The Widow by John Grisham (The Trial)

In my previous two posts on The Widow by John Grisham I discussed the wills of 85 year old Eleanor “Netty” Barnett and her subsequent poisoning in hospital by thallium laced ginger cookies.

Simon, charged with murder, is innocent but who was the killer? I have written often of the implausibility of the mysterious stranger as killer defence. Simon and his lawyer need to find the anonymous tipster and the killer or at least a credible alternative. 

Simon spends nights working on his defence in Lassiter’s law library.

Unfortunately, Lassiter, his junior Casey Noland and Simon are going with the theory of a mysterious stranger as the killer. Why a stranger would go through the complications and the risks of poisoning an elderly woman is not addressed. They will rely on the presumption of innocence that the Commonwealth of Virginia has to prove the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a perilous defence.

The court will hear that Jerry Korsak and Wally visited Netty. He can mention in argument that there were many hospital staff in and out of  Netty’s room. None of them resonate as murderers.

As with many lawyers, including myself, Lassiter says at court, just before the trial begins, that it is “showtime”.

Grisham presents the trial evidence briskly with some nice cross-examination by Lassiter.

There is nary a surprise in the evidence which is unusual in real life and fictional trials.

Should Simon testify? 

Is a lawyer automatically looked down upon as not a reliable witness?

Is there evidence Simon could provide that has not already been presented?

Would Simon simply be denying killing Netty and asking the jury to believe him? 

Initially I thought he should not testify but eventually reached the conclusion he should testify. With the mysterious stranger defence I think the defendant needs to give the jury reason to conclude he was not the killer and a mysterious stranger is believable.

You will need to read the book to see if Simon went on the witness stand. 

If he does not testify the jury will have to decide the case on circumstantial evidence.

In Canada the test for conviction when the evidence is circumstantial is whether the only reasonable conclusion from the proven facts is guilt.

Grisham has always had credible trials. However, I consider there was a major flaw in this trial. I would be willing to exchange emails with readers of the book who would like to know the flaw.

The flaw diminished my enjoyment of the book. I do not think more drama was added to the book. It did make the legal issues simpler. Grisham had to have been aware that what he wrote was not plausible. As always, I appreciate authorial licence but Grisham has the skill as author and lawyer to be dramatic by being logical.

The ending is credible. 

In the book Grisham’s lawyers have differing personalities. Wally is sleazy and very willing to breach professional conduct rules. Simon is hard working but willing to put himself in position to reap large sums from the administration of Netty’s estate. (Not covered in the book is that the alternative to Simon being executor would be a trust company as executor. Simon’s fees would be no higher than those of a trust company.) Prosecutor Cora Cook is aggressive and ethical with a sense of style in her clothing. Lassiter is hard charging with a big personality and fine suits and silk ties. Teddy Hammer’s aggressive advocacy for the stepsons skews impressions. Another, who must be nameless to prevent a spoiler, endangers the public to gain a huge fee though I think he would have gotten just as much money by taking a morally correct action. An unnamed team of lawyers equally endanger the public over the same matter. Confusing a lawyer with a client is an occupational hazard for all lawyers.

The book was compelling. I read it quickly.

As a lawyer, the book left me uncomfortable with the willingness of too many lawyers in the book to act unethically. Greed led them to stray. Our profession requires more from lawyers than not breaking the law. Acting ethically is important. 

****

Grisham, John – (2000) - The Brethren; (2001) - A Painted House; (2002) - The Summons; (2003) - The King of Torts; (2004) - The Last Juror; (2005) - The Runaway Jury; (2005) - The Broker; (2008) - The Appeal; (2009) - The Associate; (2011) - The Confession; (2011) - The Litigators; (2012) - "G" is for John Grisham - Part I and Part II; (2013) - The Racketeer; (2013) - Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Analyzing Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Sycamore Row; (2014) - Gray Mountain and Gray Mountain and Real Life Legal Aid; (2015) - Rogue Lawyer and Sebastian Rudd; (2016) - The Whistler; (2017) - Camino Island; (2017) - The Rooster Bar and Law Students and Integrity; (2019) - The Reckoning; (2019) - Cullen Post in The Guardians and The Guardians; (2020) - A Time for Mercy and Practising Law in Rural Mississippi and Rural Saskatchewan and Writing a Credible Trial; (2021) - Camino Winds; (2022) - The Judge's List; (2022) - The Biloxi Boys and Body Counts in Fictional Gang Wars (Ian Hamilton, John Grisham and Don Winslow); (2023) - The Exchange; (2025) - The Widow - The Wills and The Death

The Widow by John Grisham (The Death)

In my previous post on The Widow by John Grisham I had summarized how 85 year old Eleanor “Netty” Barnett  had two questionable wills with solo lawyers in Braxton, Virginia.

