Trial By Fire
D. W. Buffa
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2005 Penguin Putnam
ISBN: 0399152814

Joseph Antonelli returns in an electrifying thriller of love, betrayal & murder.

Sr. Associate Reviewer Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

Ever since I read The Judgment & The Legacy, I have been a fan of Buffa works, & have made it a point to read all his books. & Attorney Joseph Antonelli -- “the lawyer who has won all cases he ought to have won and lost none of the case he ought to have lost”, the protagonist of all Buffa novels is veritably the Perry Mason of the 21st Century.

Like the author's previous bestseller Star Witness, Buffa delivers another legal thriller that looks beyond & behind the facade of big celebrity trials.

Trial By Fire begins with the Bryan Allen Show, a TV talk fest where the trial of a person accused of murder of a young girl is the subject of discussion. [A straight take on the Larry King type shows -- Buffa attacks the credibility of these types of discussions & through Antonelli, voices his disapproval regarding trial by media.] As a member of the panel, Antonelli is uncomfortable, but a chat with one of the co-guests, Julian Sinclair, eases some of Antonelli's discomfort -- & the show goes on.

However days later when District Attorney Daphne McMillan, (another of the guests in that Bryan Allen Show) is found dead, & all the evidence points to Julian Sinclair -- he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Sinclair insists he had nothing to do with the murder & vehemently states that most probably Daphne's husband, the eccentric millionaire Robert McMillan, might have done the crime.

The District Attorney's death sends ripples across the community & is the subject of a new celebrity trial. With the locals calling for blood -- Sinclair seeks Antonelli's defense & reluctantly he agrees. What follows is courtroom drama at its best, culminating in an exciting finish, that's vintage Buffa.

Celebrity trials, the parallel trial by media -- the problems it causes & has caused, is a topic of hot debate in legal circles today. More often than not, the accused is found guilty by media even before the preliminary steps & procedures of a courtroom trial are over. Are we forgetting the Constitutional principle of “innocent until proven guilty”, or are we so swayed by the media trial to condemn a man to the gallows (at least in our minds) before a fair trial?

Trial By Fire raises such pertinent questions & for a lawyer, a law student & a connoisseur of the legal mystery genre, it is a must, must read.

More from D. W. Buffa:
Star Witness
The Judgment
The Legacy
Breach of Trust
The Prosecution
The Defense
The Prosecution
(08/28/05)

Narayan
2005©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