real killer and motive is revealed. Martini (Undue Influence, LJ 6/15/94) has again written a winner. Highly recommended. Dawn Anderson, North Richland Hills P.L., Tex.

Publishers Weekly, 19951211

Here comes the Judge--in handcuffs, and it's the job of California defense attorney Paul Madriani to save him from prison in this riveting new thriller from Martini (Undue Influence). Judge Armando Acosta is busted for soliciting an undercover vice operative; perhaps not coincidentally, the autocratic judge currently is in charge of a grand jury probing possible police cover-up of murder. Complications immediately pile up. Assistant DA Lenore Goya, whom Paul hankers after, is fired by DA Coleman Kline and crosses lines to head up Acosta's defense; Coleman pursues the judge with unexpected ferocity. Then Lenore's fingerprint is found at the murder scene and she's forced off the case, in effect forcing Paul, who has suffered courtroom run-ins with Acosta, to step in. Nearly all the subsequent action takes place in court or offices as we follow the intricacies of the trial, including rollercoaster swoops through jury selection, evidence and testimony. Paul, who narrates in the present tense, as he has other Martini novels, once again proves a sophisticated, good-humored hero who tells a suspenseful tale, right up to the perfectly satisfying climax. Even the loose ends he trails behind feel right. Legal thrillers don't get much better than this. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection; Mystery Guild selection. (Jan.)

Martini, Steve Undue influence. New York : Putnam, c1994.

RV:

Kirkus Reviews, 19940515

California attorney Paul Madriani is back. Don't bother waiting till the fall entries are in--Martini (Prime Witness, 1993, etc.) has written the courtroom novel of the year. Before his wife died of cancer, Paul promised that he'd help her kid sister, Laurel, win her custody battle for her two teenagers against her ex-husband, Jack Vega, a slimy political beast remarried to brainless beauty Melanie. But the night after Laurel and Melanie's very public cat-fight in a courthouse corridor, Melanie's shot dead in her shower; an APB goes out for missing Laurel, whose own lawyer drops her case; and Paul realizes he's in for the most devilish case of his career. The evidence against Laurel is strong: She's picked up in a Reno laundromat with Melanie's compact in her purse and Melanie's bathmat in the washer, soaking in a corrosive cleaner that could have removed any traces of gunshot--a cleaner that's raised painful, inconclusive burns on Laurel's hands. And feral prosecutor Morgan Cassidy's chief investigator, Jimmy Lama, clearly has his knife out for Paul. But thanks mainly to one of Melanie's neighbors--Paul's old antagonist, federal prosecutor Dana Colby--Paul knows even more about the case's weakness than Morgan does. He knows that two other neighbors, George and Kathy Merlow, vanished into thin air hours after the murder, and that Kathy Merlow's best friend was killed by a no-nonsense pro moments before she could say where Kathy was. He knows where the Merlows fled to, and how to find them. He knows that despite the evidence that Melanie was pregnant, Jack had a vasectomy years ago. Best of all, he knows that Jack's already on his way to jail as part of a secret, ongoing federal investigation. The resulting thrust-and-parry assures virtually nonstop courtroom pyrotechnics-- even the most innocuous testimony turns into a ballet of blindsiding and body blows--and leaves plenty of room for a dazzling climax. (Literary Guild main selection; authour tour)

Library Journal, 19940615

Recently widowered lawyer Paul Madriani has problems with his sister-in-law Laurel. She is involved in a nasty custody trial, and then she is arrested for the murder of her ex -husband's new wife. After Paul agrees to represent her, he gets sucked into a vipers' tangle involving Laurel, her two children, her ex-husband, a beautiful attorney, a bombing, and mistaken identities. Martini's dialog and characterizations are first-rate. Martini (Prime Witness, Putnam, 1993) has created a slam-bang narrative complete with astonishingly good trial scenes. Filled with surprises and twists, this is supremely readable and certain to be extremely popular. [Literary Guild selection.]-Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio

Publishers Weekly, 19940620

A vicious custody battle escalates into a murder trial in this gripping courtroom drama, Martini's third to be narrated by defense attorney Paul Madriani ( Compelling Evidence , Prime Witness ). Before Madriani's wife, Nikki, died of lung cancer, she asked that Madriani look after her sister, Laurel, who's now going through a bruising custody battle with her ex-husband, Jack Vega. When Jack's young new wife, Melanie, is murdered, all the evidence points to Laurel as the killer: not only was she was seen threatening Melanie and arguing with her just before the murder, but when she's captured by the police, she has the dead woman's compact in her purse. Madriani takes on Laurel's case, but it's an uphill battle. Potential witnesses for the defense have mysteriously disappeared; while searching for them and pursuing other leads, Madriani uncovers evidence that points to a very different motive for murder--and a very obvious suspect. The action builds to a rousing climax through a brilliant series of trial scenes with several surprises. The characters are sharply drawn, the facts of the case are presented simply and the courtroom psychology is laid out vividly. Martini, who knows how to tell a story, wastes little time setting up his premise; by the time the trial starts, readers will find their fingers glued to the pages. 175,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection. ( July)

School Library Journal,

19941200 YA-Lawyer-hero Paul Madriani returns, this time as a widower. His sister-in-law, Laurel, is in a bitter fight for custody of her two teenage children, with Madriani helping from the sidelines. Her ex-husband is a slick politician who has married an equally sleazy woman. When the new wife is murdered, Laurel is arrested. Madriani defends her, facing what appears to be insurmountable evidence. At the same time, he must deal with his own seven-year-old daughter, his troubled niece and nephew, a ruthless prosecutor, a vengeful police lieutenant, a beautiful attorney with whom he has an affair, and a killer who is now after him. The novel shares the flaws of its genre: the characters are flat, the plot contorted, and the writing uneven. Martini persists in describing gestures and facial expressions that should stand on their own, and then interprets them for readers. And he sprinkles his writing with lame hard-boiled similes. However, the good guys are likable, the bad guys are hateful, and the trial scenes are riveting. YAs should enjoy the page-turning suspense. -Chip Barnett, Rockbridge Regional Library, Lexington, VA

Martini, Steve Prime witness. (New York : Putnam's, c1993).

RV:

Kirkus Reviews, 19930501

Defense attorney Paul Madriani (Compelling Evidence, 1992) signs on for a brief stint in the Davenport, California, prosecutor's office--then finds himself condemned to try a high-profile serial killing. Three couples have been murdered by somebody whose MO is distinctively grisly--they're staked to the ground with tent pegs, another peg driven through their hearts--but the third incident is different in enough ways (much older couple, different kind of rope, tent pegs not sharpened to a point) to suggest a copycat killer. Still, after Paul and his investigators turn up Andre Iganovich, a suspect for the first two pairs of murders, everybody--from Paul's impatient wife Nikki to the judges to the Davenport powers that be, even to Adrian Chambers, the venal defense attorney representing Iganovich, and certainly including the anonymous caller threatening Paul's family if he doesn't include the last two murders in the indictment--wants Paul to close the case by pinning all six crimes on Iganovich instead of continuing to search for the copycat. But Paul's determined to track down the missing witness to the last two murders, a man who has his own reasons for keeping quiet about why he was perched in a tree high above the fatal scene. The obligatory impossible obstacles--constant pressure from Paul's old nemesis Judge Armando Acosta; the incompetence and possible treachery of graying junior prosecutor Roland Overroy; an extradition mess when Iganovich flees the country; and the unprincipled enmity of Chambers, on the rebound from a disbarment arranged partly by Paul--come at Paul helter-skelter, without much rhyme or reason, until midway through the book, when the trial begins and Martini rolls up his sleeves to do what he does best. Not as twisty or deeply felt as Compelling Evidence, but not as overwrought either--and the unbelievable ending packs a satisfying punch. Good medium-grade beach fare.

Library Journal, 19930700

More courtroom drama, legal wrangling, and concentrated investigation arise from a series of double murders in a rural California college town. Special investigator Paul Madriani hustles to find the killer before he strikes a fourth time.

Publishers Weekly, 19930531

``The ugly marketplace of justice''--as one character terms the judicial process--is scrutinized with a riveting, you-are-there immediacy in the new legal procedural by the author of Compelling Evidence. When attorney Paul Madriani offers to assist a friend--the county's ailing district attorney, who subsequently dies--in investigating six brutal killings, he becomes entangled in a series of machinations that threaten his career and even his private life. Though Martini's plotting proves ingenious (the story is capped off by a nail-biting encounter in a darkened courtroom), the legal maneuvers themselves take center stage here. From the crime scene--the banks of California's Putah Creek--to a deceptively simple arrest to fascinating pre-trial scheming, Martini packs his novel with the quotidian details of the wheels of justice--and the numerous cogs therein. Madriani's first -person, present-tense narration invigorates the often intricate proceedings with first-rate wisecracks and one-liners. His character descriptions are by turns pithy and funny (frequently both): the prosecuting attorney ``looks like nothing so much as Robert Duvall's incarnation of the Great Santini''; the county's female victim-witness coordinator is ``the crime victim's answer to Don Corleone in drag . . . known as `Attila the Hen.' '' Prime is indeed the word for this involving read.

