Government Powers in Our Times and The Kill Room

Jeffery Deaver in The Kill Room goes into major contemporary issues that are not often dealt with in crime or thriller fiction.

This post does not directly involve spoilers but it does have more information about the books discussed than some readers may want to know about the books.

As set out in my review the criminal investigation involves the death of an expatriate American, Roberto Moreno, who is executed in a hotel room in the Bahamas by an American intelligence services drone airplane. What is the authority of the United States to kill its citizens or non-citizens without due process of law?

In an age where threats of terrorism and actual acts of terrorism occur what rights do governments have to pre-emptively kill those they believe will harm their citizens?

In Fool’s Republic by Gordon W. Dale which I reviewed 2 years ago the protagonist, Simon Wyley “has been cast into one of America’s new secret prisons where those persons, the authorities fear threaten her security, are held captive without rights”. Interrogators seek to break Wyley to get the information they want from him.

In my review I discussed the dangers of abandoning the Rule of Law:

Recently I was in Germany where I spoke with a German lawyer about the Nazi takeover of his country. The Rule of Law was thrown aside when the Nazis perverted the German judicial system. He expressed unease over the development of secret courts in the United States. I stated it was America’s public courts that restrained the legal excesses of the internal War on Terror. He remained concerned for America’s future when confidential charges and proceedings become part of the judicial system.

A year earlier I had reviewed Crossing Hitler by Benjamin Carter Hett. The book discussed the actions of a courageous German lawyer:

Hans Litten was a radical Berlin defence lawyer in 1932, acting as a private prosecutor with the public prosecutor, helping prosecutor SA storm troopers charged with attacking Communists partying at the Eden Dance Palace. Litten convinced the Court to summon Adolph Hitler to testify about the SA. Litten carefully crafted questions that challenged Hitler to reconcile the Nazi Party’s public proclamations of pursuing power only by legal means with the SA taking violent actions in the streets of Germany. Litten’s probing questions provoke Hitler into a profound rage.

When Hitler gained power he immediately imprisoned Litten who eventually committed suicide in prison.

In The Kill Room the good guys and the bad guys, with blurring on both sides as to character, use modern data mining techniques of the American Federal Government, often with no official authorization.

A vast increase in the power of police and intelligence agencies to investigate and surveil American citizens and non-citizens has taken place since the terrible events of 9/11. In the years after 2001 crime fiction dealt with these new powers.

Lost Light by Michael Connelly in 2003 was the first book I read involving these issues. Harry Bosch, in the interval when he is retired from the LAPD, finds out during a murder investigation how much power has been assumed by the anti-terrorism units of the FBI.

A year later, V.I. Warshawski, in Blacklist by Sara Paretsky explores issues involving the treatment of American Arabs and goes back 50 years to the McCarthy hearings on Un-American Activities.

Outside North America John Le Carre has dealt with the new world of intelligence in such books as Mission Song. In that book Congolese interpreter Salvo learns of the duplicitious nature of the English and other Western intelligence agencies while translating secret recordings of private conversations.

While this post reflects my concern with the actions of intelligence agencies apparently beyond the supervision of legislative bodies and courts I recognize that in an age of terror governments must have swift means to prevent and react to terror. Having been a criminal defence counsel and a lawyer for plaintiffs taking on big government and large corporations I am uneasy about abuses of the power entrusted to the intelligence services of our times.

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver – Lincoln Rhyme is adjusting to the physical freedom gained from an operation to his right arm which has restored some feeling and the ability to use the hand and arm. Deaver examines the impact of modern medicine partially reversing the effects of crippling injuries. What happens to someone physically and emotionally who has regained physical abilities thought permanently lost?

More mobile, but still as irascible as ever, Rhyme is sought out by Assistant D.A., Nance Laurel, to assist in the investigation of the killing of an anti-American activist, Robert Moreno, in the Bahamas.

He has been killed by a sniper bullet that smashed the window of his hotel room. Two other men in the room bled to death from the shards of glass blown about the room as the powerful bullet shattered the window.