As the post ended Netty was in hospital because of injuries in a car accident.

With no family to assist her, the hospital wants someone to take charge of her financial and health decisions. Simon is the logical choice and Netty trusts him. He draws up the usual general power of attorney and advance (health care) directive. He makes sure abundant hospital staff, including doctors, are present at signing to confirm her capacity and that Simon is not exerting undue influence upon her.

How Simon proceeded makes sense to me. I have been called to hospitals because a patient is in a life threatening or terminal situation. It is hard trying to give advice, review options and take instructions from someone desperately ill. It is rarely a simple situation or the patient would have taken care of it sooner. You want to ensure they have proper documents in place but a client making major decisions while in a hospital bed is stressful. In the end, the lawyer has to make a decision if the patient/client has the capacity to make legal documents and is not under duress from someone.

As for signing legal documents in a hospital setting I have usually had another lawyer or office staff member present with me. If that is not possible the hospital will normally arrange for an administrator not a doctor or a nurse to be a witness.

There was a case in southern Saskatchewan where a lawyer knew there was going to be contention over a will. He took instructions very carefully. For signing he arranged for two other lawyers to come to the hospital. They were able to see the patient/client and confirm the decisions set out in the will. The lawyer making the videotaped the signing process as a further confirmation. The will was contested. Because of his caution and taking extra steps the will was upheld at trial.

In The Widow, Netty’s health declines, especially her respiratory condition, and she is diagnosed with pneumonia. Eventually, with her doctors saying there is no brain activity and every breath is a struggle, he lets Netty die.

Upon her death Simon contacts the funeral home and starts on the process of cremation. It is clear Simon does not want to spend extra money on a funeral and coffin.

An anonymous caller provides information to the stepsons, then their lawyer, then the police and then the media and the book explodes. I stayed up late reading.

Forensic testing shows Vietnamese ginger cookies bought by Simon and brought to Netty by Tillie are poisoned with thallium, an odourless, tasteless and colourless drug. Its production is banned in the U.S. 

All his actions appear suspicious and Simon is arrested for murder. 

His family is devastated and he advises them to leave town.

The vast American media circus surrounding a juicy murder trial descends on Braxton. Public opinion vociferously convicts him.

Simon hires Raymond Lassiter, the best criminal defence lawyer in the area. It was interesting that Grisham’s defender for Simon is a legal tiger in his early 70’s who drinks “excessively” daily when not in trial and usually has a cigar beside him. He tells Simon his fee for a murder trial is $200,000. Simon cannot afford a fraction of that amount.

Unlike most legal thrillers Grisham explores the frustration, boredom and misery of being in jail awaiting a bail hearing. Fair or not the impression is created that it is especially hard on a professional as opposed to the impact on a career criminal.

Wally’s finances are so dire he can raise but $10,000 of the $30,000 needed for bail. Paula is not a choice. His mother’s money is tied up with her second husband. His former bookie, Chub, believing Simon helped get him out of an FBI investigation buys Simon’s building for a price that lets Simon raise bail and pay $10,000 to Lassiter. Simon gives Lassiter a promissory note for $190,000.

Unexpectedly, at an early court appearance, Lassiter, impressed by the publicity for this case, says he will defend Simon until another lawyer is found. There will be no search for another lawyer. Lassiter is the defence counsel.

My third post will deal with the trial.

