The Legacy [Hardcover]

D. W. Buffa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

A young black student is on trial for the murder of a hot-shot California senator. The student claims he is innocent, but all the evidence indicates otherwise. Joseph Antonelli leaves his Oregon law practice to put up a case for the defence. He soon discovers a world of deceit, betrayal and naked ambition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Whoever shot and killed U.S. Senator Jeremy Fullerton may have wanted more than his wallet--the ambitious politician had as many enemies as supporters. Portland criminal lawyer Joseph Antonelli is hired to defend the young black Berkeley student who was caught fleeing the crime scene, since no local lawyer wants to risk his reputation on a case that might uncover secrets some very powerful members of the San Francisco establishment would prefer to keep buried. Joe doesn't believe Fullerton died in what the bench, bar, and press have characterized as a "random act of violence"--furthermore, he's convinced that his client, Jamal Washington, is innocent. But in order to prove it, he must uncover those same secrets others have killed to protect, and if he's not careful, he may end up as their next victim. The key to Washington's defense is a Manchurian Candidate-like conspiracy set in motion long ago, one that ultimately unfolds in an Italian village in a surprising denouement only the most discerning reader will have guessed at. D.W. Buffa excels at describing the courtroom tactics of his smart, thoughtful protagonist--he's more of a pro than most other writers of legal thrillers--and he's a deft hand with pacing, too. Fans of Grisham and Turow who haven't yet made Buffa's acquaintance are in for a very satisfying read. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

Like Buffa's other legal thrillers starring Portland, Ore., attorney Joseph Antonelli (The Judgment, etc.), this one has a first-class premise: a U.S. senator has been shot and killed in his car in San Francisco, and a young black man, wounded by the police while apparently trying to escape the scene, is accused. Enter Antonelli, brought in by an elderly San Francisco lawyer who wants to help the boy for his own mysterious reasons. It soon becomes clear that because of the political implications the senator was a likely presidential candidate and the victim's local network of powerful friends and rivals, no one wants anything to do with the case. When a new acquaintance of Antonelli's, a former KGB man who says he has dynamite information on the senator's past, is blown up in his office, the stakes are dramatically raised. Taut, well-paced scenes of Antonelli in court and investigating the senator's death alternate with long, meandering passages describing outings with his brother, Bobby and a new woman in his life, the glamorous and enigmatic Marissa. In the end, the trial reaches an improbable conclusion, Antonelli reacts out of character, and the book's resolution comes out of nowhere in a plot twist that's more sleight of hand than organic to the tale. It's a disappointing windup to a book that offers some strong scenes and characterizations.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1ST edition (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446527386
• ISBN-13: 978-0446527385
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.5 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #558,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DW Buffa was born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area. After graduation from Michigan State University, he studied under Leo Strauss, Joseph Cropsey and Hans J. Morgenthau at the University of Chicago where he earned both an M.A. and a Ph. D. in political science. He received his J.D. degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Buffa was a criminal defense attorney for 10 years and his seven Joseph Antonelli novels strive to reflect, from his own experience, what a courtroom lawyer does, the way he (or she) thinks, and the way he feels about what he does.

Buffa had been writing for pleasure for many years when Henry Holt and Co. decided to publish his first novel, The Defense, in 1997. The week it was published, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, the literary critic of the New York Times, called The Defense 'an accomplished first novel' which 'leaves you wanting to go back to the beginning and read it over again.'

The Defense was followed by The Prosecution and then The Judgment, which was one of the five books nominated in 2002 for the Edgar Award as best novel of the year. While the first three novels are set in Portland, the author's fourth novel, The Legacy, takes place in San Francisco and is as much a political as it is legal thriller. Star Witness tells the story of Stanley Roth, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, who is charged with murder of his famous movie star wife.

Breach of Trust, published in 2004, was considered by one critic as "one of the few books that fifty years from now will really matter." It offers readers a scintillating look at Washington politics. Buffa's seventh Joseph Antonelli novel, Trial by Fire, was released in 2005; in this new book, the focus is on the media and the role that television "Talking heads" increasingly play in very high profile criminal cases. Publishers Weekly says of Trial by Fire, "In this intelligent, gripping legal thriller...fast moving dialogue and fine sense of characterization keep the reader hanging on for the ride."

