On This Page
Description
When club owner Jake Justus and his wife, Helene, flee a sweltering Chicago summer for rural Jackson County, Wisconsin, they expect sweet-as-apple-pie locals and calm lakes for fishing. Instead, they become the bait: When the town's two-term senator is shot to death, Jake and Helene are held as material witnesses-and, if the fathead sheriff has anything to say about it, suspects. Attorney John J. Malone comes to help out his friends, but in a town where everybody knows everybody-be it by show more blood, sex, or church socials-only out-of-town strangers are fit to be accused. Oh yeah? So what's their motive for the second murder? Or the third? And the fourth? To find out, Malone will turn Jackson County upside down-with pleasure-and give it a good shake. It might be easier than finding a decent bar! "The Dorothy Parker of detective fiction" is back with the unbeatable trio of sharp-witted attorney John J. Malone and snarky high-society couple Jake and Helene (William Ruehlmann). Trial by Fury is the 5th book in the John J. Malone Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
The second I have read in this series, being no 5 in the series.
It was a very good read, if you like mid 1900s crime fiction, which I do.
It is largely clue safe, in the sense that aliens or STH American or African unknown poisons were not brought of nowhere.
The main and constant characters (J J Malone, the Chicago lawyer; Jake Justus and his glamorous Wife Helene) are good fun.
The married couple are visiting Jackson Wisconsin USA to partake in som fishing, but after a murder in the court house of all places, are taken to be involved even though no one seems to know how.
They call on their lawyer (Malone), to help them out. He is out of his league, or more accurately, placed out of league by the locals and faces many challenges.
The deaths show more continue.
Being a relatively small regional town in 1940s USA, one can expect that anll the locals have knowledge, bias and theories as to all the troubles.
As a senator, sheriff, asst DA, local bank manager, doctor, local mental asylum. All is solved in the end, and all relatively satisfactorily to my mind, as well as the outsiders coming to grips with that.
I have no idea as to why it is titled ‘Trial by Fear’….perhaps the (spoiler alert) vigilante group towards the end , provides the answer, but I am not so convinced, but that ultimately detracts from the book in my view.
Will read more by Craig Rice ( born Georgianna Craig, writing in the 1950s in the USA, thought that would not be necessary, though perhaps more so in the crime genre).
Big Ship
10 December 2025 show less
It was a very good read, if you like mid 1900s crime fiction, which I do.
It is largely clue safe, in the sense that aliens or STH American or African unknown poisons were not brought of nowhere.
The main and constant characters (J J Malone, the Chicago lawyer; Jake Justus and his glamorous Wife Helene) are good fun.
The married couple are visiting Jackson Wisconsin USA to partake in som fishing, but after a murder in the court house of all places, are taken to be involved even though no one seems to know how.
They call on their lawyer (Malone), to help them out. He is out of his league, or more accurately, placed out of league by the locals and faces many challenges.
The deaths show more continue.
Being a relatively small regional town in 1940s USA, one can expect that anll the locals have knowledge, bias and theories as to all the troubles.
As a senator, sheriff, asst DA, local bank manager, doctor, local mental asylum. All is solved in the end, and all relatively satisfactorily to my mind, as well as the outsiders coming to grips with that.
I have no idea as to why it is titled ‘Trial by Fear’….perhaps the (spoiler alert) vigilante group towards the end , provides the answer, but I am not so convinced, but that ultimately detracts from the book in my view.
Will read more by Craig Rice ( born Georgianna Craig, writing in the 1950s in the USA, thought that would not be necessary, though perhaps more so in the crime genre).
Big Ship
10 December 2025 show less
396 pages a great fast read!! it got me out of a reading slump and I do love Jance!!
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
#JustTheFacts2020Gold
48 works; 1 member
#MysteryBingo2020Gold(Revised)
36 works; 1 member
Haycraft Queen Cornerstones
181 works; 3 members
Author Information
52+ Works 1,905 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1941
- People/Characters
- John J. Malone
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 105
- Popularity
- 304,346
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- English, German, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 12