School Library Journal, 19940100

YA-When Paul Madriani agrees to fill in temporarily as Special County Prosecutor, he has no idea that he will become involved in a serial murder case. The search for the ``Putah Creek Killer'' leads to the arrest of a college security guard, Andre Iganovich. Adrian Chambers, the defense counsel, has a shady professional past and a deep-seated dislike for Madriani, who was instrumental in the attorney's previous suspension from the bar association. As the evidence unfolds, discrepancies between the first two double murders and the third one become apparent, leading the prosecution to believe that a copy-cat murderer is on the loose. Threats against Madriani's family, legal posturing, the identification of a witness to the third set of murders, and a killer's desperation combine to produce a thrilling story.-Grace Baun, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA

Steve Martini is an exciting author of legal thrillers and courtroom dramas. In Prime Witness, we meet prosecutor Paul Madriani trying a capital case involving the serial killings know as the Putah Creek Murders. The defendant is a Russian immigrant, Iganovich, whose attorney, Adrian Chambers holds a grudge against Madriani for his part in a sting that left Chambers suspended from the practice of law for five years. The case against Iganovich is strong, but Madriani is haunted by the suspicion that he was not the only one responsible for the murders.

Martini, Steven Paul. Prime Witness (1993).

A rural college town is rocked by two sets of brutal murders. The police feel that a 27-year-old college security guard is the murderer; special prosecutor Paul Madriani is not so sure.

Martini, Steve Compelling evidence. New York : Putnam's, c1992.

RV:

Kirkus Reviews, 19911115

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. (Book-of-the-Month Dual Selection for Spring)

School Library Journal, 19920600

YA-- Ben Potter, successful lawyer and possible U. S. Supreme Court nominee, is found dead in his office--suicide or murder? All of the police evidence points to foul play, and his beautiful young wife, Talia, stands trial for a crime she claims she didn't commit--or did she? Paul Madriani defends Talia, but, in doing so, exposes a part of his own life that he would like to forget. This gripping, fast-paced novel will hold YAs' attention from beginning to startling conclusion.-- Robert Lisker, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA (Fiction Marti.S; Large Type Fiction Marti.S; Cassette V MART-S CE M 50) Ben Potter, nominee to the Supreme Court, is found dead and his wife Talia is the prime suspect. Talia turns to Paul Madriani, her ex-lover and her husband's ax-partner, to defend her. - In this sequel to "Prime Witness," former prosecutor Paul Madriani is now a prominent defense attorney. His boss, after being nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court, is found dead of a gunshot wound to the head. The accused, Talia Potter, was the victim's wife and Paul Madriani's ex-lover. (Where do they find the time?) A classic whodunit with a spellbinding conclusion. So far, I have enjoyed all of Martini's novels. Martini, Steve - Jove Publications

Martini, Steve The Simeon chamber : a novel. (New York : D.I. Fine, c1988).

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Publishers Weekly, 19880902

If one can be cheerfully jaded, Sam Bogardus, attorney-at-law, fits the bill in this intriguing first novel by Martini, a lawyer himself. Using his professional skills to authenticate the slick plot, he captures the reader's attention in a chilling prologue to this provocative murder mystery set in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bogardus is the law partner of his former lover, though the relationship is now platonic. Bored, he takes on elegant Jennifer Davies as a client. She has fallen heir to an ancient, valuable document belonging to her father, which surfaced 33 years after he mysteriously disappeared in a 1942 Navy blimp crash. When Bogardus discovers the literary legacy is probably an excerpt from lost diaries of 16th century explorer Sir Francis Drake, word of the find leaks out and the net closes on Davies and Bogardus. Willing to kidnap, maim and kill to possess the papers, his covetous adversaries unwittingly lead the counselor to San Simeon, William Randolph Hearst's castle, where he unearths a startling wartime black-market scandal. Events that stretch the imagination emerge here, but Martini's enthusiasm keeps the reader engrossed. A fast read, the novel provides a peek at the Bay environs, its interesting past and, finally, ``history's cruel irony,'' which brings the story to a stunning finale. (October)

Martini, Steve. The Judge (Jove).