Rating: 
Summary: Great story!
Review: I really enjoyed this book! Unlike other legal thrillers I have read, this one was never boring. I couldn't wait to find out who really killed Joe. Great characters, great plot. I highly recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Ho-hum
Review: I've enjoyed Mr. Bernhardt's previous efforts but found this one both obvious and tedious. Let's just say that it's time for Kincaid to expand his horizons if Mr. Bernhardt is to continue to attract readers. I like his main characters but they could use a little room to stretch their character's legs with a little less obvious plots.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened?
Review: I've read all of Bernhardt's other books and enjoyed them; I was pretty sure the wonderful recurring characters were going to induce me to add him to my lengthy list of must-read authors. I got through the Prologue and a few chapters of Murder One and have decided to return the book. I realize that, as in movies, it's necessary to suspend certain belief systems, and I'm willing to do that to a point, but this is way over the top. Totally unbelievable. I don't care what happens.
Rating: 
Summary: Murder One is #1
Review: In his tenth book, Mr. Bernhardt has topped himself yet again. Once I started the book I could not stop. The writing style lends itself to ease of reading and allows you to forget you are reading...It simply flows. If I had to ask two authors to write a book they would be William Bernhardt and Lisa Scottoline. And...once you are done, the ending will make you think, something there is less and less of these days in novels.
Rating:
Summary: A legal procedural with a shocking twist
Review: In Tulsa, Ben Kincaid defends stripper Keri Dalcarton against a charge of brutally killing police officer Joe McNaugton in a bestial manner left for public viewing. The trial goes badly as witness after witness provides testimony insures Keri's conviction. However, Ben notices that the two search warrants used to look inside Keri's car and home were illegal, forcing the judge to throw out the case on a technicality. The cops are outraged, as Keri is not only free, but also protected under the Double Jeopardy clause of the Constitution. Officer Arlen Matthews, who looked incompetent on the stand, persuades his cohorts to pull the "blue squeeze" on Kincaid. With a legal search warrant in hand, the police rummage through Kincaid's office to find the McNaugton murder weapon. Initially Ben is accused of obstructing justice, but then the charge is changed to MURDER ONE. Ben's legal assistant now a lawyer of two days serves as his defense attorney with more trouble awaiting Kincaid. The previous Kincaid legal thrillers were excellent novels, but the newest tale, MURDER ONE, is superior to even that high standard. William Bernhardt grips the audience with a thriller that never eases up until the final twist and turn. Kincaid and his crew remain fun to observe as they struggle with this too personal case and the potential second round in the Dalcarton defense in spite of the Double Jeopardy clause. Mr. Bernhardt has written a fabulous story that if justice were simple would lead to the top of the best seller lists. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Enjoy the ride
Review: Just sit back and enjoy the ride..extremely clever and very well done.
Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyed this; especially the ending
Review: Loved this story; was sorry to see it end. Another Ben Kincaid legal thriller. Keri Delcanton, a nineteen yr. old stripper is accused of murdering her married cop boyfriend. Ben gets her off on a technicality and "the blue squeeze" is placed on Ben, his office and Keri. He then has to defend her again and the trial and results are very exciting. Ben also starts to fall for Keri which complicates things.
Rating:
Summary: Passing Time
Review: Murder One by William Bernhardt This story left me less than satisfied. William Bernhardt built a good story and he had good characterization with the exception of his main (?) character, Ben Kincaide. Ben just didn't come across like an exceptionally good lawyer. The murder was horrible and exposing the victim like the murderer did was enough to turn off most police and juries, but I don't see how the murderer could have chained the victim up in the manner she (?) did. She was not strong enough and the place she was working was public. She supposedly did the murder in her house and moved the victim's body to the plaza and chained to the fountain. A man 210 to 220 lbs. is a big man. Bones were broken (?) in his arms due to the ferocity with which he was chained. A five foot two woman with a well-proportioned body did all of this? Wasn't her brother living with her-and he was never questioned? This story is too unrealistic to give more than three stars.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not his best
Review: Once again Tulsa attorney Ben Kincaid's talents are required, when a young female stripper hires him to defend her against murder charges. It seems that a police officer has been brutally murdered and chained to a fountain in downtown Tulsa and all evidence leads to this rather petite stripper named Keri Dalcanton. Though William Bernhardt takes you on a twisty turny ride in this newest novel, it just doesn't match up to his previous work. The courtroom scenes are as good as ever. One reviewer also mentioned that this effort seemed amateurish. What I felt was amateurish was Ben Kincaid's character. Falling in love with a client? Not even questioning the clients brother? Not the Ben Kincaid from old, is it? Recommended
Rating:
Summary: Tulsa must be a strange place
Review: This book proceeds along rather conventional legal fiction lines for about the first 80% of the pages. Then there's a real twist in the plot which actually seems quite implausible. Basically, what happens is that a police detective is found murdered and his body is left in a public place more or less on display. His adulteress, a teenage stripper, is arrested and charged with the murder. Mr. Kincaid gets her off, not once but twice, in the face of what seem like insurmountable odds. The young lady even testifies on her own behalf. The detective's widow states under oath that she hates the woman who stole her husband. Kincaid, who is unmarried and lonely, starts to fantasize about having a relationship with the young stripper. She seems so needy, and she's beautiful. Her brother, Kirk, whose presence in the novel seems gratuitous since he doesn't do much but torture himself and then commit suicide, is really strange. All of this takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, of course. Well, after convincing a tough jury that his client is innocent, and that the late Kirk is the actual murderer, Kincaid finds out he's been hoodwinked by the stripper and by the ex-wife, who are actually in cahoots, actually lovers. This denouement is unexpected, but it just seems too fantastic. That's why I say, "Tulsa must be a strange place." But nonetheless the book does hold interest somewhat, although Bernhardt tends to repeat himself, first through narrative description then the same material regurgitated during the trial as the characters testify. You can skim those parts, though, and finish the book in a couple of day. Diximus.
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