MYSTERIES APPROACH THE BENCH DIFFERENTLY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993                   TAG: 9304100157
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by JOSEPH WILLIAMS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
MYSTERIES APPROACH THE BENCH DIFFERENTLY
Mysteries about lawyers tend to fall into the "fantasy" genre. Of these two books, that is the case with Hailey's novel, but not with Friedman's.
Of course, authors have to make their novels entertaining, but the plot should conform to realism as much as possible. John Grisham's "The Firm" does, and so does Friedman's "Inadmissible Evidence." It's a story of conflict, love, passion and murder. It's set in and out of a courtroom.
The courtroom setting is extremely realistic. The plot deals with Anglos and Hispanics in New York. An occasional red herring adds to the length (548 pages), but I found it a page-turner nonetheless.
Hailey's "The Wrong Gun," the newest in his Steve Winslow series, deals with an attempt by a gun collector to preclude himself from being set up for murder, unsuccessfully. The efforts to forestall implication in the murder goes awry by his own actions, and Winslow has to be the savior. The courtroom proceedings are far-fetched, but this is Hailey's novel, so he can do as he wishes.
The story involves only one suspect on the part of the police, but several suspects for Winslow and his minions. The ending is convoluted, and does not flow from the body of the novel. The story is out of the ordinary, though peppered with four-letter words, and it certainly has entertainment value outside of my perceived shortcomings.
For comparative purposes, on a scale of one to four, I'd give Friedman's "Inadmissible Evidence" a full four, but "The Wrong Gun" gets no more than one and a half.
\ Joseph Williams pseudonymously reviews mysteries for this newspaper.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB