Trial By Fire: A Joseph Antonelli Novel [Large Print] [Hardcover]

D. W. Buffa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 12, 2005

An Edgar Award-nominee Author

Murder can be a very public affair, as famed defense attorney Joseph Antonelli discovers in this haunting and scintillating novel of love, loyalty, and revenge. When a beautiful district attorney is murdered, Julian Sinclair is accused of killing her in a jealous rage. He claims that she was the victim of her sadistic husband. Antonelli doesn't doubt Sinclair's innocence. But the victim's widow, a man of wealth and privilege, is determined to destroy both the idealistic Sinclair and the shrewd Antonelli.

Available only in Wheeler Hardcover 6.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this intelligent, gripping legal thriller, the latest in Buffa's Edgar-nominated series to feature San Francisco DA Joseph Antonelli (The Defense, etc.), Antonelli agrees to join his law partner and longtime friend, Albert Craven, on a national talk show to discuss the media craze surrounding the case of a young married woman, Angela Morgan, allegedly murdered by her husband. Also on hand for the discussion with the blowhard host, Bryan Allen, are up-and-coming attorney Julian Sinclair and young, attractive assistant DA. Daphne McMillan. Antonelli and Craven are so impressed by Sinclair's performance and his perfect background, that they invite him to join the firm. Unfortunately, Sinclair has a problem—McMillan is brutally murdered in his house, and he can say only that he didn't do it. The resulting media frenzy (driven to a large degree, as before, by Allen) puts the Morgan case to shame, and during the trial, Antonelli fails to convince the jury of Sinclair's innocence. Each new chapter brings another unexpected, not to mention unlikely, surprise. Even as credibility is strained to the breaking point, the fast-moving dialogue and fine sense of characterization keep the reader hanging on for the ride. Agent, Wendy Sherman. (Apr. 21)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Attorney Joseph Antonelli becomes fast friends with a young law professor, Justin Sinclair, when the two appear as talking heads during a high-profile murder trial. It's no surprise, then, when Antonelli agrees to defend Sinclair after he is arrested for the murder of the wife of a San Francisco businessman. Antonelli believes in Sinclair's innocence, but it appears the case has already been decided by the public. Usually in a legal thriller, the drama reaches its climax in a courtroom scene. Here, it's not until after Sinclair's trial that the story really begins to sizzle, and Antonelli seeks to right a terrible wrong. Since his first Antonelli mystery, in 1997, Buffa has gradually ratcheted up his style, character development, and narrative intensity. He definitely is hitting on all cylinders this time, combining a gripping murder mystery with insightful commentary on the state of public discourse about the law. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 479 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing; 1 edition (July 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587249952
• ISBN-13: 978-1587249952
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,371,583 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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Rate!!!, June 2, 2005

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Trial by Fire (Joseph Antonelli) (Hardcover)

D.W. Buffa's novels are always a read to be anticipated. His latest does not disappoint. In setting up his main character, Joseph Antonelli finds himself as a guest on one of those interminable cable news channel "talk" shows about topics of the day in which the host and some of the guests have a preordained point of view and then proceed to roast and belittle anyone who opposes it. On this show Antonelli and a young law profesor, Justin Sinclair are the roastees and their protestations that you cannot prejudge guilt or innocence based upon newspaper stories and rumors are treated like a pinata at a Mexican birthday party.

Soon thereafter, Sinclair is charged with murdering one of the other guests on the show, Daphne McMillan. McMillan is a prosecutor and she is also married to a man, who as it turns out may have murdered his first wife and is more than capable of murdering Daphne. However, the circumstances of the murder, in Sinclair's home, her blood on his hands and evidence of a romantic relationship which she was ending lead the talk show types to convict Sinclair in advance and during the trial that follows, not even the great Joseph Antonelli can save him from being convicted.

The retribution which follows the conviction is interesting and at times a bit fanciful, but Buffa never lets certain things stand in his way of telling a story and while some liberties are taken, the story suffers not at all. While the novel stands as an indictment of the cable mentality that infects this nation and much of the world, it is also first rate fiction written by an author who desrves all of the awards he has been given.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trial By Fire, January 9, 2007

By 

D. A. McPhail (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Trial By Fire (Joseph Antonelli) (Paperback)

Like many of the great lone-wolf characters, Joseph Antonelli has become an individual about whom we want to learn more, and hear more. Just as we struggle with the personal charms and failings of Harry Bosch or Adam Dalgliesh or Dismas Hardy or Guido Brunetti, we come to believe in them, their fallibilities and their small victories.

D.W. Buffa has created a character that endures, and draws the reader to his next book. And like the best dramas, whether profound or merely popular, the surrounding characters are also alive and thoroughly interesting in their own right. Whether it is the inventive quirks of his judges, or the contemporary take on talk show hosts and media types, Buffa creates a compelling story.

In Trial By Fire, he adds a media mogul who deserves our concern, a love for Australia and Berkelely that comes through loud and clear, and a plot twist that makes you glad you read his well-constructed story. I can't wait to see what Antonelli is doing next!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Story from D.W. Buffa, March 19, 2006

By 

New Mexico Fan (Sandia Park, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trial by Fire (Joseph Antonelli) (Hardcover)

The author gets the reader hooked through his in-depth descriptions of his characters, carrying you on a roller coaster of emotions from love, to hate, to respect. Then, just as you have the players all figured out, he drops a bombshell of an ending that has you rethinking your opinions of many of the characters. I can't wait for his next release.