Star Witness
D.W. Buffa
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2003 Penguin Putnam
ISBN: 039915034X

A colorful trial lawyer defends a legendary Hollywood studio mogul accused of murdering his movie star wife.

Sr. Reviewer Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

Its confirmed. D.W. Buffa is the legal thriller superstar of this Millennium. & to put it in a cliché, for the legal thriller buff, Buffa provides maximum entertainment.

Scott Turow & John Grisham had carved a neat niche in the mystery genre -- making the legal thriller, the “in-thing” in popular fiction. Inspired by their success many a lawyer took up writing legal thrillers -- only a few have achieved success. Save for a Joel Goldman, Stephanie Kane & Brian Haig, other lawyer-authors soon fizzled away. However, among these successful lawyer-authors, D. W. Buffa is definitely T-H-E   B-E-S-T.

Series protagonist Joseph Antonelli -- the lawyer who never lost a case he should have won, & won nearly all the cases he should have lost -- this time round is called to defend an ace Hollywood director, Stanley Roth, accused of murdering his wife & glamour girl of Hollywood, Mary Flanders, both of whom are extraordinary characters -- Roth with his Orson Welles fixation (he plans to make a movie more great & more magnificent than Citizen Kane) & Flanders was obviously modeled after Marlyn Monroe.

It sounds like an open & shut case with strong circumstantial evidence. Even Antonelli believes Roth is guilty. However, only days into his investigation Antonelli realizes that there is more to this case than what meets the eye. What follows is tense if slow action, with hefty & stylish courtroom battles, that will thrill the aficionado.

The greatest facet of Star Witness is that though it is fiction it is rooted in reality. Buffa takes us to the real (read as sleazy) world behind celebrity trials -- the façade, the tribulations & the media-frenzy in great detail. Like all Buffa works, Star Witness is descriptive -- & at the same time provides a pacey read.

For the mystery lover -- Star Witness is recommended & for the legal thriller aficionado -- don't miss this one.

More from D. W. Buffa:
The Judgment
The Legacy
The Prosecution
The Defense
The Prosecution

(08/24/03)

Narayan
2003©Narayan Radhakrishnan
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I am a 26 years old lawyer practicing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Along with my legal practice, I have finished post-graduate studies for both Business Law & Human Rights. I am a self proclaimed numero-uno legal thriller lover & am the proud owner of all of Grisham's & Turow's novels. I enjoy John Mortimer's Rumpole & relish an occasional Martini & a rare Scot(ch)t-oline with a Patterson on the side.

My work A FICTION OF LAW is now about 500 pages in length & features 500 lawyer authors & 2000 legal thrillers covering a 300 year period - inclusive of entries from the USA, UK, Asia, Europe, China, Middle East etc. Still in search of a publisher.
www.keralatourism.org