Ordinarily a murder in another country would not be the subject of a New York state prosecutor. Moreno’s death has been Laurel’s interest because of a whistleblower email that a secretive American intelligence agency, the National Intelligence and Operations Service (NIOS), using flawed information has killed Moreno. The State of New York is pursuing the killer because Moreno, despite his anti-American rants, was an American citizen. Nance has been assigned to build the case for a conspiracy to murder charge.

If she can establish the killing was outside the authority given to NIOS the State of New York will charge those responsible. Killing an American can cause prosecution. Killing a non-citizen is not an issue for a state court.

Deaver thus delves into the murky legal and moral right of America to kill those it considers its enemy wherever they are located in the world. It was timely reading the book as an American drone aircraft was reported to have killed two people in Yemen as I finished reading the book.

Where earlier books in the series were fascinating assemblies of forensic evidence to solve crimes The Kill Room examines an important current legal issue.

While the New York City police department and the District Attorney’s office seek to maintain secrecy through running the case out of Rhyme’s home NIOS almost instantly knows of the investigation.

Both the police/D.A. and NIOS use unauthorized datamining to find information. Deaver is touching upon another thorny American issue, the right of governments to spy upon their people without the checks of statute and public court consents. Deaver makes it clear that the security and proper use of vast American tapping of phone and other electronic communication is dependent on the integrity of those conducting the surveillance.

Rhyme is hampered as the crime scene is thousands of kilometers away and the Royal Bahamian Police are unenthusiastic about sharing information concerning a killing they consider the work of Venezuelan drug cartels.

In New York City Amelia Sachs is diligently aiding Rhyme though the effects of osteoarthritis are becoming more severe. She can no longer walk without pain.

As she starts to search out information concerning Moreno’s recent trip to New York City there is a chilling development. Someone is trying to remove all evidence and witnesses that might lead to the killer.

Can it be that a federal American agency is willing to kill American citizens so that its actions in protecting America’s security can be concealed?

Where the initial forensic evidence is limited it builds during the book to the extent, as usual in this series, that it is hard to analyze all of the facts. Deaver is among the world’s most gifted authors at giving the facts that will lead to conclusions but I rarely make the correct deductions from his facts.

Deaver does not take one-sided view on the extra-judicial killing by the United States government. It is among his most challenging books. Deaver a grandmaster of deception and layered plots. As common with his books there were unnecessary extra twists near the end. It is a mystery that compels the reader to think. (Aug. 10/13)

Connections and Issues with The Taking of Libbie, SD

On Sunday I put up a review of The Taking of Libbie, SD  by David Housewright as my post for the letter “S” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet being hosted by Kerrie Smith at her fine blog, Mysteries in Paradise.  It is a good book. At the end of my review I indicated in my next post I was going to outline my South Dakota connection and discuss a couple of issues concerning the book not related to the plot.

I have a personal connection to the setting of the book. Not only did my grandfather homestead in South Dakota a century ago the community at which he homesteaded, Clark, has numerous similarities to the fictional Libbie.

It is also a town of just over 1,000 people in a farm based area. It is the county seat. It has a high school and a nursing home.

While Clark is located in a different part of the state and I doubt they consider themselves in the type of decline as Libbie was portrayed I kept thinking of Clark as I read the book.

I also have not heard in real life Clark of comparable stories to the busy sexual lives of the fictional Libbie residents.

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It was a book for which I had no knowledge when I opened the covers. I bought it at the Once Upon a Crime bookstore in Minneapolis in January when I was looking ahead for books for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise. It has been some time since I read Tin City by Housewright and when I saw The Taking of Libbie, SD I knew I had my “S”.

Generally I know something of the plot to determine if I want to read the book. For The Taking of Libbie, SD I knew no more than than I had read a book earlier in the series. 

With nothing but the title to guide me my mind tried to anticipate the plot. It seems impossible to keep a completely open mind until a book is read. For no specific reason I expected the “taking” to refer to a form of attack upon the community instead of the “taking” referring to a fraud perpetuated on the town. 

