Novel Verdicts (Hardcover)

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Penzler Pick, June 2000: In 1984, Jon Breen produced an annotated bibliography of courtroom fiction, Novel Verdicts, which was the first serious attempt to provide a guide to the best books about that most dramatic of human situations, the trial. Now he has expanded and updated that volume with this second edition, increasing the number of books listed and described from 421 entries to 790. Each listing includes the name of the author; the title; place; publisher and date of the first English and American editions; a symbol to designate the approximate amount of actual trial action; and a paragraph or more about the plot, the type of courtroom action depicted, and an evaluation of both the overall book and its effectiveness as courtroom fiction.

Breen, one of the fairest and most perceptive scholars of mystery fiction, is exceptionally well suited to make assessments about a book's overall worth, and his judgment appears to be nearly impeccable (which I suppose means we agree a lot). Novel Verdicts contains an enormous range of titles, from such modern practitioners as Scott Turow, Lisa Scottoline, John Grisham, Jay Brandon, J.P. Hailey (Parnell Hall), Stephen Greenleaf, and Steve Martini to the golden-age writers Erle Stanley Gardner (who has 86 entries) and Ellery Queen, as well as wonderful early practitioners like Arthur Train and Melville Davisson Post, who are still able to amaze with their brilliant, twisting plots. If you have any interest in this type of fiction--and it would be hard to imagine an aficionado of the mystery genre who doesn't because of the tension inherent in any good trial scene--this book is the most useful guide to the best of this demanding literary form. --Otto Penzler

From Booklist

The first edition of Breen's guide, published in 1984, annotated 421 examples of courtroom fiction. The new edition has almost 800 entries. All the earlier titles have been retained, and books by newer writers--including John Grisham, Steve Martini, Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, and Scott Turow--have been added. The cut-off date is 1997.

Entries are arranged alphabetically by author. Besides standard bibliographic information, each entry includes a symbol indicating how much of the book's plot actually involves a trial (from less than a quarter to more than three-quarters, with a special designation for short stories) and a critical annotation. Most annotations are a paragraph in length (with some, such as that for Grisham's A Time to Kill, considerably longer) and focus on the effectiveness of the courtroom action. The first edition of the guide was praised for the excellence of Breen's annotations, and he is just as entertaining and informative here.

Following the entries are a general index, a "Cause of Action Index" (with index terms ranging from abortion to wrongful dismissal), and a "Jurisdiction Index," which lists entries by state within the U.S. or by country.

With the growth of this particular subgenre of mystery and detective fiction, Novel Verdicts seems much less specialized than it did when it first appeared more than 15 years ago, and libraries will find it a useful collection development and readers' advisory tool.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.; 2 Sub edition (January 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810836742
• ISBN-13: 978-0810836747
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,259,657 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars a superb reference guide for legal thrillers, July 14, 2002

By	Narayan Radhakrishnan (Trivandrum, Kerala, India) - See all my reviews

Novel Verdicts is a must reference guide for the legal thriller lover. Each book has been analyzed in detail, with a comprehensive index- by title, author and subject. A most comprehensive guide for legal thrillers. Myself being an ardent devotee of the genre and the Sr. Associate reviewer for legal thrillers and the author of A FICTION OF LAW, a bibliographic work on the popularity of the legal thriller genre through the masters of the genre- featuring 350 authors and 1500 books, let me say- this book is a must reference for the connoisseur of the legal thriller genre....