The Guilty Plea: A Novel

This is a real page turner. Terrance Wyler is due to go to court for a messy divorce hearing. However, he is found dead on his kitchen floor that morning and his estranged wife shows up at her divorce lawyer's with a bloody knife. Looks like an easy case for the crown and a sure loss for the defense but Detective Ari Greene isn't so sure.

Rotenberg, a practicing defense lawyer, leads us through the investigation and trial bringing to light the differences of the Canadian justice system from the American.

I enjoy a number of genres - legal thrillers being one of them. But when mentally going over my list of favourite authors, I realized that none of the legal list were Canadian. So I was excited to read Robert Rotenberg's new novel The Guilty Plea.

Rotenberg is a practicing lawyer who lives in Toronto and has based his series in the same city. I love reading a book with Canadian references - Timmies, the Globe and place names as well - Eglinton/Bloor, Jane and Finch. Knowing the settings are real and having seen some of them make the novel all that more authentic.

But what makes Rotenberg's novels really pop is his knowledge of the Canadian legal system, his trial expertise and the number of years he's been at it. His plots, characters show more and dialogue all have the ring of authenticity and that 'insider's' point of view. It just makes his novel all the more believable.

The Guilty Plea brings back characters from Rotenberg's first novel 'Old City Hall'. Homicide Detective Ari Greene, Officer Daniel Kennicott, lawyers, Crowns and others. I found all of the characters believable and connected with them. Their personal lives are just as engrossing as the primary plot line.

In the Guilty Plea, Terrance Wyler, the youngest son of a Canadian food conglomerate is found stabbed to death in his kitchen while his young son sleeps upstairs. His estranged wife shows up at her lawyers - with the bloody knife from Wyler's kitchen. Open and shut case. But she swears she's innocent. As Greene investigates, he finds more questions than answers.

I very much enjoyed The Guilty Plea, although I found the end a bit rushed. I will definitely be adding Rotenberg to my 'must read' list. show less

I do love a good mystery/courtroom thriller and this book was both. This is the first book by Rotenberg that I have read and it was very, very good. The characters are well-formed, the plot is plausible, the twists and turns were unpredictable and this all adds up to a very enjoyable read. One of my GR friends has wondered why Rotenberg is not as well known as Grisham - I agree with her - this book is every bit as good as Grisham and in fact much better than many of his recent, extremely formulaic attempts. The pace of this book is fast and it was very easy to stay engaged in this novel from beginning to end. Great effort and I will look forward to reading more of Rotenberg's future books.

I'm so happy to have discovered this series, and to find that there are more to enjoy. The characters are so likable and interesting, the story has lots of unusual twists and turns, and I find the Canadian life and legal system to be very refreshing. The legal system seems to care about the accused; even after a guilty verdict, the police involved try to make sure they did the right thing. The prosecution seems more interested in justice than winning at all costs (not that they don't want to win).

So far, the series reminds me a bit of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny, another Canadian author. That series is set in Quebec, and has some wonderful characters and interesting stories, although not necessarily about show more the legal system.

Although not really necessary, I'd recommend reading the first book of the series before this one. I think this will stand on its own, but there are some characters in this one from the first book, and some references to what happened in that one. You wouldn't be lost if you didn't read it first, though. show less

On a hot August morning, Arceli Ocaya, the nanny of four year-old Simon Wyler, arrives at her usual time, 7:30 AM, to find that nothing is as usual. The front door is open, there is no sign of Terrance Wyler who always has the stereo playing loudly as he chops fresh fruit in the kitchen, and Billy, the family dog, who always greats Arceli with loud exhuberance, approaches her with his head down. Arceli heads to the kitchen and knows from the smell that there is a great deal of blood in that room. Then she sees Terrance Wyler on the floor, his body torn with multiple stab wounds. Arceli races to the stairs, desperate to find Simon. The little boy is still sleeping.

