Death on a High Floor

Robert Tarza, Book 1

By: Charles Rosenberg

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

On the 85th floor of a glittering high-rise in Los Angeles, Robert Tarza steps into the lobby of the Marbury Marfan law firm to discover his partner Simon Rafer lying in a pool of blood - an ornate dagger plunged into his back. Robert had worked with Simon for decades, and their relationship was fraught with conflict. But he never imagined he would wind up as the prime suspect for his colleague’s murder. As the evidence stacks up against him with frightening speed, he quickly falls from his respected position to that of a criminal dragged through the tabloids. With a growing suspicion that he’s being expertly framed, Robert digs into the evidence to clear his name. In the process, however, he uncovers a web of fraud among his closest associates. As time runs out, Robert must uncover the real killer or be prepared to go to prison for murder.

©2013 Charles Rosenberg (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Fun characters and interesting mystery

Although it wasn't too hard to figure out who did it (the author didn't give us a lot of choices), I still enjoyed this book. The three main characters were all well written and different from the ordinary . The narrator had a great command of different accents to lend separation and personality to the characters. The main character "Robert " was dry and snobbish but funny at the same time. The court scenes were a bit different from the norm since all the court drama takes place during a preliminary hearing.

Engrossing with fantastic narration

I rarely give five star ratings, and I think others who liked this as much as I did would do so. At some level, this is something of a beach read or beach listen, and for that lightness I could not go five stars.

What starts out as something of an obviously contrived framing of a high level lawyer for the murder of a managing partner becomes a deeply absorbing and enjoyable story. The two person team defending the protagonist is narrated perfectly and with nuance, and the wry voice of the protagonist is similarly first rate, so the performance is definitely five stars. The story is clever, complex and interconnected. And there is a lot of fun in the book.

A worthy credit!

An interesting twist on a murder mystery.

this was an interesting Twist on your typical murder mystery. Character introduction was a little slow at first as was the plot but bear with it it is worth listening to.

Engaging, well written for 90% of the book

Overall, very good legal drama, glad I gave it a chance. I like the play between the smart lawyer with no criminal experience and the veteran criminal attorney (who is also very nicely narrated). The conclusion is certainly not something you see coming.

However, I didn't care for the ending. Way too much of a Perry Mason cliche type ending with a very not-believable reason for the reveal. It's like the author ran out of paper and realized he only had 15 pages left to finish the book.

I'm still giving it a good review, because I was thoroughly entertained for 15 hours.

Titillating

From the narrator to the story line I was intrigued and entertained in the most criminal way. The details surrounding the proceedings of each process within the story was such a great touch and proof of envious knowledge. Definitely looking into this author and narrator further.

Decent story, predictable twist

Not as big of a "surprise ending" as some other reviewers noted, but good overall story. At times the narrator seemed confused which character he was supposed to be in which stood out to me on multiple occasions. I often asked myself "isn't thst character X's voice not character Z's?"

It started out well

I enjoyed the performance of the book very much. The main characters are relatable, however the plot was not consistently strong.
How could lawyer A. from a law firm defend fellow lawyer B. Friend and colleague, in murder case of third lawyer C. from SAME firm? Oh, and lawyer A. was having an affair with the dead guy, lawyer C. Come on!
The conclusion of the Who-Done-It was uninspiring. Several characters were presented in the book but were never developed at all, so they did not contribute a thing. Sorry, not a challenging murder story.

Thoroughly fun

I really enjoyed the story and the narration. It wasn't the most complex plot but it was sufficiently puzzling to hold my attention and there were some absolutely hilarious zingers and characters along the way. Given that Rosenberg had a hand in Denny Crane you can imagine some of the color in this story.

If you like "who dunnits

. . . . then in all likelihood you will enjoy this novel from cover to cover. Any book that hooks me within the first few pages, usually is a winner. Both the storyline and narrator were great and made it tough to " turn off."

absolutely mediocre

Would you try another book from Charles Rosenberg and/or Christopher Lane?

I have rated the narrator as "excellent", so there is no question of trying his performance again. Very well indeed. As for the story, it is very mediocre, without any "gem". Not in my line.

Do you think Death on a High Floor needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. It is too long as it is.