D.W. Buffa lives in Northern California. You can visit his Official Website at dwbuffa.net if you'd like to correspond with him through email.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bland story about the murder of a prominent politician., January 5, 2003

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Legacy (Hardcover)

Joseph Antonelli, criminal defense attorney extraordinaire, is back in D. W. Buffa's fourth legal thriller, "The Legacy." Unlike Buffa's previous efforts, this novel never comes to life. It is a slow-moving and cliche-ridden look at the corrupt practices of wealthy and amoral wheeler-dealers and politicians.

In this novel, Antonelli leaves Portland, Oregon, and travels to San Francisco to defend Jamaal Washington. Washington is a young black man accused of gunning down United States Senator Jeremy Fullerton during a robbery. Fullerton was a ruthless and ambitious politician who had many enemies. Antonelli is certain that Fullerton's death was no robbery; he is convinced that a political enemy assassinated the Senator. Antonelli is determined to free the likeable Jamaal, a soft-spoken pre-med student who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Buffa writes this book as if he were doing a painting-by-numbers. He uses plot devices that we have seen too many times before. Many authors have written more compellingly about political charlatans who pretend to be altruistic, but who are really self-serving and corrupt.

Antonelli's character is strangely lifeless, as is his love interest, Marissa. Neither the courtroom scenes nor the twist at the end can save "The Legacy" from being a run-of-the-mill legal thriller that is not up to Buffa's usually high standards.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars where oh where is the Buffa of Old, July 27, 2002

By 

J. Janko (nj, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Legacy (Hardcover)

This is the weakest of all Buffa's books so far. I got my hands on Buffa's first book Defense when it was still in its advance reading-stage and I have since loaned it out to everyone I know as an intelligent, thoughtful and intensive legal-thriller. I have read all the other three Buffa's books now and must say that Buffa's creativity is unfortunately deteriorating here, as he is stretching his material to publish books of marketable length. It seems to me that since his last book, Buffa has either become pressured by his editors to write standard-size 400+ pages books, or he gets paid by the word.

The Legacy follows yet again farther "adventures" of Joseph Antonelli. Buffa's writing here is again pensive, reflective and attempts to be thorough when it comes to the development of his characters. But unlike in his first two books, all that seems to come at a price here. Buffa looses sight of his goal - the reader is swallowed in completely irrelevant details as the writer hopelessly tries to fill the page. Buffa becomes so lost in this book in his attempt to write an abbreviated behind the scene history of San Francisco and introduce us to the corrupt world of politicians and the rich that he forgets that he is writing a legal thriller. The book consists effectively of two parts: the first 300 pages which set up the trial and stretch a very thin story and the last 120 pages during which the trial takes place. Unfortunately, only the last 120 are worth reading and allow the book to fit the legal thriller category. In the first 300, each piece of information is repeated at least three times. This background is neither very interesting nor ultimately relevant. All I could ask myself was, what was it that interested Buffa about the rich and famous and why does he make me read it?

None of the rich and politicians are interesting characters. He even decries their corruption and their shallow intelligence - perhaps that is his purpose in this book (something the Bogdonovitch character debates in the end) - but at the same time, we are forced to read the life story of at least 3 politicians and 3 rich people. But the biggest problem for me was how Buffa portrayed the accused. I might be wrong, but I remember only about 3 instances in which Buffa even talks about him. We never get a sense of Jamaal's frustrations, inner struggles, or attempts to deal with the possibility of being convicted - even in the end! He is the least developed character in the whole book! Normally, character-development would be the last thing one would expect from legal-thrillers, but that has always been Buffa's strengths (considering the court-room action takes second stage).

Verdict: If you are looking for a smart legal-thriller with philosophical musings, with imaginative plot-twists and characters who attempt to reconcile themselves with life and everything (yes, Buffa can do all that) and offer interesting bits of wisdoms while they entertain you, I recommend the Defense and the Prosecution. The Legacy and his third novel Judgment are only for die-hart Buffa fans.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pales in comparison to the other Antonelli books, April 22, 2003

By 

LB (Manchester, MO USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Legacy (Hardcover)

This 4th book in the Antonelli series was quite a disappointment. The first 3 books were well written with tight, interesting plots and subplots. Half way through this one, I had to force myself to continue. The characters were not well fleshed out, one of the "twists" in the story was very obvious from the beginning and overall it was a confusing and muddled tale. Near the end of the book, I found myself looking longingly at the stack of other books that I have available to read and I wound up scanning the last third of The Legacy just to finish it off. I guess all authors have a clunker now and then. I hope this was Mr. Buffa's misfire and that future books in this series will be as entertaining as the first 3 were.