No Defense

A Barbara Holloway Novel

By: Kate Wilhelm

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Barbara Holloway is a trial lawyer who tends to take on difficult cases. One involved a woman accused of killing her own child, another involved a mentally disabled man, and her last one found her entangled in such a mess that it's a wonder she lived through it at all. But in every previous case she has had some fragment with which she could build an argument. This time out, it seems there's no defense at all.

Lara and Vinny Jessup had a lovely May-December marriage. It renewed his lease on life after a battle with cancer, and it rescued her from a bad first marriage.

Initially, the sheriff out in Loomis County thinks that Vinny died when his car rolled over on a bad curve on Lookout Mountain. Then he finds the gunshot wound. Was it suicide or was it murder? With a large insurance policy as her motive, Lara could have staged the death - or so it appears to the sheriff.

Barbara Holloway finds herself drawn to the Oregon desert to take on this case, accompanied by her associates: her colleague Shelley with her Barbie-doll looks, the inimitable detective Bailey Novell, and her father Frank (who's soon to be a published writer).

But the case itself is as dead as the desert. Is there any defense at all?

It's legal: download more of Barbara Holloway's cases.©2000 Kate Wilhelm (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Best for its regional details, fast-paced dialogue, and solid character delineation." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Those who prefer both style and substance in their courtroom dramas will find this a satisfying read." (Publishers Weekly)

Good story, Bad narrator

It shouldn't be that hard to get the correct pronunciation of place names. Spokane is SPO CAN. Willamette is Will am it.
It's disconcerting for the narrator to re-read passages randomly.

Enjoyable & entertaining

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I too am from the area known as the Pacific Northwest, albeit the Canadian side of the border, and I agreed with the ready from Idaho - these editors need to get their pronounciations right - so that place names are pronounced correctly.

In spite of that, I found the locale and general georgraphy a refreshing change from most American courtroom dramas.

It was interesting and entertaining reading and I, for one, enjoyed the dimension added by this narrator - I thought she did a terrific job. In sum, I would recommend this book to friends.

love this series of books, great find and free

so many books for free, love them all so far. looking forward to the rest

Storyline

I really like this series about a father/daughter lawyers . Each case has been so interesting and unique.

great story

I always enjoy this author's writing and her characters. only problem...the production crew dropped the ball in this audio book. Maybe narration was paid by the spoken word because there were more than six occurances of repeated paragraphs. Disturbing and distracting.