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Grisham, John – (2000) - The Brethren; (2001) - A Painted House; (2002) - The Summons; (2003) - The King of Torts; (2004) - The Last Juror; (2005) - The Runaway Jury; (2005) - The Broker; (2008) - The Appeal; (2009) - The Associate; (2011) - The Confession; (2011) - The Litigators; (2012) - "G" is for John Grisham - Part I and Part II; (2013) - The Racketeer; (2013) - Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Analyzing Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Sycamore Row; (2014) - Gray Mountain and Gray Mountain and Real Life Legal Aid; (2015) - Rogue Lawyer and Sebastian Rudd; (2016) - The Whistler; (2017) - Camino Island; (2017) - The Rooster Bar and Law Students and Integrity; (2019) - The Reckoning; (2019) - Cullen Post in The Guardians and The Guardians; (2020) - A Time for Mercy and Practising Law in Rural Mississippi and Rural Saskatchewan and Writing a Credible Trial; (2021) - Camino Winds; (2022) - The Judge's List; (2022) - The Biloxi Boys and Body Counts in Fictional Gang Wars (Ian Hamilton, John Grisham and Don Winslow); (2023) - The Exchange; (2025) - The Widow - The Wills

The Widow by John Grisham (The Wills)

(3. - 1292.) The Widow by John Grisham - 

“Bankruptcies, drunk driving charges, delinquent child support, foreclosures, nickel-and-dime car wrecks, suspicious slip-and-falls, dubious claims of disabilities - the stock-in-trade of a run-of-the-mill street lawyer whose law school dreams of riches had faded so dim they were almost gone. Eighteen years into the grind and Simon  F. Latch, Attorney and Counselor (both) at Law, was burning out. He was weary of other people’s problems.”

I consider Grisham’s characterization of Latch’s practice as cruel. Latch’s practice deals with the issues of people. It is not as dramatic as big injury claims, murder trials, major human rights issues, important constitutional issues and colourful family law battles. While I have had experiences with dramatic cases Simon’s practice is close to my own. I am proud to represent people.

There was so much of interest to me in The Widow it will take three posts to say all I wanted.

Simon is 41 and a solo practictioner in Braxton, Virginia.

He has an experienced reliable personal assistant in Matilda “Tillie” Clark.

Ms. Eleanor “Netty” Barnett comes to see him to do a will. He expects a simple will will suffice. She has outlived two husbands. She has two stepsons whom she loathes. She has a modest home.

Everything changes when he asks if she has investments other than her home. She advises him that she has $10,000,000 in Coca-Cola shares, $6,000,000 in Wal-Mart shares and $4,000,000 in the bank. 

Her second husband was a district sales rep for Coca-Cola and received shares and held them. Observing Wal-Mart sold “a lot of soft drinks” he started buying shares.

They lived modestly and never cashed in on the steady increase in value of the investments.

She is uneasy about the will she did with another solo practitioner across the street, Wally Thackerman, who “convinced” her to leave her entire estate “to him, in trust” so “he would have the authority to give the money to my favourite charities” and included a cash bequest to him for $485,000.

She has no favourite charities.

Wondering what the net value of the estate after taxes would be, he finds out from a legal friend that the estate of anyone who dies in the next 12 months will not be taxed as Congress had not extended an estate tax statute.

Simon writes a will with him as trustee and estate counsel but giving the money to charities and family members. He includes a clause revoking any bequest to someone who unsuccessfully challenges the will. He would like to be as brazen as Wally but fears the inevitable court challenges. He will make his money off running the estate and having his fees approved by the court.

I was upset with Wally’s will and uncomfortable with Simon’s will. In Canada Wally would be in trouble the moment he tried to probate a will which effectively has no beneficiaries beyond the huge cash bequest to himself.

Simon was dealing with an awkward situation. I have had clients who had neither family nor friends they trust to handle their affairs and wanted my involvement. I avoid involvement. Most Saskatchewan lawyers would do the same. If the client continues to want me involved I would arrange independent legal advice for the client before proceeding with any personal involvement. Even with a client having independent legal advice I doubt I would be willing to be the executor for a “Netty”.

Simon has had a sham of a marriage. Simon and his wife, Paula, strapped for money, have remained officially a couple. They spend as little time together as possible. He is often at their home, usually when she is gone, and sleeps at his office in an improvised tiny apartment he calls “The Closet”. He has a 9 year old daughter, Janie, and two loutish teenage sons, Buck and Danny.

Simon and Paula decide to divorce. The pages describing explanations to the children were painful and poignant and completely convincing.

Simon is a sports gambler. He considers himself skilled but does moderate research. His bets are actual gambles. Because of innate caution and fear of Paula finding out about his betting he had not been in gambling trouble.

