Trophy Widow: A Rachel Gold Novel (Rachel Gold Novels) [Hardcover]

Michael A. Kahn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rachel Gold Novels | Publication Date: July 5, 2002

Savvy attorney Rachel Gold has had her share of celebrity clients, but none with the stature of her newest client, Angela Green. Angela may well be the most famous former housewife in America, and surely the only one to receive special awards from Ms. magazine and the NAACP while serving time in prison for the brutal murder of her powerful husband.

Her highly publicized murder trial made Angela a media star and a folk hero. And now, with a lucrative book deal and a major motion picture in the works, she finds herself at the center of another legal controversy-this one over the proceeds from the book and movie. To defend her in the lawsuit, Angela retains Rachel Gold, who already has her hands full with a bizarre ostrich lawsuit that's right out of the pages of a supermarket tabloid.

As Rachel prepares to represent Angela in the Son of Sam lawsuit, where proceeds from Angela's book would go to the victim's family, she starts to uncover questions that were never really answered in the murder trial. Is it possible-is it even conceivable-that Angela was framed?

And if Angela's really innocent, then the murderer is still at large-and, as Rachel discovers, ready to kill again.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's easy to like Rachel Gold, the Reform Jewish lawyer with the Orthodox Jewish boyfriend. She's the kind of woman mothers want their sons to marry--a kind, funny, practical, hard-working single woman who's not showy but gets the job done. Unfortunately, all of Gold's good characteristics don't make her a particularly memorable series heroine in a field that's crowded with legal thrillers, and St. Louis, nicely rendered as it is here, isn't a particularly interesting setting. The plot is pretty straightforward; representing a woman doing time for killing her husband on a civil matter--who profits when the story of the battered wife who killed her husband and cut off his penis gets the million dollar book and movie treatment--Rachel discovers her client was framed, and that money, not passion, was the motive. The writing is skillful enough, but Kahn needs a more intricate plot or a more interesting character to sustain this series. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

"I don't specialize in celebrities, but I've had my share," says fast-talking St. Louis lawyer Rachel Gold in Trophy Widow. None of those other high-profile clients were as exciting as her latest a celebrated black suburban housewife convicted of murdering her philandering white husband. Gold is only supposed to represent the housewife in a secondary lawsuit over the proceeds of her autobiography, but is it possible the woman was framed to begin with? Gold can't resist getting drawn in, and readers may feel the same way about this latest legal thriller in Michael A. Kahn's Rachel Gold series (after Bearing Witness), which shows off his trademark lightning repartee and captivating setup.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (July 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765302187
• ISBN-13: 978-0765302182
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,955,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Kahn is a trial lawyer by day and an author at night. He wrote his first novel, GRAVE DESIGNS, on a challenge from his wife Margi, who got tired of listening to the same answer whenever she asked him about a book he was reading. "Not bad," he would say, "but I could write a better book than that." "Then write one," she finally said, "or please shut up." So he shut up, and then he wrote one.

Kahn is the award-winning author of: seven Rachel Gold novels; an eighth novel, THE MOURNING SEXTON, under the pen name Michael Baron; and several short stories.

In addition to his day job as a lawyer, he is an adjunct professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, where he teaches a class on censorship and free expression. Married to his high school sweetheart, he is the father of five and the grandfather of, so far, three.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trophy Widow, July 7, 2002

By 

Jane Vaughan (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trophy Widow: A Rachel Gold Novel (Rachel Gold Novels) (Hardcover)

The whole Rachel Gold series is great. This was a page turner until the very end like all of the others in the series. The plot is extrememly well crafted. The authors use of humor was excellent. Love this series would like to see many more.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow Start, but It's Worth It, June 23, 2002

By 

Charles R. Slater - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trophy Widow: A Rachel Gold Novel (Rachel Gold Novels) (Hardcover)

Michael Kahn's Rachel Gold legal mysteries are pure gold waiting to be discovered and while this latest effort falls short of its predecessor, the brilliant "Bearing Witness," it is an intricately plotted, clever novel well worth the read. Yes, it starts slowly, but from about a third of the way through to the end, don't plan on putting it down. Gold, spunky, sensitive, brilliant and with a nose for things that aren't as they seem, has Angela Green, a famous woman in jail for killing her husband, as a client. She is defending a Son of Sam case concerning a book her client is writing but a quick delving into the circumstances of the trial for her case suggests to Rachel that her client is innocent of murder. Suddenly the case she is supposed to be on becomes a backdrop as Rachel pursues hitherto unfollowed clues and inconsistencies through the murky waters of St. Louis politics and the even murkier waters of the porn industry. A lawyer could drown in such waters very easily, but our girl not only stays afloat, she emerges from them triumphant -- and even works out a thorny romantic problem of her own. Read it. Better yet, read all the Rachel Gold books and then read it; you'll appreciate it even more with such grounding.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pure gold legal thriller, July 6, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Trophy Widow: A Rachel Gold Novel (Rachel Gold Novels) (Hardcover)

St. Louis attorney Michael Green divorced his wife Angela so he could marry the young and beautiful Samantha. Before that could happen, Michael was killed and Angela was put on trial for the crime. There was enough evidence for the jury to convict her and Angela was sentenced to forty years at the Chillicothe Correctional Center.

Seven years into her sentence and six months before her autobiography is to come out, a Son of Sam claim is made on behalf of Samantha's son. Local attorney Rachel Gold is hired to represent Angela in that lawsuit, but the lawyer goes one step further. She finds enough information in the trial transcript to question Angela's guilt and she decides to see if she can uncover proof to get Angela's verdict overturned. She doesn't realize what a Pandora's box she will be opening by taking that action.

The latest installment in the Rachel Gold series is totally enthralling and believable. The plot is so complex and multi-layered that the audience won't have a clue whom the truly guilty party is until the author chooses to reveal it. TROPHY WIDOW is a must read for anyone who likes a top rate legal thriller.

Harriet Klausner