Interest of Justice [Paperback]

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1994

The author of Mitigating Circumstances--a huge national bestseller--provides another bestselling and authentic story of sizzling suspense. A woman judge becomes the target of a murderoussued by--the killer who murdered her sister and brother-in-law. HC: Dutton.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sleeping with a cop would seem like the last thing a judge under investigation for dating a defense attorney should do, but Lara Sanderstone is such an intelligent, finely detailed character that even the unlikeliest plot twists work in this absorbing legal thriller by the author of Mitigating Circumstances. When her sister and brother-in-law are brutally slain, Lara's orderly life begins to fall apart. She inherits responsibility for their troubled teenage son Josh, who may have been involved in the murder; she is accused of judicial impropriety (for protecting her brother-in-law as well as for succumbing to the charms of a self-centered lawyer); and after fellow judge Leo Evergreen convinces her to release a defendant in one of her cases, the man's fingerprints are found in her ransacked house by Sgt. Ted Rickerson. Lara's budding romance with Ted, her attempts to win over her sullen nephew and crisp courtroom scenes combine to create an exciting narrative, related in propulsive yet unobtrusive prose. The ending is something of a letdown, but the novel is so generally entertaining that this seems only a minor flaw. Literary Guild main selection; film rights to Citadel/HBO; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

If you like thrillers and murder mysteries, this is the audiobook for you. Judge Lara Sanderstone, ensconced in court trials, learns that her sister and brother-in-law have been violently murdered. This gives rise to her taking custody of her sister's son and inadvertently becoming the killer's next target. Along with Detective Rickerson and a number of friends, Lara pieces together the unusual facts that lead to a terrifying chase. Lindsay Crouse's narrating style is interesting, as she punctuates all the conversations and reads the rest of the text in a monotone. Recommended for adult collections.
- Miriam Kahn, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Signet; 1 edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451180216
• ISBN-13: 978-0451180216
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,815,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg is an American writer. She attended school at Gulf Park College in Gulf Port, Mississippi. She has three children, three step children, one adopted child,and currently resides in Dallas, Texas.

Rosenberg's first novel, MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES, was published in 1993, and the film rights were obtained by Academy Award winning director, Jonathan Demme. Rosenberg novels have been translated into almost every language. The majority of her novels have been New York Times bestsellers. MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES has been described as a contemporary CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

Rosenberg is also known for her philanthropic efforts. She received national acclaim for her writing program for inner city youth,"Voice of Tomorrow". The Board of Supervisors of Orange County voted her "A Woman of Excellence, Learning for Life" in 1994. She was featured on Prime Time Live and in People Magazine for her adoption of a child with a rare, frequently terminal illness, Methylmalonic Acidemia, or MMA. A physician in France who saw the Prime Time Live episode claimed he was curing MMA patients by means of a liver transplant. At the time, the child Rosenberg adopted, Janelle Garcia, was the oldest living survivor with MMA. No one had previously lived past the age of eighteen. Janelle received both a kidney and liver transplant and is now in her early thirties, giving hope to future generations of children suffering from MMA.

Rosenberg's family and friends have nicknamed her "Lucy" as she is known for doing unusual and sometimes hilarious things. She says she never knows what to expect when she opens her refrigerator. She once found flea solution for a fifty pound dog in her freezer. She does have dogs but none of them weigh over fourteen pounds. On one occasion her husband asked her a question while she was writing and she told him she would answer him in when she finished her sentence. When she finally answered him, he told her an entire day had passed sine he had asked her the question.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Protagonist needs "VICTIM" stamped on forehead., May 28, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Interest of Justice (Paperback)

If this book succeeds (and, judging by its sales, I guess itdoes), it can only be as "women's fiction." Though toutedas the only best-selling woman author of legal thrillers, Ms. Rosenberg has no feel for courtrooms or for legal issues. As this book opens, the she-ro, a judge, is lamenting having to throw out some evidence in a murder trial on a technicality. The evidence? A confession, the only link between the accused and the crime. The technicality? The police obtained their confession by torturing the accused -- beating him and breaking his arm. Thus, the author, and her judge protagonist, completely miss the point about co-erced confessions. Not only is it inhumane to beat confessions out of people, but there can be no confidence in the validity of any confession so obtained. This misunderstanding of legal issues causes the novel to fail as a legal thriller. For me, it fails as a woman-in-jeopardy novel as well. The judge allows herself to be victimized by almost everybody she comes into contact with, which makes it difficult to sympathize with her. When tradegy strikes, she drives very fast and hyperventilates. I don't read women's fiction. I understand that many of the bodice-ripper romance novels (at least at one time) followed a fairly predictable formula: A woman is raped at the beginning in the story and pursues her rapist through the rest of the book -- not for revenge, but because she has fallen in love with him. The bodice-rippers seem to have a huge following -- and I guess can see this book succeeding with the same audience, though surely with no other.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Abominable book, June 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Interest of Justice (Paperback)

This is the worst book I have read in years. The heroine is completely unsympathetic, the plot is ludicrous, the dialogue is laughable. As other reviewers have noted, the author plays fast and loose with complicated legal and ethical issues. Even the most uninformed mystery/thriller reader can see that the relationships between the judge, the DA, and the police department are totally implausible. Beyond being a bad book, it is also the worst edited book I can remember reading. Non sequiturs abound, completely contradictory sentences follow within a paragraph of each other, and the plot lurches awkwardly from scene to scene with no transitions. The Dutton editor responsible for this garbage should be fired.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Judges' don't get charges dismissed., April 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Interest of Justice (Audio Cassette)

As a judge for nineteen years, I was particularly upset by thecasual manner in which the author treats the judge's ethics.Apparently the heroine gets her relatives out of trouble by using her "clout" and thinks nothing of it. In reality she could be disbarred for her actions. The author exhibits little knowledge of a judges' position in the legal system, and her treatment of a judges' role is an embarassment.