Book Review: *The Tenth Case* by Joseph Teller

Back-of-the-book-blurb:  Criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, better known as Jaywalker, has just been suspended for using “creative” tactics and receiving “gratitude” in the courtroom stairwell from a client charged with prostitution.  Convincing the judge that his other clients are counting on him, Jaywalker is allowed to complete ten cases.  But it’s the last case that truly tests his abilities – and his acquittal record.

Samara Moss  -young, petite and sexy as hell – stabbed her husband in the heart.  Or so everyone believes.  Having married the elderly billionaire when she was an eighteen-year-old former prostitute, Samara appears to be the cliched gold digger.  But Jaywalker knows all too well that appearances can be deceiving.  Who else could have killed the billionaire?  Has Samara been framed?  Or is Jaywalker just driven by his need to win his clients’ cases – and this particular client’s undying gratitude?

She is Too Fond of Books’ Review:  I don’t read a lot of mysteries, but when I do, I want a good mystery/puzzle … something that will keep me interested, keep me entertained, and keep me guessing.  The Tenth Casehas all these elements; in fact, I wondered about “whodunit” as much as I wondered about the strategy of the defense.  What  is Jaywalker’s plan to win acquittal for Sam?  Does he even have a plan, or is he looking for an eleventh-hour miracle?

Teller kept my interest by filling the book with not only the details of the trial, but also the back-story to Jaywalker’s suspension and recent personal history.  The author’s own experience as an investigator and defense attorney add to the story without bogging it down with extraneous details.  In this day of CSI-inspired television and movies, the minutiae of fingerprint and fiber collection, keeping the crime scene secure, and handwriting comparison are understood by the lay reader.

He adds some wry humor with lines like “Jaywalker had once heard a colleague refer to a murder charge as nothing but an assault case in which you knew the complainant wasn’t going to show up in court to testify against your client,” and references to current events such as “the matter of surrendering Samara’s passport, and the necessity of getting her fitted with what one corrections official quaintly referred to as ‘a Martha Stewart bracelet, only in petite.’ ”

I appreciated the way legal terms and procedures were explained within the context of Samara’s trial, such as this excerpt from the first day of jury selection:

The term jury selection is something of a misnomer.  The lawyers don’t really get to select the jurors they want.  The process might better be called jury rejection or jury de-selection.  The way it works is that jurors with admitted or identifiable biases get challenged for cause, or upon the consent of the opposing lawyers.  There’s no preset limit as to the number who can be removed in that way.

Once challenges for cause or consent have been made and ruled upon, the lawyers take turns exercising their peremptory challenges, of which they have a limited number …

Most of the dialogue in the courtroom scenes is written as if from a court reporter’s transcript  I liked this technique because it makes reading these sections a fast-paced conversation between lawyer and witness; I didn’t get sidetracked with “he said,” “she stammered,” “he exclaimed,” etc.  Teller fills in inflection, body language and gesturing appropriately, but allows the words themselves to take center stage.

I give Joseph Teller’s The Tenth Casean enthusiastic “thumbs up.”  A legal thriller with a minimum of profanity and gore (some, but not an overwhelming amount in either case), it had my attention from the first few pages when I met Jaywalker at his suspension hearing.  Watching him do everything he can to win his “tenth case,” I rooted for this likeable character.  I’ll look forward to reading more about Jaywalker in upcoming Teller books.

Many thanks to TJ at Planned Television Arts for providing me with a review copy of The Tenth Case. The Tenth Case is available from amazon.com and at booksellers everywhere.