Trial
A Stanley Hastings Mystery
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
When negligence lawyer Richard Rosenberg defends a man on trial for murder, he hires Stanley Hastings to investigate The reluctant PI takes the stand, and nearly gets found in contempt of court.
"Hilarious...Mr. Hall delights in applying the classic style of high comedy to base genre material, so he can get away with the wordplay, or any other game that takes his fancy."
-Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
"Hall develops his usual complex plot and dialogue-driven narrative, highly recommended to fans of writers like Gregory Mcdonald, Ed McBain, and (of course) Erle Stanley Gardner."
-Jon L. Breen, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
"Hall is a born yarn spinner. Erle Stanley Gardner would be proud. And maybe just a tad jealous."
-Dick Lochte, L.A. Times
"Reminiscent of Agatha Christie in her more ingenious mode."
-Elaine Budd, Hartford Courant
"This latest outing moves at a smart clip and nicely balances the convolutions of the alibi with a lot of very sharp turns in the courtroom."
-Publishers Weekly
"Stanley, helped out by his redoubtable wife, Alice, brings down the courthouse with a memorable, climactic scene. Longtime fans of this rollicking series will be glad to know that Stanley talks Richard into giving him a hefty raise, which he earns every penny of."
-Kirkus
"Includes an ingenious clue...Author Hall provides lots of fun."
-Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The low-rent tribulations of N.Y.C. PI Stanley Hastings (Actor, Blackmail, Movie, etc.) once fueled a bunch of enjoyable light crime yarns as Stanley cased out ill-lit stairways and injured clients for his shark-like, ambulance-chasing litigator boss, Richard Rosenberg. Now, after some darker detours in which the cases got nastier and Stanley's thespian aspirations were mistakenly given center stage, Parnell makes a partial recovery. This time the monster-egoed Rosenberg is defending a man accused of murdering his wife. Anson Carbinder has six buddies who will swear he won the biggest pot in a poker session the night of the murder. But he also has a busty bimbo in tow, and a brand-new insurance policy on his wife. Rosenberg is naturally determined to preserve the integrity of the alibi. But the complexities of the game make Stanley curious and a little uneasy, especially when one of the poker players suddenly gets scared-and then dead. This latest outing moves at a smart clip and nicely balances the convolutions of the alibi with a lot of very sharp turns in the courtroom.
