Prime Witness [Hardcover]

Steve Martini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1994

In the space of five days the college town of Davenport is rocked by four brutal murders: two couples - students - their bodies found tied and staked out on the banks of Putah Creek. Then two more bodies are discovered. This time the victims are Abbott Scofield, a distinguished member of the university faculty, and his former wife Karen. The police suspect Andre Iganovich, a Russian immigrant, but Paul Madriani thinks there is more to the case than meets the eye. Forensic reports on the physical evidence suggest lingering questions about the Russian's involvement in the Scofield killings, and Paul becomes increasingly convinced that the second murders are the product of a copy-cat killer - a cold and calculating murderer who has taken the lives of the Scofields for reasons that Paul is determined to uncover...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The ugly marketplace of justice"--as one character terms the judicial process--is scrutinized with a riveting, you-are-there immediacy in the new legal procedural by the author of Compelling Evidence. When attorney Paul Madriani offers to assist a friend--the county's ailing district attorney, who subsequently dies--in investigating six brutal killings, he becomes entangled in a series of machinations that threaten his career and even his private life. Though Martini's plotting proves ingenious (the story is capped off by a nail-biting encounter in a darkened courtroom), the legal maneuvers themselves take center stage here. From the crime scene--the banks of California's Putah Creek--to a deceptively simple arrest to fascinating pre-trial scheming, Martini packs his novel with the quotidian details of the wheels of justice--and the numerous cogs therein. Madriani's first-person, present-tense narration invigorates the often intricate proceedings with first-rate wisecracks and one-liners. His character descriptions are by turns pithy and funny (frequently both): the prosecuting attorney "looks like nothing so much as Robert Duvall's incarnation of the Great Santini"; the county's female victim-witness coordinator is "the crime victim's answer to Don Corleone in drag . . . known as 'Attila the Hen.' " Prime is indeed the word for this involving read.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-When Paul Madriani agrees to fill in temporarily as Special County Prosecutor, he has no idea that he will become involved in a serial murder case. The search for the "Putah Creek Killer" leads to the arrest of a college security guard, Andre Iganovich. Adrian Chambers, the defense counsel, has a shady professional past and a deep-seated dislike for Madriani, who was instrumental in the attorney's previous suspension from the bar association. As the evidence unfolds, discrepancies between the first two double murders and the third one become apparent, leading the prosecution to believe that a copy-cat murderer is on the loose. Threats against Madriani's family, legal posturing, the identification of a witness to the third set of murders, and a killer's desperation combine to produce a thrilling story.
Grace Baun, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: San Val (February 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417802766
• ISBN-13: 978-1417802760
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,157,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steve Martini was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. An honors graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, he holds a law degree from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.

Martini's first career was in journalism. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles and as a correspondent at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, specializing in legal issues. In 1974 he entered private law practice in California, where he appeared in both state and federal courts. During his legal career, he worked as a legislative representative for the State Bar of California, served as special counsel to the California Victims of Violent Crimes Program, and was an administrative law judge and supervising hearing officer.

In 1984 Martini turned his talents to fiction, quickly earning positions on bestseller lists. All but his first book spent time on the New York Times Bestsellers list. To date, he has authored twelve novels, including eight featuring his popular lawyer alter ego, Paul Madriani.
In 1996 Undue Influence aired as a four-hour miniseries on CBS, followed by The Judge on NBC in 2001.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prime Witness is Prime Entertainment, October 12, 2000

By 

Jeff Edwards "RadioJeff" (Twin Falls, Idaho) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Prime Witness (A Paul Madriani Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a bit puzzled at the negative reviews of this book. This is the one that started me on the path to becoming a Steve Martini fan. Granted this isn't his best courtroom thriller, but it is STILL above just about anything written by the incredibly over-rated John Grisham. But let's not judge this book based on other authors. The storyline is well-plotted, and very engrossing. The forensics used to trace the evidence to the so-called perp's is not only interesting, but very entertaining and informative as well. It has been many years since I picked up this novel, and I STILL have very fond memories of how much I enjoyed it. I think one of the best things about this book is how it kept you in the dark as to whether or not the 3rd murder was a copycat or not. Give it a shot, it's not literature, but it IS a fun read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much information, April 28, 2006

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prime Witness (A Paul Madriani Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Reading this book is like being stuck at a table with a number of lawyers at a social event...they're alright on their own but, get them in a group, talking shop, and they're the most boring people possible to anyone outside that legal circle. A serial killer is loose in a university town, killing couples in a vile, ritualistic fashion, when the bodies of yet another couple are found, supposedly killed in the same way. Paul Madriani is working as the town's temporary Chief Prosecutor when Andre Iganovich, a Russian immigrant, working as a security guard at the University, is arrested and charged with the murders. The details of the investigation and eventual solving of the crime is, no doubt, absolutely right, but to anyone who doesn't work in criminal law, the legal minutiae is not only beyond the comprehension of the untrained mind, but is deadly dull into the bargain.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great book up until the end, August 21, 2001

By 

Robert Von Gerds "robgerds" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prime Witness (A Paul Madriani Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Prime Witness kept me glued to my seat for several evenings. For about 380 of the 400 pages, it is a real page turner. In the second book in the Paul Madriani series, our hero ends up being the District Attorney of Davenport county, a small rural county in which several serial murders have been committed. When the killer is caught, Madriani feels there is another murderer, probably a copycat at work. From there the book keeps a steady pace and the pages begin to turn themselves until about page 380. Then, all of a sudden Steve Martini must have either run out of steam, or maybe he just wanted to get the book over with. The end seems unbelievable and just comes too quickly. Still worth reading though.