The Judgment

May 7, 2001
Inventing a perfectly odious victim and an obvious killer with the perfect alibi, Buffa cooks up a convoluted legal thriller littered with plot-twist land mines that explode when least expected. Toss in a poignant midlife romance and an innocent, put-upon defendant, and you have a novel with wide appeal. So few people grieve when loathsome circuit judge Calvin Jeffries is stabbed to death and gutted in the courthouse parking garage that it comes as a shock when the confessed killer is revealed to be a homeless man with no apparent ties to the victim. When a second sharp-tongued judge is killed the same way in the same spot, the cops call it a copycat killing and arrest a retarded homeless man on an anonymous tip, finding him with the murder weapon. Seasoned defense attorney Joseph Antonelli, himself a particularly maligned target of the venomous Jeffries, is persuaded to take the case and becomes convinced that both murders were planned by the same brilliant criminal—one Antonelli is particularly familiar with, since the man once shot him. Antonelli's investigator, disbarred lawyer and recovering alcoholic Howard Flynn, sees his own dead son in the retarded defendant and throws himself wholeheartedly into the case. Unfortunately, Antonelli's suspect has been in the state home for the criminally insane for the past 12 years and could not possibly have committed the crimes. Meanwhile, bachelor Antonelli's high school sweetheart re-enters his life after a bout with manic depression and a rough divorce. Buffa (The Prosecution) once again produces a fast-spinning tale that jolts and veers enticingly off-track, but always stays comfortably in sight of the main objective. Well-developed characters and the rich Portland, Ore., milieu add depth to this excellent thriller. Agent, Wendy Sherman. Major ad/ promo; author tour; audio.

April 15, 2001
As in The Defense and The Prosecution, Buffa, a former defense attorney, focuses his third novel on the life and work of attorney Joseph Antonelli. First, an old nemesis of Antonelli's, a judge who once made his life a living hell, is murdered. A suspect is quickly apprehended and makes a full confession. Several months later, another judge is murdered in the same fashion, and Antonelli agrees to represent the man accused of the crime. The police seem certain that it is nothing more than a copycat killing, but as Antonelli delves into the case, he begins to think that something more sinister is afoot. Comparable in both style and subject to the novels of John Grisham and Scott Turow, The Judgment features well-drawn characters, clean writing, and a complex story line. Recommended for popular reading collections. Leslie Madden, Georgia Inst. of Technolgy Lib., Atlanta

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2001
There was no greater legal mind than that of Judge Calvin Jeffries, but his murder was not mourned by defense attorney Joseph Antonelli, who despised the old codger for the malicious ways he abused the bench. Jeffries' presumed killer, quickly tried and convicted, subsequently kills himself. Who, then, murdered a second judge in the same manner? Antonelli, a storied litigator with a nose for injustice, doesn't fall for the conventional wisdom espoused by the DA's office. Instead, he digs deep, following a path that leads to corruption, greed, and obsession. Antonelli is an intriguing hero, but Buffa's writing is forced, with dialogue sometimes so contrived as to make readers ask, "Would someone really say that?" Particularly awkward is the way Buffa uses dialogue to provide backstory. The action itself is quite riveting, however, and once the plot thickens (and, boy, is it thick), you hardly notice the cliches and awkward turns of phrase. Stay away if you prefer character-driven mysteries, but jump aboard if a good story is more than enough.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)