Sandra Nichols Found Dead: A Novel

From Library Journal

Much-respected criminal defense attorney Jerry Kennedy is coerced into becoming the legal guardian of the three surviving children of Sandra Nichols, the murdered wife of the wealthy, unscrupulous Peter Wade. Kennedy has been living the life of a recluse, allowing nothing to touch him since his divorce. Now, on behalf of the children, he goes after Wade, who may have had his wife killed for the sake of convenience. As lawyers go, Kennedy is one smart mensch. He cleverly manages to tie all the facts of the case into a neat little legal bundle that Wade cannot undo. Higgins (Swan Boats at Four, LJ 7/95) is a grandmaster of the written word. Through Kennedy's running dialog with those around him, he creates an intimacy between the reader and his characters and offers great insight into the way an attorney works for a client. This nugget of legal machination should be purchased by all public libraries. Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio Hill, David. Sacred Dust. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

George V. Higgins keeps upping the ante. He's proved again and again that he can write novels driven solely by dialogue--not snappy exchanges between people who are engaged in doing something (like the characters in Pulp Fiction, for example) but conversations between individuals reporting on events that have already happened. It's no easy trick to make such reportorial talk compelling, but Higgins has mastered it. Here he goes one step further. He's written a novel in which the lion's share of the "action" comprises lawyer Jerry Kennedy reading the transcripts of a cop's testimony at an inquest. We read over Jerry's shoulder, and suddenly this veteran Boston cop's monologue unlocks a multifaceted family drama about a white-trash woman with guts and dignity who endures a series of bad relationships before parlaying her sexual gusto into marriage with a genuine New England blue blood. Unfortunately, the blue blood is also a lout who eventually chooses to have his wife killed rather than pay off on a prenuptial contract. His alibi is airtight, but Kennedy is enlisted to put together a wrongful-death civil suit (shades of O. J.). The most amazing thing about this novel is that it works at all. It's as if Andre didn't show up for dinner, and his friend simply read the paper while he ate. Face it: Higgins isn't a novelist, he's a magician. Bill Ott