How easy it is to mislead yourself!

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The one issue unrelated to the plot that upset me is the cover. The photo of the big city has absolutely nothing to do with the story and is blatantly misleading. The fictional Libbie is a small town of 1,200 people whose whole population might occupy one of the skyscrapers shown on the cover. The story spends but minutes in the opening pages in Minneapolis and little more later in the book. Had they shown the beautiful sunset sky alone it would at least have had a connection. When I started the book I thought it would involve a large fictional South Dakota city such as Rapid City (about 70,000 people) or Sioux Falls (225,000 in the metro area). I have no idea why the publisher chose a cover that deceives readers. (I show the cover again to illustrate the deception.)

“S” is for The Taking of Libbie, SD by David Housewright

“S” is for The Taking of Libbie, SD by David Housewright – The book gets off to a rousing start when retired Minneapolis police officer, Rushmore McKenzie, is snatched from his home and thrown into the trunk of a car and driven for 6 hours to the small town of Libbie, South Dakota. Roughed up in the local police station he learns the mayor has hired bounty hunters to bring him from Minnesota because he has defrauded the town of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is hard to take a breath reading the opening chapter.

Once in Libbie the authorities realize he is not the Rushton McKenzie who has swindled them. He does not look like the crook. A few questions and it is clear that they have the wrong man.

McKenzie learns that the fraudster has stolen his identity to set up a new Rushton McKenzie in South Dakota. Cleverly the crook has not used any of McKenzie’s credit cards or accounts. He is using the stolen identity to cheat the town not McKenzie.

Desperate to make amends lovely town councillor, Tracie Blake, sweeps into his cell to offer an apology to McKenzie who is justifiably furious over his treatment.

He learns the fake McKenzie has enticed investment in a regional mall to be located on the edge of town. She further asks him to track down the imposter for the town administration and many citizens who are facing financial disaster if the money is lost.

While he does not forgive McKenzie finds himself fascinated with the fraud scheme and returns to Libbie to solve the mystery.

The South Dakota town is a central character in the mystery. As with most real life towns in rural Saskatchewan there has been a declining population in Libbie recent decades that diminishes the well being of the community and forecasts a doubtful future.

The people of Libbie want to save their town and are ready to listen to a smooth talking stranger on the prosperity to follow the development of a mall.

Trevor Herriot, in his book River in a Dry Land, sets out the rise and painful decline of the real life town of Tantallon in southeastern Saskatchewan. It is a story that could be written about hundreds of communities on the Great Plains of Canada and the United States.

While Housewright effectively describes Libbie and the readiness, even eagerness, of some to get out of town he does not do as well at capturing the spirit and joy of living in a town where everyone knows you. I believe the townspeople are less greedy than desperate for trusting and investing with the imposter.

 

Within Libbie McKenzie is struck by the number of beautiful women in the town. Temptation is present as he works to solve the mystery.

I would not say it is a great book. There are some implausible developments near the end. I consider it a very good book. I liked it better than Tin City.

 

This review is my entry for "S" in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. In my next post I will discuss my connection with the book and a couple of aspects of the book. (July 21/13)

Thoughts on Q & A with Robert Rotenberg on Stranglehold

My last two posts are about Stranglehold by Robert Rotenberg. On Sunday I posted a review of the book. On Tuesday it was a Q & A with the author. Tonight I pass on some thoughts about the answers from the Q & A. I have put my thoughts in italics.

            1.) In the book DiPaulo has a sign in his office

            from Anatomy of a Murder:

                 A trial was after all a savage and primitive battle for
                 survival itself.

Do you also view Canadian criminal trials as bloody combat? In my experience in Saskatchewan criminal trials they can be intense but I would not characterize them as “savage”. While sometimes “primitive” I think most trials involve sophisticated work by the lawyers.

Savage might sound a bit extreme, but it is the perfect quote. (Hint, I used it at the front of my second novel, "The Guilty Plea," which in some ways was an homage to that novel and great film.)

But I do it is true. When we strip back all our civility in Canadian courts (and thank goodness for that civility) the core of what we are dealing with are the most basic…savage…of emotions. How else can you describe someone shooting, stabbing, or strangling another human being. (And thank goodness they do, or how would I make a living as a lawyer or a writer!)

Is a trial a savage and primitive battle for survival? Actual trials can feel stilted at times because of the formal civility. Lawyers in Canada in court will refer to each other as their friends or learned friends. Yet at the core of the trial will be fierce emotions. Whether freedom, money or reputation are in issue the witnesses and parties to the court action are involved in matters for which they have strong feelings. Words can be fought just as fiercely as swords.

3.) Has it become perilous to be the Head Crown Prosecutor in your books with Ralphie Armitage going to jail and Raglan being murdered? Or is it perhaps a defence counsel author exacting a subtle revenge upon the Crown?

Crowns have a good life. No client calls in the middle of the night. Paid vacation. Pensions. Sick days. (I haven't had a sick day or a paid vacation ever.) So if one gets killed and another ends up in jail, I say: "suck it up."  

Robert is a committed defence counsel. I fear for the future of Crown counsels in future books. I expect Crown counsels of his acquaintance would have something to say to him about the benefits of defence counsel such as being able to choose clients, not having to deal with unreasonable police officers and able to withdraw from cases as counsel.

4.) The book has an interesting bail hearing but no preliminary inquiry. Have you decided to avoid prelims in your books? If so, I would be interested in knowing why the prelim, often held in most major criminal proceedings, is not in the books.

I try to switch things around. If I wrote a book with a bail hearing, a preliminary inquiry, a trial, an appeal, another appeal to the Supreme Court, a retrial…well you get the idea. Damn boring. 

Indeed, in "Old City Hall" the prelminary hearing is about to take place.

But the bottom line is a "prelim" as we call them is usually deadly dull. A judge once told me it was like baby-sitting a sleeping child.  

Prelims can be boring in real life if the questioning is perfunctory. No verdict is given at the conclusion. Only rarely will there be a dismissal of the charge. Normally there will be committal to trial. Yet I have been able to use the chance to question witnesses at the prelim to establish the evidence needed to convince the Crown not to go to trial or set the framework for the defence to be argued at trial. It is a subtler drama to set up a case for trial through the questions in a prelim.

5.) On some websites it is now the Ari Greene series. How did that happen? I still think of it as a unique series with equally powerful police and lawyers.

Thanks. I agree. This is a marketing thing I guess that I have no control over. Note, none of the books use this phrase.

I have never thought of this as an "Ari Greene Series." I'd say for example, that the third novel "Stray Bullets" is really Nancy Parish's book. 

I've always been interested in writing about a whole cast of characters. In fact, Ari kind of appeared on the scene a bit by accident in Book One, "Old City Hall" and just kept hanging around.

But I do see him as the moral centre of the series. And knowing Ari as well as I do, I'm sure he wouldn't want his name on it. That's for sure. 

There appears a compulsion to market a series by identifying it through the lead character. Rotenberg’s books are not suited to such an approach. There are continuing characters in the series but who will be most important varies from book to book. In a comment exchange with Margot Kinberg from Confessions of a Mystery Novelist I said I thought the series should have a name comparable to the 87^th Precinct series of Ed McBain. I keep trying to think of a suitable name but none seem appropriate. Toronto Law seems routine. Toronto Courts is apt but far from catchy. Toronto Justice is but alittle better. I invite readers to add their own submissions for a series name.

6.) There were issues raised in the story that received little attention during the book but were featured in the resolution. As an example, there was a letter received by Greene but never acted upon him. Were there subplots cut from the book?

Afraid I can't agree with you that Greene never acted on the letter. I think that's the whole point of how he handled himself. And the novel.

Beyond that I'd rather not say. I think it's pretentious when authors talk about the deeper meaning or real themes of their books. 

