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Summary: Ben Kincaid is back with another seriocomic thriller.
Review: "Murder One" is the latest entry in William Bernhardt's series of legal thrillers featuring the nebbishy lawyer from Oklahoma, Ben Kincaid. Although Ben is far from macho, he is a true idealist, and he is an aggressive and smart courtroom attorney. Christina McCall, Ben's former legal assistant, has recently graduated from law school and she is now Ben's partner. The case in this book deals with the horrible murder and mutilation of a policeman, Joe McNaughton, who was a popular man on the Tulsa police force. McNaughton's cop buddies and his widow are sure that the killer is a nineteen-year-old stripper named Keri Dalcanton. Keri was Joe's lover until he ended their torrid affair. Ben faces formidable obstacles in his efforts to acquit Kerry. First of all, there is strong circumstantial evidence linking Keri to Joe's murder. In addition, several policemen have a vendetta against Ben and Keri in the form of "the blue squeeze," which consists of physical and verbal harassment by the police. As usual, Ben's case seems hopeless and dangerous. However, he and his loyal staff battle the D. A. and the police with some clever tactics of their own. As always, Ben and his cohorts are amusing and charming, and the case is complicated and involving. There are plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing. However, Bernhardt goes overboard in several areas. There are graphic depictions of sadomasochistic and kinky sex that do not mix well with the gentle humor that pervades much of the book. The ending is way over the top and the plot becomes extremely contrived in an effort to "surprise" the reader. I enjoy a good surprise, but not at the expense of believability. All in all, "Murder One" is a serviceable legal thriller, but Bernhardt should have toned down the sensationalism and made the plot play out a little more realistically.
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Summary: the blue squeeze
Review: a courtroom drama. well written and well paced. the de rigueur sociopaths and lurid s/m doom the book to mediocrity. the author conveys his fascination with the ambiguities and intricacies of the law and his lack of insight of those of the human heart. ends with a contrived postscipt.
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Summary: You'll Never Figure Out Whodunit, or Why
Review: A lot of writers who have reoccurring characters assume their readers have read the previous books in the series. Not so with William Bernhardt. Readers who have come to know and love Ben Kincaid will devour MURDER ONE with delight, however a reader new to Bernhardt will have no trouble picking up the book and diving right in. There is not an ounce of assumption here. It's as if MURDER ONE was the first Kincaid book penned by Bernhardt.And there are all the elements of a first rate mystery here. The story opens in court, throwing the reader right into the heat of a death penalty case. "But wait!" you want to exclaim, "Why are we getting the climax on page one?" Good question. At first look one might think that lawyer Kincaid, after getting his client off with a dash of luck and a bolt insight, was going to kiss her goodbye and move on to another case. "Cheating!" I wanted to shout. "No fair getting me involved with this striking young woman who is fighting for her life, then to chuck her out of the story." But I was wrong, Bernhardt knew well what he was doing. His well drawn cop characters aren't about to let a cop killer go, no matter how young and pretty she is. They quickly contrive a way to get around the constitutional double jeopardy restrictions by planting the murder weapon in Kincaid's office, then arresting and charging him with the crime. This makes for some excellent courtroom drama, not to mention some pretty disturbing scenes describing the abuse a cop killer's lawyer can expect if ever arrested and it aint't pretty. Halfway through the book I was sure I had the ending figured out. The carefully planted clues led me right where I suppose I was supposed to go and I willingly went like an ox with a ring in it's nose. I mentally shouted, "I knew it!" and I was kinda safisfied, you know, the way you get when you've been proved right. But the book wasn't over and all of a sudden I was as wrong as Nixon's people were when they didn't think that little Watergate thing would get them in any trouble. The who and the why of it all came as a complete surprise to me as it did to Kincaid. The subtle clues were there, but lawyer and reader glossed over them, the lawyer wanted the girl and I guess I wanted him to get her as well, so we were both blindsided. And then there was still another twist that put everything right in a way that even the most sophisticated mystery reader will marvel at. Mister Bernhardt is certainly a master of his craft. Ken Douglas, Underpaid Writer
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Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: Ben Kincaid is my favorite character in a fiction series. Usually I do not like books with the same characters over and over, but William Bernhardt is such a good author that I love the characters. The reason that I like William Bernhardt more than John Grisham is because Bernhardt has stuck to the courtroom, the stuff he knows best. The characters are great in this book as always, and you are trying to guess from page one who did it. To me the book played out like a really good episode of "The Practice" that would take a few weeks to tell the full story. Keep up the great writing Mr Bernhardt.
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Summary: Outstanding read, interesting and gripping
Review: Excellent book. A definite keeper. The characters are all well drawn, the ending is impossible to figure out (even though I cheated and read the last page after I was done with the first chapter), the twists and turns are realistic, and the scenarios are credible. From the police to the judge to the D.A./prosecutor to the defense to the victim to the perpetrator -- good guys or bad guys or a little of both ??? Can't wit to read more of this author's work !
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Summary: One of Bernhardt's best
Review: I am a big fan of Bernhardt, but I was disappointed with his last book, Silent Justice. I was hoping he would bounce back with his newest book and he did. Murder One has everything you could ask for in a legal thriller, mystery, suspense, exciting courtroom scenes, great characters (although Paula is kind of annoying), a hero in peril, and a suprising twist at the end. The only complaint with the book is that there wasn't as much of the humor that is seen in his other books. Overall, Murder One is a fast paced, exciting book that I would recommend to any one who is a fan of this genre.
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Summary: Good Book
Review: I enjoyed this book. It was an easy read and never boring. I have read several Bernhardt books and this was very good.
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Summary: What happened?
Review: I had added Bernhardt to my list of must-read authors after his previous Kincaid/McCall, et al, books. I love nothing better than rich, recurring characters. I got to page 77 of Murder One before deciding to return the book. I'm so exhausted by stretching my understanding of reality, I don't have the energy to care what happens to these people.
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Summary: COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER!!!!
Review: I have read all the previous Ben Kincaid books, this being number ten. I think Mr. Berhardt has done better. I really thought this might be his best one until about the last thirty pages. The ending was so unbelieveable it soured the rest of the book. Ben is his usual soft, kind self. Christina McCall has her degree now and is a partner in the law firm. She does and excellent job in her first case. Ben is defending Keri Dalcaton for the murder of Joe McNaughton, a well like policeman. All the evidence seems to point to her but what about her brother, Kirk Dalcaton? You know he has done somethng really bad. It has the look of a gangland killing so did the mob boss, Tony Catrona, have anything to do with it? Who did kill Joe McNaughton? Jones and Loving are good but Mike is more or less out of the picture on this one. Many twist and turns. Hate the last of the book messed it up for me. Maybe it won't for you.
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Summary: William Bernhardt
Review: I love his writing. Bernhardt writes like he knows he has an intelligent reader - I get frustrated with those who feel they have to spell out everything for me - I just skip pages and don't buy from that type of author again. I absolutely love his character Ben Kincaid and the problems he encounters and how he overcomes them - lots of suspense and exciting surprises through his Ben Kincaid books. Love the suspense of a well written mystery. Keep them coming!!. Thanks
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