Philip Margolin. A Reasonable Doubt. USA: Minotaur, 2020.
I had hopes this one would be brightly challenging, but the characters were bouncing all over the map. Oregon defense lawyer Robin Lockwood takes the insistent Robert Chesterfield as a client: a magician entertainer who wants a patent for a new, as yet unperformed, illusion he invented. Not Robin's field of expertise, but her retired partner Regina Barrister recalls having represented him before—on murder charges! Chesterfield was never indicted and now is deep in gambling debts to Las Vegas crime boss Augustine Montenegro, unbeknownst to his rich wife Claire who keeps an iron grip on her purse-strings. But Claire is openly having an affair with David Turner, a rival magician. Although Regina has early-onset dementia her long-term memory serves to take Robin back to the 1990s.
Whose story is it, anyway? Is it "Bobby" Chesterfield's? Under suspicion for two poisonings, then a convenient fall off a cliff for his then-wife Lily Dowd, the man either charms or alienates people everywhere he goes. Is Robin the protagonist, keeping Chesterfield out of prison? Maybe it's deputy attorney-general Peter Ragland's story, his career once torpedoed by Regina, reclaiming his reputation by finally nailing Chesterfield in a new murder allegation. When "Lord Chesterfield" gives his premier performance of the illusion he calls "Chamber of Death," most people who detest him are in the audience, shocked to see it backfire. Several detectives, lawyers and judges, the magician's assistants, theatrical agents, the Westmont Country Club's manager, debt enforcer thugs, a cheated investor, heirs to mother's fortune, angry rivals—so many stakeholders around one spectacular murder that reveals a series of mysterious deaths.
Ultimately Robin agrees to defend someone for Chesterfield's impossible murder. Whoever owns this story, challenging it was, indeed! The tension winds in tight twists, abruptly changing direction at times, chock full of suspects and motives. Prose and writing style not remarkable, but certainly worth the brain workout.
Bits
▪ "I've had similar complaints about lewd language and unwanted sexual advances from the female staff and the wives of club members." (25)
▪ "I'm afraid I can't discuss Mrs. Randall's case, except to tell you that she was poisoned." (55)
▪ Ragland flashed Quinlan a patronizing smile. "Leave proving the case to me, Morris. I've got the law degree." (62)
▪ "I'm not surprised that someone tried to murder Moser. He is thoroughly unlikeable and he treated me with a total lack of respect." (66)
▪ Iris turned on her brother. "Grow some balls, Andrew. Lord Robert is a gold-digging leech, and I'm not going to let him get away with this." (98)
▪ "What I want is revenge. The old-fashioned, biblical eye for an eye. I want the world's greatest escape artist trying to escape from a prison cell." (156-7)
▪ "When I am locked in this coffin, my assistants will send this horde of death dealers down the chute and onto my body. According to the literature, I should be dead within minutes." (171)
▪ "Jeff," Robin asked, "did you send Regina and Stanley chocolates?" (227)
Ram Murali. Death in the Air. USA: HarperCollins, 2024.
A TPL arrival! We are going to a spa. Not just any old beauty hideaway, this is Samsara, an Ayurvedic health spa in India's Himalaya foothills. Coming from London, Rohan Krishna ("Ro") and his friend Joss decide to treat themselves to a luxe but disciplined atmosphere. Ro is recovering from a bad work experience with a manager who booted him from the European project he'd created; apparently a new friend Alex is arranging some sort of retribution. Chris Forrester is there at the spa with wife Catherine—he's a famous movie star collaborating on a film with Joss—among other acquaintances like wheel-chair-bound Amit and the alluring Amrita. All guests are part of a wealthy, international social circuit. While meeting staff members and guests, the sole sour note is Mitchell Charney, the Visible Light visiting lecturer (dubbed the Visible Blight or VB by our friends) who causes inexplicable chills in Ro. Before coming to Samsara, Ro had been given a spiritual reading that showed he would receive an unexpected mission.
Hotel owner, Mrs Banerjee, takes a liking to Ro and asks him, as a lawyer, to represent her interests in the police investigation of Amrita's sudden, violent death. The friend Ro had just met, Lala, discovered the body; Ro had already heard how unhappy Lala was with her politician husband Sanjay, pledging confidentiality. To that point, the narrative often seems a bit jerky, perhaps to reflect the flitting, brand-name lifestyle of the idle rich. Inspector Singh arrives, and interviewing the various witnesses becomes very compelling. Catherine involves herself with the questioning, but she has a different agenda. More bodies fall by the wayside. Hidden connections and blackmail among these people of breeding still doesn't solve the murderer puzzle.
Unlike many thrillers, this novel has no predictable format. In fact its characterization and style are unusual, the suspense is terrific, and the whole thing is a bracing intellectual stretch. It's tantalizing and it's fun. You will want to go back and read the first section again. Bonus—samples of the holistic environment, plus musings from a fresh perspective on money, racism, colonization, belonging, all with a touch of karma.
Ro
▪ "Turns out she was sabotaging me internally the whole time. Spreading all kinds of lies about me to her bosses." (12)
▪ "I think you're literally the weirdest person I've ever met." (37)
▪ "Mr Krishna, you are in grave need of rest. Particularly mental rest." (75)
▪ Catherine was right. This Charney person gave him the ick. (88)
▪ It was funny how similar everyone looked from behind in their identical kurta pajama, Ro mused, watching Lala walk away. How much easier it was to commit a crime in a place where most people looked like one another. (166)
▪ "Why on earth is this guy here? And I'm sorry, but why do you have a white person teaching Indian people how to meditate?" (171)
▪ Sanjay paused. "You're actually very strange, you know. It's not exactly a compliment." (210)
Bits
▪ "Because you have a history of digestive problems, such as heartburn, we must clean your digestive tract to remove any mucus or plaque." (90)
▪ "State asked Amrita if she could find proof of a certain party's involvement in the financing of international terrorism. And she did." (138)
▪ "There seems to be a global class of pretty dubious rich people who spend their lives going from spa to spa." (150)
▪ Mahesh smiled at him. "People are easily fooled. They believe what their eyes tell them and don't listen to their other senses." (228)
▪ "Amrita told me she stayed at the Taj sometimes. Just to show the terrorists they couldn't win." (274)
▪ Catherine really had put the B in subtle. (336)
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