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America's love affair with the law is sweeping and pervasive. Next to war, the news talk shows find crime and the legal process to be their greatest source of material. Across America, daytime television features numerous judges conducting video trials on countless cable stations. Our fascination with the law extends to our reading behavior. A cursory look at any bestseller list will generally yield several courtroom-related efforts on both the fiction and nonfiction lists.
FIRST DEGREE by David Rosenfelt marks the second appearance of Andy Carpenter, a New Jersey attorney whose personal history portends many future cases and clients. In order for a writer to have the luxury of a continuing character, there needs to be a hook upon which to hang succeeding novels. For Carpenter, Rosenfelt has chosen as his hook something easily understood by lawyers and non-lawyers alike: money. Andy Carpenter is wealthy, having inherited 22 million dollars from his father. This nest egg allows Carpenter the luxury of picking and choosing clients based upon a simple premise: whether the case and the client interest him.
Before securing his eventual client in FIRST DEGREE, Carpenter must survive two false starts. Alex Dorsey, a local police officer of shady reputation, has been found murdered, his body decapitated and burned. Geoffrey Stynes appears at Carpenter's office seeking to hire him as his attorney. Stynes assures Andy that he will shortly be arrested for Dorsey's murder. That evening, a man named Oscar Garcia is arrested for the murder and Carpenter discovers to his amazement that Geoffrey Stynes does not really exist. An imaginary man has confessed to an actual killing for which another man is charged. By itself, this plot could be an outstanding mystery but Rosenfelt has a few more ingredients to add to the stew. As additional evidence is discovered, Garcia turns out to be the wrong man and charges against him are dropped. Suspicion now turns to private investigator Laurie Collins, a former colleague of Dorsey. Collins also happens to be Carpenter's love interest. Of course Andy will represent her, and the stage is now set for the trial that serves as the major portion of FIRST DEGREE.
While David Rosenfelt has woven an intuitive and intricate plot, when his characters enter the courtroom to do battle in a criminal trial, they lose some of their appeal. Rosenfelt is not an attorney; he is a screenwriter and former president of a marketing company, which perhaps explains why his courtroom scenes sound more like talk show confrontations than legal encounters. Andy Carpenter as an advocate is just a touch too insulting to opposing counsel and acerbic in his demeanor to be believable as a trial lawyer. He is to the practice of law what Judge Judy is to actual judges. They just do not, and should not, behave as they do in their fictional world.
This is however a minor criticism of a wonderful, well-paced mystery that keeps the reader guessing as to who actually killed Alex Dorsey. Andy Carpenter is an interesting character who will certainly have his share of intriguing cases in the future. A little humility in the courtroom, along with a touch more respect for the law, will make him a very readable character.
--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
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