Mistress of Justice [Hardcover]

Jeffery Deaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1992

When Mitchell Reece asks her to help him locate a missing bond that could cost him a multimillion-dollar case, Wall Street paralegal secretary Taylor Lockwood jumps at the chance of working side by side with the handsome, young attorney.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A plethora of generally interesting asides make this lethargically paced mystery an easy, yet ultimately a somewhat frustrating read. As we follow the paralegal days and jazz-piano-playing nights of Ms. Taylor Lockwood, we glimpse the truth behind the dark-wood panels of the venerable law firm Hubbard, White & Willis. Taylor's initial assignment is to retrieve a stolen document that could cost the firm a case and an attractive young litigator his job. The theft proves to be merely a subtext as one ferocious partner pushes for a merger, two older partners firmly oppose it and the rest of the principal players scramble for position while sides are drawn up. Taylor finds coked-up associates with grievances, partners with financial problems, and granddaughters to raise, not to mention call girls. Offices (including her own lowly hole in the wall) are soon bugged, and after an interminable wait, murder makes its entrance. Edgar-nominated Deaver ( Manhattan Is My Beat ) whips up enough atmosphere for a whole series here: late-night music, copious jazz lore, performance-art interludes, man troubles aplenty--the plucky Taylor partakes of them all. She's a likely guide to both the legal and the late-night, but this expansive mystery doesn't have enough narrative gears to shift through. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

When a promissory note for $25 million due to a client bank is stolen from hotshot lawyer Mitchell Reece's office in Hubbard, White & Willis, he turns to an unlikely source for detective help--aspiring jazz pianist/paralegal Taylor Lockwood. Taylor is supposed to recover the note in time to prevent the debtor firm from wriggling out of the debt by declaring bankruptcy--and that client bank from pulling its business from the firm. As Taylor gets down to her investigation-- which consists mainly of fighting off the partners' propositions by day and pawing through their offices by night--upstart partner Wendall Clayton plots a merger of Hubbard, White & Willis with a new-money firm--a merger that will throw patrician senior partner Donald Burdick and his supporters to the wolves. The detective plot (torpid theft and, eventually, homicide) and the (far more engrossing) merger plot finally do come together, though not in time for Deaver (Hard News, etc.) to do either one justice. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (August 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385423772
• ISBN-13: 978-0385423779
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffery Deaver was born outside of Chicago in 1950. His father was an advertising copywriter and his mother was a homemaker. He has one younger sister who writes novels for teenagers ' Julie Reece Deaver.

Deaver wrote his first book ' which consisted of two entire chapters ' when he was eleven, and he's been writing ever since. An award-winning poet and journalist, he has also written and performed his own songs around the country. After receiving a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri, Deaver worked as a magazine writer, then, to gain the background needed to become a legal correspondent for The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, he enrolled at Fordham Law School. After graduation he decided to practice law for a time and worked for several years as an attorney for a large Wall Street firm. It was during his long commute to and from the office that he began writing the type of fiction he enjoyed reading: suspense novels. In 1990 he started to write full time.

The author of twenty-two novels, Deaver has been nominated for six Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, an Anthony award, a Gumshoe Award, and is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year. In 2001, he won the W.H. Smith Thumping Good Read Award for his Lincoln Rhyme novel The Empty Chair. In 2004, he was awarded the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Garden Of Beasts and the Short Story Dagger for "The Weekender." Translated into 35 languages, his novels have appeared on a number of bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the London Times and the Los Angeles Times. The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme. A Maiden's Grave was made into an HBO film retitled Dead Silence, starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin.

Jeff has also released two collections of his short stories, called Twisted and More Twisted.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising, July 28, 2000

By 

Lara Kramer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mistress of Justice (Hardcover)

I started out with Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series and have gone back to read his earlier books. Not all of his early books are as enjoyable as his recent offerings. But I was surprised with this one. It sat on my shelf for awhile before I finally got around to reading it. I shouldn't have waited so long. Taylor Lockwood has to find a stolen $25 million promisssary note of Mitchell Reece loses his case and is out of a job. She is a great strong female character, whose amateurish sleuthing is amusing. Finally, just when you think you've figured out who stole the note, you're in for one surprise and then another. This book hints at the great things to come from Jeff Deaver.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mistress of Justice - an earlier effort, January 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mistress of Justice (Mass Market Paperback)

This book seems to have been written by Jeffrey Deaver just prior to his full acquisition of the unique style, creativity, pace and humor that marked his later works. The Lincoln Rhyme novels, for example. All of them employ Jeffrey's formidable writing skills, and are tremendously entertaining on many levels. Mistress of Justice falls short of these expectations, however. I got only halfway through it, skimmed the rest, then went right to the ending - which was predictable. Never thought I'd do that with one of Jeffrey's books, and I have read nearly all of them. The problems with this book are many. The pace is very slow. The plot - not very strong. Too many characters are introduced, too quickly. Too much writing space devoted to non-essential details. But there also seems to be a snooty, snobbish tone to the entire book - almost as if Jeffrey had written it to impress his cronies in the lawyering arena of NYC. While I was reading - I failed to find anyone in the story to admire, to cheer for, and more importantly, to identify with. Although some may be fascinated by that particular class-based New York / New England culture of old money, politics and snobbishness, I am not. Yet Jeffrey revelled in laying this all out in a manner that suggested the reader should love and embrace this culture. Fortunately, Jeffrey moved away from this style in his later novels - all of which are marked by rich characters, from life's many diverse walkways. Mistress of Justice reinforced my belief that you cannot hit a home run every time up - and that's fine. And, I am grateful that the mistakes made in this novel are not found in any of Jeffrey's later works. If you are as big a Jeffrey Deaver fan as I am - and you have not yet read Mistress of Justice - steel yourself for possible disappointment.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a real treat, September 26, 2002

By 

RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mistress of Justice (Mass Market Paperback)

these early Deaver re-issues are turning out as real gems among his back-catalogue. I can say with complete confidence that Jeffery Deaver has not once written a bad, unenjoyable book.

Deaver's writing style is concise and addictive. It's clever, quirky and enjoyable. His plots are well devised and well structured. They run smoothly and without a hitch.

This is a very good, very hig-class legal thriller, better than almost anything by John Grisham. the plot is complex and intriguing, and the lead character is very human and very likeable, with some very distinctive quirks which make her a pleasure to read about.

The book moves at great pace, and is a true page-turner. There are a couple of nice twists along the way, and, as is usual with Deaver, one final wallop right at the end.

Another very good book from Deaver...not quite his best, but i still reccomend that you read it. As i do with all his books.