Natural Law

Rating:
Summary: Exciting police procedural-legal thriller
Review: Marion County public defender Nora Lumley services much of the dregs of society as prostitutes and drug users are her norm. Many of her clients love the quality of her work so much they return for more. Her current patron, hooker Stormi Skye is a repeat customer. The last time, Nora represented Stormi was on a prostitution charge, but her client's employer yanked the case away by hiring Benjamin Harrison University law professor Jim Barris. Nora and Jim had a brief fling. This time police officer Weeks arrested Stormi for possession of cocaine.

The police find the slashed corpse of Jim in a nearby field. Preliminary evidence points towards Stormi, but Nora cannot believe the woman would commit homicide. While Detective Luther Cox conducts a smooth professional investigation into the murder, Nora performs her own incompetent inquiries that constantly clash with the official efforts of the police.

NATURAL LAW, the sequel to A CRIMINAL APPEAL, is an exciting police procedural-legal thriller that shows the appeal of D.R. Schanker as a naturally gifted author. Nora is a humanistic blend of a shy person trying to perform the needed deeds of a public defender. The "ever"-professional Luther remains haunted by his past adding to the depth of realism. The story line contains several major subplots that astutely tie together into the entertaining main story line. The political campus wars, including the nightly antics of the basketball coach, merge with the underbelly of society without losing a beat, making for a fun to read novel.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: basketball hardball
Review: well written, if conventional, small town murder mystery. well paced, easy to visualize. main characters are clearly drawn. a law professor's journal articles provide interesting ruminations.