Undeterred, the Lieutenant enters the bar, calmly empties his Luger pistol into the man's chest, and leaves to deliver himself into the hands of the closest deputy-sheriff. I unlocked the car trunk and took out my packsack and two aluminum-cased fly rods and a handbag and rested them on the curb. Suddenly, Polly, as he is known to the entire town, sees his opportunity: maybe he can show his rival that he can defend as well as he can prosecute. Voelker, was an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court when his novel "Anatomy of a Murder", later made into the classic movie with Jimmy Stewart, rocketed him to national fame. Compulsion, a 1957 bestseller by Meyer Levin was the beginning, but Levin had a journalism background while Robert Traver had been a practicing lawyer and judge.

I'll have to look for the movie, as Jimmy Stewart won an Oscar for his portrayal of Paul Biegler, and he was always a favorite actor of mine.Most of the legal files and cabinets and office supplies were kept stashed away out of sight in Grandma Biegler's roomy old pantry. Lots of humor, banter, jockeying for the upper hand between the defense and the prosecution, and asides on the beauty and necessity of our legal system, it is more than just a novel about a murder trial. The book however, is kind of a mess; it reads like it was written by a chatty trout-fishing-enthusiast lawyer primarily because it WAS written by a trout-fishing-enthusiast lawyer (let's assume the "chatty" part), who in real life is Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D.

Nothing dramatic happens in the course of the novel - the violence happens off stage before the first chapter - but I couldn’t stop listening until it was done. No spoilers here, of course; but there is an ingenious thought-provoking twist that will have you pondering long after you know the verdict of the jury. A gripping tale of deceit, murder, and a sensational trial, Anatomy of a Murder is unmatched in the authenticity of its settings, events, and characters. Then I switched out the lights and sat in the darkness watching the reflection of the changing traffic lights below dancing on the opposite wall. side by side with the sort of fervent idealism Jimmy Stewart should have had a patent on … again, whoever was at the helm, it's the perfect 50's movie.Martin's is proud to introduce this special anniversary edition, with a new introduction by the author.

But it isn't enough that a jury might sympathize with Manion morally: how can he be defended legally? Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U. Because of some intriguing side stories about the murderer, his wife and the victim; because a rape preceded the murder; because the setting is integral to the plot, it was all in all a satisfying read.Mr Traver criticises the artificiality of some legal novels yet he cannot resist the lawyer's high blown rhetoric, the 'objection. The combined waiting room and place where Maida did her typing--the old dining room--looked more like the reception room of, not a club, but a comfortably old and rather down-at-the-heel fraternal lodge. band gray colored cloth over boards with silver and gilt illustrations and gilt text on spine; no defects. He needs a case; he's not the only defense attorney in his small Michigan town, and the other one's flashier; his secretary, Maida (the perfect 50's secretary, sassy and efficient both), would like to be paid her salary, thank you. Because Jimmy Stewart plays our hero in the movie, there may be little doubt going in as to how the case will turn out – but it's not that simple.