Murder by Sacrilege

November 1, 1993
Rev. David Hailey shocks the folks of Canadian, Tex., by adding a disturbing figure to his church's life-sized, outdoor nativity scene: Amanda, his flirtatious 19-year-old wife, dressed as the Virgin Mary and dead of a head wound from a blunt instrument. Doing this in full view of the church's budget committee is incriminating enough--Amanda was alive and well earlier in the evening--but one churchgoer, Canadian DA Glen Williams, says that after the meeting he saw Hailey pick up a rock and head straight for the parsonage. Williams, as a witness, relinquishes prosecuting duties to Amarillo DA Cleetus ``Maximum'' Miller, while Hailey is championed by the brilliant, dapper defense attorney John Lloyd Branson and his volatile aide and significant other, Lydia Ann Fairchild. Hailey refuses to discuss his wife's death. As the murder trial progresses, Lydia is astonished to realize that ``the Panhandle's would-be Perry Mason'' seems to be bungling the defense. Meredith ( Murder by Reference ) effectively makes the courtroom a stage on which tragedy and farce play simultaneously. And if the irascible Lydia wears thin at times, there's always hope she'll grow up before her next appearance.