The
Osgoode Trilogy ( Books 1 and 2)
Mary Martin
iUniverse
Harry Jenkins, a lawyer with a small firm in Toronto, is
viewed by many lawyers as a dinosaur. Believing in hard work and
honesty, he often finds his beliefs challenged by fellow lawyers and
his wife. Yet it is exactly these traits which endear him to some
of his oldest, and the firms most valuable, clients. And it is
his perseverance which both gets him involved in his clients' troubles,
and often save the day - but not his marriage. Yet there is a
reward waiting for Harry, a burgeoning relationship with the beautiful
real estate agent, Natasha.
Reviewed by Janelle Martin
Conduct in Question
Harry Jenkins has
worked under his senior partner’s thumb for years in a Toronto small estates practice. When his partner drops dead from a stroke in
their office, suddenly Harry is on his own and free to run their
law-firm his
own way. Almost immediately, he is swept
into the conflict surrounding the estate of his wealthy client,
Marjorie
Deighton, and his naïveté lands him in the midst of a
massive money-laundering
scheme, engineered by the enigmatic Mr. Chin.
Harry is convinced Marjorie was murdered but Sergeant Welkom
gives
little credence to his theories until Marjorie’s will is stolen and her
maid
found murdered
At the root of Conduct
in Question is the sadistic murderer dubbed by the media as “The
Florist.” The Florist haunts Toronto, a
serial killer who marks his victims with
his “art,” floral designs he carves into their skin.
The Florist hides behind the rigidly
controlled mask he presents the world.
Is The Florist somehow involved in the money-laundering scheme
in which
Harry is mired? Will Harry, despite his
naïveté and personal troubles, find the answers before The
Florist kills again?
Mary E. Martin has crafted a solid beginning to her trilogy
of legal thrillers. A bit slow at the
start, readers will soon be drawn into the drama created by the
bickering
members of Marjorie’s family, and the slowly blossoming relationship
between
Harry and realtor Natasha Boretsky.
Harry is a very human character who is torn between his desire
to uphold
the ethics of the law and to keep his practice afloat.
The manner in which Harry faces these
dilemmas provides heart to this thriller.
Mary E. Martin, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada,
practiced law in Toronto
for twenty-eight
years. Conduct in Question is her
first novel.
Final
Paradox: Book Two in the Osgoode Trilogy
Norma Dinnick is sure that the named executor of
her estate
is trying to poison her, or else he’s in league with the upstairs
tenants to
drive her mad, all in a bid to ensure she doesn’t change her will. When she requests Harry Jenkins do something
about both the will and the upstairs tenants, he discovers that Norma
may be on
the brink between lucidity and madness – there are no upstairs tenants.
In a bid to forestall Archie (the executor), and protect his
client’s safety, Harry follows her instructions and files claim against
Archie
and the others pursuing a claim on some valuable shares.
Unfortunately the motion sets of a chain of
events ending up with murder in open court and the reappearance of an
acquaintance from Harry’s past. Now
Harry must help sort out Norma’s tangeled memories if he hopes to track
down
the shares - and protect her life.
Final Paradox, the second
volume in the Mary
E. Martin’s Osgoode Trilogy, once again sees honest lawyer Harry
Jenkins up
against lawyers willing to twist the legal profession for their own
gain. Like Conduct
in Question, the book which introduced Harry, what sets Final
Paradox apart from other legal
thrillers is Harry’s personal struggles and development.
Readers will enjoy Harry’s challenges in
running his small law practices, intergenerational conflicts with his
junior, his
difficulties of dealing with an aging parent, and his burgeoning
relationship
with Natasha.
Unfortunately
the central mystery in Final Paradox
feels convoluted and contrived, while the villains are not nasty enough
to fully
engage reader in the action. Natasha is
too enigmatic in this outing and readers may be left wondering why
Harry
doesn’t just walk away. While
entertaining, Final Paradox is
shadowed by the much stronger Conduct in
Question. Hopefully the next in the
series will provide a better showcase for Martin’s delightful Harry
Jenkins.