Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Juror Number Eleven by Jeremiah Healy

Jeremiah Healy (1948-2014) is best known as the creator of John Francis Cuddy, a Boston private investigator and Vietnam veteran who appeared in 13 novels and two collections of short stories between 1984 and 2003. Cuddy’s adventures earned Healy multiple Shamus nominations and awards. In addition, under the name Terry Devane, Healy released three legal thrillers in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Their protagonist is Mairead O’Clare, an inexperienced lawyer, with Sheldon Gold, her mentor, again in Boston:

In her second outing, Juror Number Eleven (Putnam, 2002), Mairead is serving as second chair to Gold, who is defending his childhood friend Ben Friedman on murder charges. The case is particularly appalling, as Friedman is accused of demanding protection money from a small impecunious Russian butcher shop and then running the owner’s 9-year-old son down with his car when his extortion demand was rejected. Friedman’s reputation as a gangster seemed to weigh more heavily than the evidence in the district attorney’s decision to prosecute, as the car was not identified or found, nor was the driver, and Friedman’s alibis were solid. The jury decides in short order that the charges are not proven.

Later that day Juror Number Eleven is found murdered in her home. A significant amount of cash was deposited to her bank account within two hours of Friedman’s acquittal. The police decide there’s a connection between the two, not unnaturally, and in no time Friedman is under suspicion for murdering the juror. In addition, he’s facing a civil suit from the Russian family in the death of their son.

The characters and their back stories are nothing short of inspired. Mairead is fresh, credible, and relatable. Her excitement as she acquires skill in her new profession is a nice change from legal thrillers with seasoned, seen-it-all lawyers as protagonists. Pontifico Murizzi, the defense private investigator, is another terrific spin on a stock character. He’s an ex-homicide detective but he’s also gay; he gets to have the romantic entanglement in the story, not Mairead. Billie Sunday, the law firm secretary, and Gold are correspondingly vividly depicted.

Like the characters, the plot is far from ordinary. It takes the standard legal thriller framework and bends it here and turns it there, resulting in a creative spin on a predictable story arc. The ending chapters have more than one curveball. Not the most innovative legal thriller I’ve ever seen, that has to be The Defense by Steve Cavanagh, but still an original piece of work from start to finish. Highly recommended. 

 

·         Publisher: Putnam (June 10, 2002)

·         Language: English

·         Hardcover: 311 pages

·         ISBN-10: 0399148868

·         ISBN-13: 978-0399148866

  

Aubrey Hamilton ©2021

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.