Juror Number Eleven

by Terry Devane

Overview

A Mairead O'Clare Novel from the author of Uncommon Justice and A Stain Upon the Robe

The legal team of Mairead O’Clare and Sheldon Gold has just wrapped their successful defense of Gold’s childhood friend, Big Ben Friedman. The charge is murder. Now it’s the prosecution’s turn to move in for the kill. They have a charge of their own—jury tampering. And all bets are on Juror Number Eleven—especially after her lifeless body is discovered in her home strung up by her neck. Her last desperate phone call was to Mairead. That looks bad. The prime suspect, Big Ben, has disappeared. That looks worse.

First, they have to bring their client in on a new murder charge. Then they have to do the impossible—they have to defend him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101659229
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/03/2003
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	478 KB

About the Author

Terry Devane is the pseudonym of an attorney and is the award-winning author of the Mairead O'Clare novels, including Uncommon Justice, Juror Number Eleven, and A Stain Upon the Robe.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Terry Devane and his Mairead O'Clare Novels

“Terry Devane is...right up there with Scottoline, Margolin, and yes, Grisham.”—Michael Palmer

“If Stephanie Plum were a trial attorney, she’d be just like Mairead O’Clare: tough, resilient, and real.”—Janet Evanovich

“Terry Devane thrills his readers with twists and turns galore and a wonderfully appealing heroine.”—Tess Gerritsen

“It’s rare that a legal thriller captivates its readers on so many levels as does this powerful novel from Terry Devane. A page-turning suspense tale, a sly and brilliant look at the legal world in Bean Town, and a heartfelt story about a compelling, complex heroine.”—Jeffery Deaver

“A fast-paced legal thriller with a heroine you can root for, a good mystery and a satisfying courtroom finale.”—Philip Margolin

Editorial Reviews

No sooner are criminal defense aces Sheldon Gold and Mairead O'Clare successful at getting Boston gangster Big Ben Friedman acquitted of murder than the eponymous Juror Number Eleven is found dead in her home just after she places an urgent call for help to O'Clare. Terry Devane's sophomore legal thriller brings back O'Clare and Gold and their support staff not to mention a host of colorful witnesses and suspects, from an elderly doctor who looks like Yoda and has a penchant for 20th-century Russian composers to a once-blind hardware store owner who miraculously regained his sight for another round of sleuthing, courtroom drama, rapid-fire dialogue and wry humor. (Putnam, $24.95 320p ISBN 0-399-14886-8) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Boston attorneys Gold and O'Clare (Uncommon Justice, 2001) for the defense again, this time to help their favorite gangster client beat a murder rap. Gold's a middle-aged Jew, O'Clare a female Irish-American Catholic; their office manager is a female African-American; and their chief investigator is an Italian-American ex-homicide cop, recently out of the closet. All this diversity is crammed into the little law firm that could-could beat legal behemoths of every description, that is, because its collective heart is pure and its store of energy boundless. These are qualities that remain intact even in behalf of an unmitigated slob like Big Ben Friedman, even when the murder that this notorious racketeer stands charged with is particularly nasty, the arranged killing of a child. Gold and O'Clare get him off, all right, but their victory is tainted by what has the appearance, at least, of jury tampering. The eponymous Juror #11, hot-looking Conchita Balaguer, has spent a disproportionate amount of trial-time gazing significantly at Mairead O'Clare, who has found the attention both mystifying and unsettling. The prosecution, however, considers it a dead giveaway: Conchita's been bribed, it seems clear to ADA Jim Seagraves, hot-looking in his own way though dimwitted and bombastic as fictional prosecutors so often are. The trial ends. Mairead, in her office, prepping for her next win, is interrupted by a phone call. Conchita wants to hire her, Mairead learns to her astonishment, and there's big money in the offer. Agreeing to meet at Conchita's house, Mairead arrives to find her prospective client strung from the beam of a cathedral ceiling. Naturally, ADA Seagraves fingers bad Big Ben forthis crime, too, but after multiple plot- and sub-plot twists, not a few of them extraneous, the little law firm that could, does. Gold and O'Clare have their charm, but they tread the same old legal-thriller ground as ever, and busy readers might entertain a motion to dismiss.

Kirkus Reviews