Unlucky in Law (Nina Reilly)

I was so painfully disappointed in this novel. The summary on the back of the book makes it seem far more fast paced than it truly was. Boring doesn't even begin to cover the true nature of this story. The first... I'll say 2/3 to 3/4 of the book is all build up with very few answers. Not to mention, the tedium and rehashing of some of the most TEDIOUS points that contribute NOTHING to the story line. Again, and again, and again, Nina mentions how ill prepared she & the firm is for this case, how Klaus may be losing his mind and she's not sure she can trust him. I could go on and on.

You'll know when something brought up is important because Nina, the lawyer who's set to prove her client's innocence with VERY little prep and seemingly show more less legwork done by the firm to whom she's commissioned, will mull it over for about a page or so, turning it over six ways to Sunday. At that point, something will distract her, or some other facet of the case will pop up, she'll have an "ah-ha" moment, but then the reader won't hear about it until she later tells Paul, the PI that she's dating/quasi engaged to, to go follow up on something because of XYZ .

That's another thing that is a little irksome. Diving into Nina and Paul's relationship is... a little unnecessary, if you ask me. Now, to be fair, I haven't read the books reading up to this one, so it may be more natural than it appears, but it seems like their relationship is just something to fill time when there's nothing to move the plot along due to LITERAL travel or a wandering mind while pondering information in a case that seems pretty hopeless.

When things finally start moving (as I said earlier, the last third to quarter of the book), it all feels a little rushed and farfetched. Everything comes together too quickly, too easily, when it does finally happen. Overall, the book is well written, but the story itself is just a dud. Perhaps it's just because I've never read a story completely about a court case before, and I'm not used to the pace of a court case, but this just didn't do it for me. You would think a story about a murder court case would be more interesting. I wasn't necessarily looking for it to be fast paced; based on the size of the book, I knew it wouldn't be, but I was hoping it would move along a little more than it did. Generally speaking, I'll give the genera another shot, but I'm not sure I'm going to be picking up another story with Nina Reilly defending someone in court any time soon. show less

BOTTOM-LINE:
Good story with the mentor, but the other stuff detracts
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PLOT OR PREMISE:
Nina Reilly gets a call from her old mentor to sit second-chair on a murder case that started with a grave robbery.
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WHAT I LIKED:
The story that the client tells is surprisingly plausible...he was hired to rob a grave, which he did. Except when he's caught, the cops go back and check the grave he robbed and find out that there's now a fresh body in it and he's charged with murder. It's a simple twist but there is little doubt through the case that he's not guilty and there is "something else" going on. And just to complicate things, her mentor is basically dumping the case on her, has done almost no prep, is showing early signs of dementia, and the PI he show more hired did almost no work either. Nina has her hands full just as Paul proposes.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
There are two threads running through the story that are less than optimal. First, the premise of the mystery is that the dead body that is stolen is tied to a society of Russian conspiracy theorists who suspect he was tied to the Romanoffs (hey, he's Russian, he must be, right?). This is about the fourth book I've read in the last two years that threw in a Romanoff angle, and it's not handled that well, although most don't anyway. Second, the marriage proposal from Paul leads to a bunch of emotional drama and angst, and detracts heavily from the story. It reads more like a bad romance novel than a mystery.
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the authors, nor do I follow them on social media. show less

Good in parts.

This review is from: Unlucky in Law (Nina Reilly) (Audio CD)
My feelings towards this book oscillated as I read it. I'm not a fan of courtroom narratives and found the beginning quite dull as we spent much of our time in the court. As things heated up, with more activity out in the real world, so did my enthusiasm. Unfortunately I was disappointed with the end which fell a bit flat, so only three stars overall.

(Please excuse spelling errors as I listened to the unabridged audiobook and so may have some names wrong.)
Nina Reilly is a likeable lawyer, efficient and determined. Her client, Stephan Wyatt, has been arrested for digging up the bones of a dead Russian, Constantin Zhukovsky, for $1,000. Stephan is the 'Unlucky' show more character of the title, as he discovered a dead body in the soil above the coffin and is subsequently arrested for the murder of Zhukovsky's daughter, Christina. Nina is defending him with little background research as the case has not been adequately prepared before her arrival (annoying/rather unbelievable). Her boyfriend, Paul, is a private investigator who works for the same firm and he helps unravel the explanation for Christina's death.

The story also centres around death of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family nearly 100 years earlier. What happened to the two family members who were not accounted for at the time? This is an era that I had been intending to look into and so I found this aspect of the narrative fascinating.

Well read by Laural Merlington, I'm glad I listened to this rather than reading it. Recommended as an audiobook, reservations as a straight read. show less

Entertaining. I usually do not read books out of order. This is number 10 of the Nina Reilly series. I think it is impressive that reading previous books was not necessary to understand the characters. However, I wonder if I read the 9 other books if there would be a lot of repeated information, maybe making it somewhat boring. I got this book from my mother. I checked the library for other books from this author. They had some, but not the first book in the series. May try to track it down. 328 members; 3.5 average rating; 2/26/2018

Courtroom drama, rich in detail. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Quick easy read that was fun. Mystery.

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