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Book Review By BethG
The Undertaker's Widow by Phillip Margolin

State Senator Ellen Crease is running for the U.S. Senate when her husband is gunned down in their Portland, Oregon, home. She is able to reach her bedside weapon and shoot the perpetrator. At first it looks like she killed the man in self-defense and for shooting her husband. But further investigation reveals that she may have hired the man to shoot her husband and then she shot him so that she would have no witnesses. She is immediately indicted for murder.

In the meantime Judge Quinn, a more junior superior court judge is assigned the case. While vacation just prior to the trial, he is lured by a young woman to a secluded cove for snorkeling and perhaps more. Quinn's relationship with his wife had been on the rocks and he was further disappointed when she had to stay behind and work on an important real estate deal. However, they are both being set up. The girl was sent to Quinn and her death was faked. This information and some secret photos cause Quinn to suppress evidence at the pre-trial hearings of the senator in order to preserve his own career and keep from being accused of the girl's death.

It is soon evident that the girl didn't really die, the dead man's son had a motivate for murder, and Ellen's competitor in the senatorial race may have gone too far in order to win the election. Judge Quinn must quickly find out what really happened in order to clear his name and to convict the right person.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Legal Thriller Yes
Legal Plotlets
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 %

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Pacific NW
City? Yes
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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