Summer and fall go by with Simon and Paula bickering, Simon in a constant cash crunch and Netty regularly going for lunches with Simon paid for by Simon.

Aging is getting more complicated for Netty. A series of traffic tickets are looming. Her ability to drive is at risk.

After I wondered through many pages why Simon has not been billing for all their consultations he sends her a bill.

The story is proceeding at a measured pace when Netty is in a car accident and hospitalized. Expectations for a swift recovery are wrong.

The next post will cover what happens with Netty.

****

Grisham, John – (2000) - The Brethren; (2001) - A Painted House; (2002) - The Summons; (2003) - The King of Torts; (2004) - The Last Juror; (2005) - The Runaway Jury; (2005) - The Broker; (2008) - The Appeal; (2009) - The Associate; (2011) - The Confession; (2011) - The Litigators; (2012) - "G" is for John Grisham - Part I and Part II; (2013) - The Racketeer; (2013) - Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Analyzing Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Sycamore Row; (2014) - Gray Mountain and Gray Mountain and Real Life Legal Aid; (2015) - Rogue Lawyer and Sebastian Rudd; (2016) - The Whistler; (2017) - Camino Island; (2017) - The Rooster Bar and Law Students and Integrity; (2019) - The Reckoning; (2019) - Cullen Post in The Guardians and The Guardians; (2020) - A Time for Mercy and Practising Law in Rural Mississippi and Rural Saskatchewan and Writing a Credible Trial; (2021) - Camino Winds; (2022) - The Judge's List; (2022) - The Biloxi Boys and Body Counts in Fictional Gang Wars (Ian Hamilton, John Grisham and Don Winslow); (2023) - The Exchange

The Only Café by Linden MacIntyre

(2. - 1291.) The Only Café by Linden MacIntyre (2017) - MacIntyre writes:

 “Thoughts of death come almost naturally to people who have spent real time among the dead - doctors, undertakers, soldiers - those who have seen death’s overwhelming presence and then the disconcerting banality of what it leaves behind.”

Five years after he vanished in 2007 Pierre Cormier has been declared dead. He was a serious, reserved man. Yet he leaves a whimsical note directing a roast in which the guests, all designated, are to “give candid assessments of his character”. The roast is to be held at The Only Café and presided over by Ari. 

Pierre had come to Cape Breton in the fall of 1983 as a refugee from Lebanon.

In June of 2007 Pierre, now a corporate lawyer and executive at Draycor, a major mining company in Toronto, is dealing with a mine shutdown in Western New Guineau and with a diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer. Eight protesters had been killed at the mine by trigger happy Indonesian special forces (Kopassus). He goes to the mine rather than for recommended treatment.

Taking a break before leaving he drives to the east end of Toronto where he comes upon the Only Café and Ari. They recognize each other as from the Middle East. Pierre is from south of Beirut and Ari from near Haifa.

In considering the actions of the Kopassus, Pierre is drawn back to the early years of Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1982.

Pierre, a fisherman, had become a Phalangist soldier in the war. His father, mother, sister and niece were killed by Palastinian gunmen in 1976. 

Maronite Christian militia massacred Palestinians at the Shatila refugee camp in 1982. The Israeli military did not intervene.

There is so much hatred in Lebanon. Violent death came to many Lebanese families. Massacre begat massacre.

In 2012 Pierre’s son Cyril is 24 and an intern in the newsroom of a Canadian T.V. network. 

MacIntyre, the former co-host of a national Canadian current affairs program for 24 hours, skilfully delves into the turmoil of T.V. news with clever descriptions of news people Canadians will recognize as based on actual broadcasters.

Cyril desperately wants to know more about his father. There are few sources.

Suzanne Reynolds, a prominent Canadian broadcaster tells Cyril:

“Secrets are invariably motivated by something shameful. Like a betrayal or a crime. When the shame becomes too much, it leads to self-destruction of some kind.”

MacIntyre’s prose flows smoothly, rich in detail, as he explores Pierre’s greatest mystery - the story of his life.

The story moves effortlessly between the present of 2012, the disappearing year of 2007 and Lebanon of 1976 to 1982.

Pierre liked being on his boat in the ocean where he can “look at the distance between me and the land …. [W]here everything happens”.

Cyril diligently pursues Pierre’s life. He finds bits of information.

