Mary Magruder Katz is a criminal defense attorney in Miami --
self-employed after leaving her ex-fiancé's firm. There
seems to be no trouble getting work, however. In short
order, Mary finds herself handling three cases, all of them
high-stakes for the defendants, as well as Mary: Judge
Elizabeth Maxwell is under investigation for the outcomes
of some drug cases she's ruled on, including one involving
attorney Joe Fineberg, with whom she subsequently began an
affair. Luis Corona, a family friend of Mary's boyfriend,
Carlos, is arrested upon arriving in the states from his
home in Argentina. Carlos asks Mary if she can represent
his "cousin," but he's not sure what the charges are. She
is shocked to discover the young man is being held as a
suspected terrorist, and after he disappears while in
custody, Mary runs into bureaucratic brick walls trying to
find him. Then Carlos himself ends up with legal problems,
straining not only Mary's work life, but her personal life
as well when she agrees to help him.
As if that wasn't enough, Mary is attacked in the parking
lot at her office, and then someone breaks into her house
and leaves a threatening message. Mary realizes at least
one of her cases has drawn the attention of a dangerous
adversary, but the person doesn't leave any clues about
which case to stay away from, so the only thing she can do
is keep working. Suddenly she's not as worried about the
growth of her fledgling practice as she is about her own
survival.
This book never quite engaged me. The author, a judge,
writes well about the legal details and brings drama to a
pivotal courtroom scene, but the writing style is a bit
journalistic for my taste and seemed choppy. I never felt
connected to the characters, and many of the minor
characters seemed sketched in and a bit flat. There also
didn't seem to be a lot of chemistry between Mary and
Carlos. I did admire the author's skill in plotting out
three very different cases, none of which felt
like "filler," and Mary has potential to be a compelling
heroine. I would recommend JUSTICE IN JUNE for people
looking for a quick, fun read, but there's not a lot below
the surface here.
Miami in June: it's raining, it's pouring, but the life of
criminal defense attorney Mary Magruder Katz is anything
but boring-especially when she gets caught up in a
whirlwind of three different cases.
Judge Liz Maxwell's job, sanity, and reputation are at
stake, and she needs Mary to ferret out wrongdoing in
Miami's courts. Solving this case won't just mean going out
on a limb; it will mean risking life and limb.
Luis Corona, a family friend of Mary's boyfriend, Carlos,
needs help with a legal matter that, to Mary's horror,
turns out to be a terrorism charge. And this case will
leave some catastrophic damage-and unwelcome notoriety-in
its wake.
Just when Mary thought things couldn't get worse, Carlos
gets in his own nasty legal quandary-one that could cost
him everything.
Three cases. One Mary. One torrential downpour of turmoil.
Can she weather the storm? Ride out the cold front that
settles over her once-hot romance? Salvage what remains of
her-and her clients'-reputations?
For Mary Magruder Katz, this month's forecast calls for
trouble.
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