Mary Magruder Katz is a criminal defense attorney in Miami -- self-employed after leaving her ex-fiancΓ©'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.
No excerpt available.
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