No Defense

A Barbara Holloway Novel

By: Kate Wilhelm

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Barbara Holloway is a trial lawyer who tends to take on difficult cases. One involved a woman accused of killing her own child, another involved a mentally disabled man, and her last one found her entangled in such a mess that it's a wonder she lived through it at all. But in every previous case she has had some fragment with which she could build an argument. This time out, it seems there's no defense at all.

Lara and Vinny Jessup had a lovely May-December marriage. It renewed his lease on life after a battle with cancer, and it rescued her from a bad first marriage.

Initially, the sheriff out in Loomis County thinks that Vinny died when his car rolled over on a bad curve on Lookout Mountain. Then he finds the gunshot wound. Was it suicide or was it murder? With a large insurance policy as her motive, Lara could have staged the death - or so it appears to the sheriff.

Barbara Holloway finds herself drawn to the Oregon desert to take on this case, accompanied by her associates: her colleague Shelley with her Barbie-doll looks, the inimitable detective Bailey Novell, and her father Frank (who's soon to be a published writer).

But the case itself is as dead as the desert. Is there any defense at all?

It's legal: download more of Barbara Holloway's cases.

©2000 Kate Wilhelm (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Best for its regional details, fast-paced dialogue, and solid character delineation." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Those who prefer both style and substance in their courtroom dramas will find this a satisfying read." (Publishers Weekly)

Enjoyable & entertaining

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I too am from the area known as the Pacific Northwest, albeit the Canadian side of the border, and I agreed with the ready from Idaho - these editors need to get their pronounciations right - so that place names are pronounced correctly.

In spite of that, I found the locale and general georgraphy a refreshing change from most American courtroom dramas.

It was interesting and entertaining reading and I, for one, enjoyed the dimension added by this narrator - I thought she did a terrific job. In sum, I would recommend this book to friends.

Good story, Bad narrator

It shouldn't be that hard to get the correct pronunciation of place names. Spokane is SPO CAN. Willamette is Will am it.
It's disconcerting for the narrator to re-read passages randomly.

great story

I always enjoy this author's writing and her characters. only problem...the production crew dropped the ball in this audio book. Maybe narration was paid by the spoken word because there were more than six occurances of repeated paragraphs. Disturbing and distracting.

love this series of books, great find and free

so many books for free, love them all so far. looking forward to the rest

Storyline

I really like this series about a father/daughter lawyers . Each case has been so interesting and unique.

Finally worth it

I had a hard time getting into this at first (like the others, I found the narrator's voice annoying: so self-consciously breathy, amateurish character accents), but once I got hooked on the story, I looked forward to finding out what would happen. I like the characters of Barbara and Frank and will listen to another book by this author, with these characters.

Good story

Story was well written, the reader did a nice job but needs to learn how to pronounce local places.

Good mystery!

This is the first Kate Wilhelm novel I've "read" (listened to) and I really enjoyed it. I thought the mystery was a good one right up to the end. I liked the relationship aspect between Barbara and her father and the fact that they are both lawyers. Makes it a fun read. Plus the characters in the book were really good. I listen in my car to and from work and I too wanted to keep driving around to listen more. I was guilty of lingering in my car for a bit when I got home... I've already added another one of her books to my cart.

Very Good Series

I've enjoyed all the books in the series so far. The story, the characters... new & old, are all interesting & the narrator, Marguerite Gavin, did a really good job. Again, the only issue I had is several times throughout this book as well as the first four books, there are several places that repeat. You might want to have someone check the story.

Glitches in recording and production

Excellent story, plot, great as always! But the audio production was poorly done with many errors in editing. You’ll often hear the same 3 sentences repeated throughout the story. Not terrible but annoying because it happens repeatedly throughout. Not my favorite narrator of her books either.