Robak in Black: A Don Robak Mystery [Hardcover]

Joe L. Hensley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2001

Five years ago, Don Robak set aside his practice as an attorney to take up a new one - that of judge. But his wife Jo is suddenly stricken with a strange illness that leaves her robbed of much of her memory, strength, and in need of professional care and leaves Don alone, bereft, and convinced that Jo's illness was a planned attack and not an accident of fate. Though he lacks evidence, Robak has plenty of suspects of whom the major ones include the Wolfers, a local clan of tax rebels whose patriarch Damion Darius Wolf is out for revenge after Judge Robak sentenced his son to death. The other is Libby Macing, the daughter and principle of local powerhouse Macing Drugs, with whom Robak was once involved and now is part of a lawsuit against Macing Drugs that is being tried in Robak's court.

It soon becomes clear that something nefarious is going on, that some tie exists between the much feared Wolfers and their opposite on the social scale, the Macing clan. As threats against Robak and his sick wife persist and intensify, Robak finds his old instincts beginning to kick in. Determined to remain impartial during the trial being heard before him, he is equally determined to find out the truth of the situation before he and his loved ones fall victim to whomever is pulling the strings behind the scene.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran Hensley's latest Don Robak mystery displays the careful writing, thoughtful tone and absolutely nailed characters familiar from past installments in the series. Since his last appearance (Robak's Witch, 1997), Robak has been promoted from defense attorney to circuit judge in the small town of Bington, Ind., but as a judge he's made some unpopular decisions. When his beloved wife, Jo, falls suddenly and deathly ill, Robak feels sure that she was poisoned. Though Jo survives, she is utterly incapacitated and disoriented. Among those who might have it in for Robak and therefore Jo is the family of Sweetboy Wolfer, a particularly nasty piece of work who raped and killed two little girls and is now sitting on death row, thanks to Judge Robak. Another possible deadly foe is the Macing Drug Company, the biggest business in town. Robak and Libbie Macing, one of the company's co-owners, were an item 20 years before, and there are moments when Libbie doesn't seem to get that it's over. Robak is trying a case involving the Macings, and it's unlikely the outcome will please the powerful family. Robak is unusual among fictional crime-solvers. No hot-headed hero, he considers everything and often opts for the safer path. The measured manner of the good judge occasionally manifests itself as stilted prose or a bit too much exposition, but usually it works well. Robak is surrounded by a delightful array of cronies who live up to their quirky names: Preacher Smyth, Sheriff Jumper Jimp and the Reverend Mo Mellish. Robak finds them good company, and chances are the reader will, too.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (December 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312241097
• ISBN-13: 978-0312241094
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,801,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars welcome back, March 12, 2002

By 

bill runyon (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Robak in Black: A Don Robak Mystery (Hardcover)

When I first saw the new Robak book by Joe Hensley, in my haste,
I thought the title was going to be, "Robak is Back," and I
was certainly happy to see it, and I thought that title would
be most appropriate.

No one can better describe small-town politics, or the atmosphere
around a county-seat courthouse than Hensley. He has lived and
worked that life himself, and he has a rare gift for conveying
all the feelings and emotions of one immersed in that particular
venue. In his earlier works, which every mystery reader should
read, he displays his knowledge more fully, and he develops
the background in greater detail, than in this latest Robak
adventure.

But, "Robak is Back," in this new mystery, and it is a pleasure
to read of his latest "case," though he now sits on the Circuit
Court bench and shouldn't be doing much investigating. But he
has to be forgiven because he is investigating his own wife's
sudden and near-fatal illness, and he is determined to do all
possible to cure her and restore her health, and that determination requires solving the mystery. Along the way, he
manages to disturb several characters, who show too much hatred
toward Robak to be normal, and he thus has to look into their
interests as well. Despite his official position, he is able to
press his investigations, and with the help of some good friends,
he solves several mysteries while pursuing his wife's enemy.

Hensley's writing is comfortable and entertaining, and his creation of atmosphere is first-class.

I hope Robak keeps coming back.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating suspense, November 20, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Robak in Black: A Don Robak Mystery (Hardcover)

After years serving as a defense attorney, fifty something Don Robak becomes a circuit judge in a Southern Indiana's County. Don, his wife Jo, and their son are a happy family when their joy is shattered. Jo becomes ill with a dangerous fever that the doctors have no idea what is causing it.

When the fever finally breaks, Jo is left with brain damage that requires round the clock care taking. He brings Jo back home, but soon places her in a nursing home when someone fires a shot into his house. He sends his son off to live with a friend in another state while Don begins to track down the individual wanting either he or his wife dead, knowing that he has made a wealth of enemies over the years.

Readers feel the love the judge feels for his spouse as this first person narrative turns him into a sympathetic hero though his control rivals that of Job. Between a flaky militia, a local cult, and a powerful family, the investigation leads he investigators down a Byzantine path. ROBAK IN BLACK is a first class amateur sleuth tale because of the Robak relationship before, during, and after the illness.

harriet Klausner

4.0 out of 5 stars NO LONGER ROBAK'S SLEEPY RIVERTOWN ?, May 20, 2002

By 

mcHaiku "nmi" (Brown County INDIANA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Robak in Black: A Don Robak Mystery (Hardcover)

Attorney Don Robak is now Judge Robak fighting for the life of his wife Jo, poisoned to near-death by an unknown enemy. I frankly prefer not to have author Joe Hensley suggest that ugly terrorism is pervading Robak's beautiful, peaceful Ohio River community -- which I also love. I don't want to think about the presence of clannish rebels and menacing drug manufacturers there. There is, thankfully, some Hoosier? humor & classic rural characters to add balance.
Ugly or not, the many personalities are etched on my eyeballs; words have become indelible likenesses. With every page I want life restored to 'Jo'. I want a definitive squelch administered to the sexually overt 'Libby' and see her moneyed security shaken. I find I have developed an abhorrence for purchasing southern Indiana eggs!
The placid waterfront will always draw me, and I'll enjoy the author's "tree tag" of squirrels, and the stately mansions on quiet streets. BUT couldn't Joe Hensley's next book be about the ironies of life in peaceful, backward Brown County where the "Sheriff's Log" doesn't raise goosebumps?
Listen, you readers: this is a favorite author of mine you should not miss! After you buy this and chew on its contents awhile, write to the author and suggest that, for a change, he write a story about life in the truly slow lane. Admittedly, it is my squeamishness that prevents me from giving 5 stars.