Phillip Margolin
Author of Gone, But not Forgotten
About the Author
Philip Margolin was born in New York City in 1944. He received a bachelor's degree in government from The American University in 1965. From 1965 to 1967, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. He graduated from New York University School of Law in 1970. From 1972 until 1996, he was in private show more practice in Portland, Oregon, specializing in criminal defense. He has tried many high profile cases and has argued in the Supreme Court. He was the first attorney to use the battered woman's syndrome defense in a homicide case in Oregon. His first novel, Heartstone, was published in 1978. He has been a full-time author since 1996. His other works include The Last Innocent Man; Gone, But Not Forgotten; After Dark; The Burning Man; The Undertaker's Widow; Wild Justice; The Associate; Sleeping Beauty; Capitol Murder and Sleight of Hand. He also writes short stories and non-fiction articles in magazines and law journals. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Series
Works by Phillip Margolin
Associated Works
Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1997 v02: The Third Twin / Small Town Girl / To the Hilt / The Burning Man (1997) — Author — 69 copies
Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted (2017) — Contributor — 59 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Margolin, Phillip
- Legal name
- Margolin, Phillip
- Other names
- MARGOLIN, Phillip
- Birthdate
- 1944
- Gender
- male
- Education
- New York University School of Law
The American University in Washington, D.C. (BA ∙ Government) - Occupations
- lawyer
Peace Corps volunteer
teacher - Organizations
- Chess for Success
- Agent
- Jean Naggar
- Short biography
- Phillip Margolin (born 1944) is an American writer of legal thrillers.
Margolin was born in New York City in 1944. After receiving a B.A. in Government in 1965, from American University in Washington, D.C., he worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia until 1967. He graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1970, and has worked for 25 years as a criminal defense attorney, an occupation of choice inspired by the Perry Mason books. He started to work in 1970 at the Oregon Court of Appeals.
He published his first story, a short story titled "The Girl in the Yellow Bikini", in 1974, and became a full-time writer in 1996. He has written 12 books as of January 2007. He lists as his favourite writer Joseph Conrad, and among his favourite books War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and Stone City by Mitchell Smith.
Philip Margolin was married to Doreen Stamm in 1968. They had two children, Ami and Daniel. Doreen, also an attorney, died from cancer in January 2007.
Phillip Margolin is also the president of Chess for Success, a non-profit organisation "dedicated to helping children develop skills necessary for success in school and life by learning chess". - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Portland, Oregon, USA
New York, New York, USA (birth) - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
This stand-alone crime novel features Charlie Webb, supposedly a “third-rate” lawyer in Portland, Oregon who gets by handling minor legal matters for friends along with some court-appointed cases, one of which he gets as the story opens. He was assigned to defend Lawrence Weiss, a.k.a. Guido Sabatini, who admitted to stealing back a painting he sold to Gretchen Hall. Guido wanted her to display it in her restaurant, but instead she kept it in her private office, thus depriving the world, show more in Guido’s mind, from appreciating his art.
Guido not only stole the painting back, but took a flash drive from the safe over which the painting was hanging for possible leverage. (He didn’t know what was on it initially, but he reasoned that if it was in the safe, it might be valued enough by Gretchen to convince her to rehang his painting.) The flash drive turned out to be extremely important indeed, and some very powerful figures wanted it back. They couldn’t kill Guido since no one knew where he had stashed it, but others end up dead in pursuit of the drive. Guido was now suspected of multiple homicides, and wouldn’t accept any other attorney but Charlie.
Charlie had never handled a homicide, and was afraid he couldn’t offer competent representation, especially because he thought Guido was innocent and he wanted to do right by him.
Charlie requested help from the judge, and to his surprise, both sides of the matter got some very big legal hitters volunteering to help. Something was suspicious, with the machinations and life-threatening encounters way above Charlie’s pay grade.