Cyril wants to know what Pierre was doing during the turbulent years of the civil war when his Dad was slightly younger than himself? His father has neither told Cyril nor his wives about those years.

Pierre’s ex-wife, Aggie, describes him as a stranger:

“To me and everybody else.”

As readers we learn what happened in those vicious years.

At work Cyril is involved in the challenge of trying to develop a story that involves intelligence agencies, Israel and radicalized Muslims. The consequences of what happened in the Lebanese civil war are connected with the Arab Spring of 2012. Facts are difficult to discern and harder to confirm.

Cyril is going to be a good reporter. His colleagues have convinced him it is more honourable to be a reporter than a journalist. He goes and talks to people. He does not just rely on existing interviews. There are good reasons to interview a witness more than once.

His friend Nader explains to him:

“That the only way to know what happens is to be a part of it.”

Cyril also has a secret though I was disappointed that the plot line was not fully developed.

Ari and Pierre were war survivors. Ari says Canadians have a “sanctimonious self-image”. MacIntyre forced me to think about the Canadian self-image. Are we a smug self-righteous people?

MacIntyre looks deep into the minds of men during and after war. He writes a compelling, complex thriller where the masses of bodies come from real life massacres decades ago.

As the conclusion neared I felt I was reading a John le Carré novel with the inevitability of a frightening and brutal conclusion crushing an individual. 

MacIntyre is an excellent writer.

6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk

(1. - 1290.) 6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk - Agatha St. John is obsessed with detail. She grinds her teeth over the scrape of the heel of her husband’s slightly longer left leg. Stepping in abit of grit in the front hallway produces a “crunch that ruined my perfect silence”. She is a successful writer.

St. John is in the business class car on the 6:40 morning train from Toronto to Montreal. She is going to use the time to write. She does not need silence for writing.

She opens her laptop and stares at the “horror” of a “blank Word document”. 

Writing her first book had been easy. It was a thriller for women with a body count that increased in each draft after each feedback from her agent and editors. It became a bestseller.

In the present she is recovering from surgery for Stage 3C melanoma. There is a “handsized ‘V’ carved into the back of the leg”. She believes her prognosis is grim.

A blizzard is starting as the train leaves Toronto.

Her stress level shoots up when she realizes her nemesis, Cyanne Candel, is on the train with her.

St. John wants to write literary fiction. Books about feelings not bodies. Her literary manuscripts have all been rejected.

Reluctantly, she has accepted that her readers want stories about “upper middle-class white ladies killing or being killed”. She finds potential inspiration in the real life story of a Montreal university student, Genevieve. She starts adjusting Genevive’s experience for fiction. She would have loved to use the name Genevieve in the new book but there “are rules about that sort of thing”.

Three hours later St. John’s screen remained blank.

The train abruptly stops during the intensifying blizzard. The car doors automatically lock. The backup power will not run the Wi-Fi. There is no cell service.

The car attendant, the ultra capable Dorcas, carefully tends to the passengers and re-assures them they will soon be on their way. She reminds me of the butlers of Susan Juby’s novels and those I have known on cruises.

A passenger dies and turmoil follows.

Emotions run high.

Claustrophobia closes in on the passengers and Dorcas. Anxiety is acute.

Slow, slow hours go by.

Jurczyk keeps ratcheting up the tension. I started racing through the book.

All the action is presented through St. John’s eyes. While her mind is dominated by thoughts of cancer she retains her keen author’s eye for what is going on around her.

Listening to others, St. John eventually writes a thousand words. She likes to write down short conversations she has overheard to use in her writing.

St. John starts thinking of the events in the rail car for a plot.

The plot goes from unusual to bizarre as the hours creep by.

The conclusion is clever. I never saw it coming though there were clues.

St. John is a real person with virtues and flaws. Her mind is contradictory. She has a restless soul. She has a reason for going to Montreal beyond writing on the train.

Jurczyk is a good writer. She is an excellent writer when writing about a writer being a writer.

****

As I look at the front cover I shake my head. Instead of a train traveling between Toronto and Montreal it shows a train going through the evergreen forest of the Canadian Rockies near Banff and the train looks like a freight, not passenger, train.

****

Jurczyk, Eva - (2024) - The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and The Plantin Polyglot Bible in Fiction