Suggestion: re-read the letter again. Then perhaps re-read the last chapter.

As for the plot and subplot. In this book they are extremely complicated. (That seems to be my way.). But in the end, I think they all fit together. That's the struggle of writing and the real fun of making it work. 

 

It is a hard answer on which to have thoughts for a blog post as I do not want to put up spoilers. I continue to think the subplot was not well fleshed out in the book.

 I agree Robert’s plots are complicated but they are not convoluted. Robert trusts readers to grasp complex plots. I appreciate his confidence in readers.

Even more I appreciate the candour, even bluntness, of Rotenberg. He is not a man afraid to tell you what is on his mind. I believe his writing skill has him poised to become an author of international renown. He has interesting characters both seeking to solve crimes (the police) and fight court cases (the lawyers).

Q & A with Robert Rotenberg on Stranglehold

My last post was a review of Stranglehold, the new book by Robert Rotenberg. I appreciate Anneliese Grosfield  at Simon & Schuster providing me with a copy. I thought it an excellent book. I wrote Robert a letter with some questions that with Anneliese’s assistance I was able to get answered from me. My questions and Robert's answers in bold are below.

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To: Robert
 

I have enjoyed reading Stranglehold and will be posting a review on my blog Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan next week.
 

I have appreciated past email exchanges and would like to ask you a few questions:

 

            1.) In the book DiPaulo has a sign in his office 

            from Anatomy of a Murder:

A trial was after all a savage and primitive battle for

survival itself.

Do you also view Canadian criminal trials as bloody combat? In my experience in Saskatchewan criminal trials they can be intense but I would not characterize them as “savage”. While sometimes “primitive” I think most trials involve sophisticated work by the lawyers;

 

Savage might sound a bit extreme, but it is the perfect quote. (Hint, I used it at the front of my second novel, "The Guilty Plea," which in some ways was an homage to that novel and great film.)

 

But I do it is true. When we strip back all our civility in Canadian courts (and thank goodness for that civility) the core of what we are dealing with are the most basic…savage…of emotions. How else can you describe someone shooting, stabbing, or strangling another human being. (And thank goodness they do, or how would I make a living as a lawyer or a writer!)

 

2.) When Ari Greene reflects on the murder he thinks there is something about the murder scene that has been arranged to set him up for the murder. He is already suspicious over the timing of the 911 call. I do not recall reading about anything being done in the room to compromise him. Was there something I missed suggesting he was set up beyond the timing of the phone call?

 

I just emailed Ari a copy of your email. He's tough to get a hold of. So if you don't hear back from him about this, don't be offended. Half the time he never returns my calls either!

 

3.) Has it become perilous to be the Head Crown Prosecutor in your books with Ralphie Armitage going to jail and Raglan being murdered? Or is it perhaps a defence counsel author exacting a subtle revenge upon the Crown?

 

Crowns have a good life. No client calls in the middle of the night. Paid vacation. Pensions. Sick days. (I haven't had a sick day or a paid vacation ever.) So if one gets killed and another ends up in jail, I say: "suck it up."  

 

4.) The book has an interesting bail hearing but no preliminary inquiry. Have you decided to avoid prelims in your books? If so, I would be interested in knowing why the prelim, often held in most major criminal proceedings, is not in the books.

 

I try to switch things around. If I wrote a book with a bail hearing, a preliminary inquiry, a trial, an appeal, another appeal to the Supreme Court, a retrial…well you get the idea. Damn boring. 

 

Indeed, in "Old City Hall" the prelminary hearing is about to take place.

 

But the bottom line is a "prelim" as we call them is usually deadly dull. A judge once told me it was like baby-sitting a sleeping child.  

 

5.) On some websites it is now the Ari Greene series. How did that happen? I still think of it as a unique series with equally powerful police and lawyers.

 

Thanks. I agree. This is a marketing thing I guess that I have no control over. Note, none of the books use this phrase.

 

I have never thought of this as an "Ari Greene Series." I'd say for example, that the third novel "Stray Bullets" is really Nancy Parish's book. 

