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Product Description
A riveting new tale of betrayal, blackmail, and murder from the bestselling author of The Burning Man and Gone, but Not Forgotten.
Phillip Margolin's masterful new legal thriller is full of suspense at its finest, with surprising twists and turns, erotic undertones that can quickly turn deadly, and, most of all, a keen sense of the inner workings of the American justice system.
At the center of The Undertaker's Widow is the beleaguered figure of Richard Quinn--a judge so ethical that he is willing to risk his own life to see that justice prevails in his courtroom. But as Quinn discovers when he presides over the trial of tough-talking state senator Ellen Crease, there is not always a clear path to justice.
A former police officer, Crease is a flamboyant public figure who stands accused of conspiring to murder her husband, a wealthy tycoon who got his start in the funeral parlor business. Things, however, are not as they seem, and Quinn soon begins to suspect that Crease may well have been set up. As he zeros in on the deadly secret at the heart of this trial, Judge Richard Quinn finds that his efforts to do the right thing lead him ever deeper into an insidious maze of murder and deceit.
With all the narrative pulse and legal sophistication that have made Phillip Margolin a household name, The Undertaker's Widow is a complex and wild ride that will leave readers breathless.
Amazon.com Review
In this legal thriller, a young judge in Portland, Oregon, struggles to save his marriage and his career after he becomes personally involved in the murder case he's adjudicating. The judge, Richard Quinn, is a deeply principled man who has proven himself an honorable and fair-minded public servant. When an extremely wealthy undertaker is murdered in his mansion in the West Hills of town, Quinn is chosen to preside over the case. The dead man's widow, Ellen Crease, is a driven state congressional representative who is running for a seat in the United States Senate. She's a shapely, pistol-packing Republican and a former cop. She's also a suspect, as is the dead man's underachieving son. Crease's political enemies also appear to be involved in the intrigue, but it's difficult to tell. After someone connected to the case tries to blackmail the judge for an extramarital misstep, Quinn decides to take matters into his own hands. He does some investigating, shares his discoveries with people who seem to be trustworthy (but aren't), and puts himself in harm's way.
It's interesting to follow Quinn as he grapples with the ethical issues of the case. When the blackmailers want him to tip the scales of justice one way, he considers tipping them the other direction. There is also something inherently diverting about observing a basically good man who is helplessly mired in a whole heap of trouble. Throughout the book, Quinn keeps stumbling into mortal danger and confiding in all the wrong people, digging himself deeper and deeper in trouble. --Jill Marquis
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