The plot seemed inspired by the case of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and all the secrecy and scandals associated with their sex trafficking operations. But by concentrating on Charlie and how he handled any issues that arose, the author made matters both more tasteful and very understandable. In addition, the story brought to bear the question of legal justice versus vigilante justice, and whether the latter ever made more sense. As Charlie later mused, “Sometimes a person does something that’s against the law that you can’t help feeling is justified.” And yet, making one’s own laws wasn’t a good approach either.
Evaluation: This book was quite entertaining, with my only regret being that it was written as a stand-alone novel. I would love to see more books featuring Charlie Webb. show less
Guido not only stole the painting back, but took a flash drive from the safe over which the painting was hanging for possible leverage. (He didn’t know what was on it initially, but he reasoned that if it was in the safe, it might be valued enough by Gretchen to convince her to rehang his painting.) The flash drive turned out to be extremely important indeed, and some very powerful figures wanted it back. They couldn’t kill Guido since no one knew where he had stashed it, but others end up dead in pursuit of the drive. Guido was now suspected of multiple homicides, and wouldn’t accept any other attorney but Charlie.
Charlie had never handled a homicide, and was afraid he couldn’t offer competent representation, especially because he thought Guido was innocent and he wanted to do right by him.
Charlie requested help from the judge, and to his surprise, both sides of the matter got some very big legal hitters volunteering to help. Something was suspicious, with the machinations and life-threatening encounters way above Charlie’s pay grade.
The plot seemed inspired by the case of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and all the secrecy and scandals associated with their sex trafficking operations. But by concentrating on Charlie and how he handled any issues that arose, the author made matters both more tasteful and very understandable. In addition, the story brought to bear the question of legal justice versus vigilante justice, and whether the latter ever made more sense. As Charlie later mused, “Sometimes a person does something that’s against the law that you can’t help feeling is justified.” And yet, making one’s own laws wasn’t a good approach either.
Evaluation: This book was quite entertaining, with my only regret being that it was written as a stand-alone novel. I would love to see more books featuring Charlie Webb. show less
Murder at Black Oaks, the sixth entry in the Robin Lockwood series, was supposed to be an homage to Agatha Christie's locked room mysteries, but definitely fell short in my opinion. While the actual material of the book was interesting, the execution was lacking and all over the place, from courtroom drama to Gothic elements that were not really convincing nor did they seem to fit the spirit of the story. And some of it was not believable, including the courtroom stuff.
First of all, while show more I don't have an issue with multiple plot lines in a story, I do have an issue when they are not cohesive. I actually felt like I was reading a series of short stories that the author decided at the last minute to tie together into one larger plot. As a result, the overall plot didn't flow very well and was jarring in quite a few places, but, I thought, maybe I could overlook all of that. Nope, as suddenly, there was mention of a curse, a legend, and suddenly, I was in the middle of a Gothic novel. Throw in a thunderstorm and no electricity, and yes, you can see where I am going with all of this. It wouldn't have surprised me if someone was actually bitten by a werewolf and turned. And trust me, I love Gothic and horror as it's my preferred genre to read, but not like this. Unfortunately, the plot was sort of painful to get through, and there were quite a few instances where I just rolled my eyes and thought about how short this book was and how easy it is to read, so I just powered through it.
If I had not read the previous novels, I would not have any knowledge of any of the main characters. The character development was not that great and if you changed the names of any of the people, it wouldn't have mattered as no one, not even Robin, had distinct personalities. I was really disappointed in Robin's character as she seemed so different compared to previous novels, this one almost making her seem silly and out of sync with what is happening.
Verdict
Murder at Black Oaks is definitely not one of my favourite novels by this author. Lack of plot and character development interfered in what could have been an intriguing locked room drama in a spooky mansion. The author did not make use of of his characters nor was there an intertwined plot that was intriguing or interesting. Unfortunately, this one failed on a multitude of levels. However, as the previous novels were half-decent, I'm not quite ready to give up on this series yet. I do recommend that if you haven't read anything by this author, you do not start with this novel, but start with the first one in the series. show less
First of all, while show more I don't have an issue with multiple plot lines in a story, I do have an issue when they are not cohesive. I actually felt like I was reading a series of short stories that the author decided at the last minute to tie together into one larger plot. As a result, the overall plot didn't flow very well and was jarring in quite a few places, but, I thought, maybe I could overlook all of that. Nope, as suddenly, there was mention of a curse, a legend, and suddenly, I was in the middle of a Gothic novel. Throw in a thunderstorm and no electricity, and yes, you can see where I am going with all of this. It wouldn't have surprised me if someone was actually bitten by a werewolf and turned. And trust me, I love Gothic and horror as it's my preferred genre to read, but not like this. Unfortunately, the plot was sort of painful to get through, and there were quite a few instances where I just rolled my eyes and thought about how short this book was and how easy it is to read, so I just powered through it.
If I had not read the previous novels, I would not have any knowledge of any of the main characters. The character development was not that great and if you changed the names of any of the people, it wouldn't have mattered as no one, not even Robin, had distinct personalities. I was really disappointed in Robin's character as she seemed so different compared to previous novels, this one almost making her seem silly and out of sync with what is happening.
Verdict
Murder at Black Oaks is definitely not one of my favourite novels by this author. Lack of plot and character development interfered in what could have been an intriguing locked room drama in a spooky mansion. The author did not make use of of his characters nor was there an intertwined plot that was intriguing or interesting. Unfortunately, this one failed on a multitude of levels. However, as the previous novels were half-decent, I'm not quite ready to give up on this series yet. I do recommend that if you haven't read anything by this author, you do not start with this novel, but start with the first one in the series. show less
Robin Lockwood, former MMA fighter and now prominent defence attorney in Portland Oregon, is hired by her old fight cage nemesis, Mandy Kerrigan, who has been accused of a particularly heinous crime. A family of four has been brutally murdered and Mandy had been seen, earlier fighting with the son and, later at the time of the murder, pounding on the door of the family’s home. Robin thinks she might be innocent but the evidence is against her. The only hope is to find other possible show more suspects and, as it turns out, every member of the family had done things to make them a target but is there enough evidence against any of these possibilities to keep Mandy off death row?
It’s been quite a while since I read a Phillip Margolin legal thriller but, after reading Betrayal, that’s an oversight I plan to rectify in the very near future. It’s a smart, well-written, and entertaining tale that kept me guessing right up to the big reveal at the end. The characters are well-drawn and easy to like or hate and Robin makes for one bad-ass protagonist. It is also very fast-paced thanks to Margolin’s use of short chapters and dialogue. There’s plenty of action outside the courtroom but it was the action inside the courtroom I found most compelling. Although this is the seventh in the Robin Lockwood series, it can be read as a standalone.
I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and St Martin Press in exchange for an honest review show less
It’s been quite a while since I read a Phillip Margolin legal thriller but, after reading Betrayal, that’s an oversight I plan to rectify in the very near future. It’s a smart, well-written, and entertaining tale that kept me guessing right up to the big reveal at the end. The characters are well-drawn and easy to like or hate and Robin makes for one bad-ass protagonist. It is also very fast-paced thanks to Margolin’s use of short chapters and dialogue. There’s plenty of action outside the courtroom but it was the action inside the courtroom I found most compelling. Although this is the seventh in the Robin Lockwood series, it can be read as a standalone.
I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and St Martin Press in exchange for an honest review show less
So I had no idea this was part of a series when I requested it. However, that really didn't affect my enjoyment at all. This is a short well-written crime thriller that is part legal thriller, part locked in mystery. It reminded me of classic mysteries without it being cliché. The story opens when Robin Lockwood, a defense attorney, is asked to meet with a retired DA who wants her to help set right a wrong - he knows that a man he prosecuted and put on death row is innocent, and he wants show more her help to get him out of prison. But the DA's home is the creepy Black Oaks, a manor that resembles a haunted house more than a home. And that is the setting of our mystery.
Thank you netgalley for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I plan to start from the beginning with the series. show less
Thank you netgalley for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I plan to start from the beginning with the series. show less
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