 

I've always been interested in writing about a whole cast of characters. In fact, Ari kind of appeared on the scene a bit by accident in Book One, "Old City Hall" and just kept hanging around.

 

But I do see him as the moral centre of the series. And knowing Ari as well as I do, I'm sure he wouldn't want his name on it. That's for sure. 

 

6.) There were issues raised in the story that received little attention during the book but were featured in the resolution. As an example, there was a letter received by Greene but never acted upon him. Were there subplots cut from the book?

 

Afraid I can't agree with you that Greene never acted on the letter. I think that's the whole point of how he handled himself. And the novel.

 

Beyond that I'd rather not say. I think it's pretentious when authors talk about the deeper meaning or real themes of their books. 

 

Suggestion: re-read the letter again. Then perhaps re-read the last chapter.

 

As for the plot and subplot. In this book they are extremely complicated. (That seems to be my way.). But in the end, I think they all fit together. That's the struggle of writing and the real fun of making it work. 

 

Thank you for considering my questions.

 

Best wishes.

 

Bill Selnes

 

Thank you. You are a very careful and interested reader.

 

Hey, get me invited to a literary festival out there some time.

 

Best and a safe summer.

 

Bobby

 

On Thursday I will have a post with Thoughts on the Q & A.

 

 

“R” is for Robert Rotenberg’s book Stranglehold

Stranglehold  by Robert Rotenberg – I consider Stranglehold, the fourth book in Rotenberg’s series featuring Toronto lawyers and police, the best in the series. Where earlier books had given the defence almost impossible facts to defend, Stranglehold has more complex balanced evidence.

As the book opens Toronto homicide detective, Ari Greene is on his way by scooter to meet Head Crown attorney, Jennifer Raglan. Each of them has been taking Monday mornings off to meet and love at one of the cheap motels on Kingston Road in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. They have resumed their affair with a level of secrecy, disguises and codes, which espionage agencies would admire for their spy craft.

Raglan, the organizer, choses and reserves the motel. She brings along mood music (Oscar Peterson), champagne, candles and fine pillow cases to bring some romance to the tawdry locations of their assignations.

When Greene enters the room to find Raglan strangled to death I was shocked. Raglan had been a strong character in earlier books. Few authors have an important continuing character slain.

A stunned Greene has his cell phone out to call 911 when he hears someone outside the room and tries, unsuccessfully, to catch who was there. About to call in the murder he hears sirens. Someone else has already called the police.

Greene, normally the most rational of men, neither stays nor calls a member of the homicide department. Assuming her husband has killed her, called 911 and is suicidal he decides to search the neighbourhood for the husband.

The story had grabbed me. I wanted to shout to him to stop. Call a defence lawyer. You need objective advice. Instead, he undertakes a fruitless search.

Both decisions, leaving the scene and then not calling a fellow police officer, were bad ideas which were compounded when he did not tell Daniel Kennicott, his protégé and the newest homicide detective, and lead on this murder, later that day what had happened.

I thought of the complications in Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow when prosecutor, Rusty Sabich, disastrously conceals his affair with the murdered Carolyn Polhemus from fellow prosecutors.

The next day Greene does wisely retain Ted DiPaulo. He tells DiPaulo what happened. By receiving a retainer DiPaulo, under the rules of solicitor – client privilege cannot tell anyone what Greene has told him, but Greene can waive the privilege so there is a record of him telling a figure in authority shortly after the murder what happened.

Readers of this post who want to keep their knowledge of the plot to a minimum should read no further. I am not including spoilers but there may be more information than you would want about the story.

Be further warned the book itself contains a spoiler advising what happened in an earlier book of the series.

As you would expect Greene’s efforts to keep secret the affair and his presence at the crime scene fail and he is charged with murder.

Brought back to Toronto to prosecute the case is Angela Kreitinger, a recovering alcoholic. While she has stopped drinking Kreitinger is popping Percocets to deal with a chronically aching back. Anxious to remain in Toronto Kreitinger is eager to prosecute the high profile case.