Detective Ari Greene gets the call to lead the investigation. Greene is show more number four on the list of four detectives to be assigned to a murder; it is his bad luck that the death of Terrance Wyler is the fourth in the city. Because the homicide squad isn’t at full strength, Daniel Kennicott, a patrol officer, is assigned to assist Greene. Daniel and Ari have a good working relationship built on a previous case.

Shortly after arriving at his law office, Ted DiPaulo receives a phone call from another attorney, Winston Feindel, a family lawyer who referred criminal problems to DiPaulo. Feindel has been representing Samantha Wyler in what the tabloids refer to as the “divorce from hell.” The trial is scheduled to start this day. Feindel had referred Samantha Wyler to Ted so that he could prepare her for what would be a brutal cross-examination. Now Feindel tells Ted his job is done; there is no divorce when one of the parties is dead. And, by the way, when he arrived at his office Sam was sitting on the stairs waiting for him.

When Ari is talking to Simon, getting him ready to go to Arceli’s apartment until his relatives have been informed, the little boy drops a bomb shell. ” ‘She cried last night,’ ” Simon said…..’Silly Simon,’ Ocaya said. ‘Last night you were not at your mother’s house, you slept here.’ ‘My mom came into my room here at my dad’s house. She kissed me and she was crying.’….’She said she wouldn’t see me for a long time. How come?’ “

At Feindel’s office, Ted gets his own surprise from a member of the Wyler family. “She opened her arms and held out a red-and-white dish towel. He was about to take it. Then his lawyer’s instincts kicked in and he pulled back. ‘Sam, listen to me. Put that on the carpet and open it. Slowly.’ Fixing him with her eyes, she placed the towel down and unfolded the corners one at a time….’It’s from our kitchen’…. She exposed a black-handled knife, stained from top to bottom with blood.”

The Wyler family is ubiquitous in the Toronto area. Wyler Fresh billboards are all over the city and environs and the fruit and vegetable business has made the family very wealthy. Nathan, the oldest, is the hands on member of the family, the hard-worker who bears the responsibility of choosing each day’s batches of food, as perfect as possible to maintain the family reputation. Jason, the second son, is disabled. He has a motor neuron disease that is slowly killing him. Terrance, the youngest, is the golden child. Strong, good-looking, and charming, he benefits from the family’s success without having to contribute to it. Terrance met Samantha when she came to work as an accountant for Wyler Fresh. As an accountant, she was a plus for the family. She was not what they wanted for a daughter-in-law. When the marriage ended five years after it began, the Wylers wanted her to leave with what she came, nothing, including her son.

It is bad enough that Sam took the murder weapon from the scene but when the police learn that Sam had received a message from Terrance just before he died, the noose tightens. She had gone to the house and she claims that Terrence was already dead. Why did she live Simon there and why didn’t she call the police?

THE GUILTY PLEA is a police procedural/ legal mystery and it is a definite plus that the characters from OLD CITY HALL are back. Ari Greene, Ted DiPaulo, and Daniel Kennicott are characters that are fully formed, interesting, and compelling. The murder in THE GUILTY PLEA is the place from which the story moves forward and backward. The secrets of two families could destroy both if revealed. Affairs inform two stories, and the guilty plea has two meanings.

It has been five years since Rotenberg’s first book, OLD CITY HALL, was published. THE GUILTY PLEA is an excellent book, one I read in an afternoon. It doesn’t pack quite the punch of OLD CITY HALL but I do hope Rotenberg’s third book makes it to the shelves much faster. show less

Excellent crime fiction. I was no less impressed with Roternberg's debut novel "Old City Hall" and was eager to see what he would write next. I was not disappointed in the least. While somehow similar to John Grisham's writing style, it's not as dry, with more feeling towards the characters, and I found that quite appealing. I took off half a star in rating - as the denouement, curious as it was, didn't blow me away. Still - very good writing.

Standard mystery/courtroom drama type fare. It takes place in Canada, which is interesting because of some of the different laws there than in the U.S. It's the sequel to Old City Hall, but you don't need to have read the first to enjoy the second. Unless you are a huge fan of this genre, it is not a must-read.