As with his other fictional trials Rotenberg creates another real life trial. The witnesses are plausible. The lawyers find the weaknesses in their evidence. Physical evidence, videos and reconstructions are used in the presentation.

While I foresaw the real killer I did not pick up on the key pieces of evidence for the trial until they were revealed.

I raced through the book. The pace of the story is excellent. Rotenberg is writing wonderful mysteries. I expect Stranglehold to be a strong contender for Bill’s Best of 2013 Fiction.

The series is strongly established with interesting characters who have credible flaws. Not many “good guy” sleuths engage in affairs with married women. Greene is a good man, not a perfect man.

Characters do remind us of real people. The image I have of exhuberant beefy police chief, Hap Charlton, running to be mayor the city is that of the current actual mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. I doubt Hap’s physique, personality and political views were accidentally similar to Mayor Ford.

You will stay up reading Stranglehold. (July 14/13)

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Robert Rotenberg is a double “R” as my post for this week for “R” in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. My connections to the book and author are multiple – as a lawyer, as a Canadian and as someone who has lots of family residing in Toronto. I can see many of the locations while I read Robert's books. My next post will feature some Q & A with Robert.

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Stranglehold will be the first book I have read in the 7th Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John Mutford at the Book Mine Set blog.

“Q” is for In Plain Sight by Tara Taylor Quinn

 “Q” is for In Plain Sight by Tara Taylor Quinn – I have not found “Q” the easiest letter to find a title or an author for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise. At the library I found In Plain Sight and decided to try Ms. Quinn.

Jan McNeil is a senior prosecutor in Flagstaff, Arizona. She has been assigned to prosecute Jacob Hall, a white supremacist with the Ivory Nation, for identiy theft though she really wants to pursue the leadership of the Ivory Nation.

Living next door to McNeil is the rather mysterious Simon Green who is a writer of police procedural manuals though he portrays himself as the author of books on economics.

The best character in the books is Hailey Miller, a little girl prosecuted by McNeil at 8, to whom McNeil has become attached

and wants to adopt. Hailey speaks with the wonderful simplicity of children. She is sure she cannot be adopted, no what McNeil tells her, as she is bad and on parole. (In Canada she could not have been charged. Children under the age of 12 cannot be charged under our criminal law.)

As McNeil prepares her case little things keep happening such as a file gone missing or another file not being delivered. Paranoia, never far from McNeil’s mind, rises for the prosecutor.

A bored Green finds the highlights of his day are watching school children return home after school and meeting McNeil at her mailbox for a chat.

McNeil’s brother, Johnny, is playing a greater role in her life for which she is grateful. It has been some time since they have been close.

I kept waiting for there to be some significant time in court but it gradually dawned on me that In Plain Sight was less a mystery than a romance novel. I can be slow at detecting a romance novel. Relationships rather than mystery drive the story.

How did I not realize the beautiful young troubled prosecutor and the handsome ambiguous man next door feature prominently in romance novels? I expect it is because so many current mysteries feature the beautiful and the handsome.

Still the author does tackle the presence of violent white supremacists seeking to have their narrow minded intolerance take over America.

After finishing the book I was not surprised to read Quinn is also a writer for Harlequin books. If you enjoy romantic suspense you will enjoy the book.

In the book McNeil does present an image of prosecutors that depresses me. It is clear McNeil has lost perspective on being a prosecutor. She has become an avenger viewing it her responsibility to change and improve society. The problems with being an avenger as a prosecutor are that it moves you beyond your role in the justice system and means a loss of objectivity. It is McNeil’s job to present the evidence and the law and let judges decide if someone is guilty. By being willing to add questionable charges to Hall’s original charge McNeil is perverting the system. As I watch television and read of America’s judicial system I fear too many real life prosecutors are becoming avengers. (Aug. 1/13)

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My connection to this book is to the legal theme and McNeil, a fellow lawyer, though not a woman to uphold the high ideals of prosecutors simply presenting the law and evidence.