Witness for the Defense

Rating:
Summary: To Adopt or Not to Adopt
Review: A plot with issues straight from current events...adoption, rights of birth parents, what's best for the child, emotional issues of natural and adoptive parents. Throw in a murder and a trail without a clear cut idea of "who done it" and it's a good read.

A high profile couple has identified a young pregnant girl who is willing to allow them to adopt her baby. Shortly after the birth of the baby, Bram Weaver, a controversial talk show host, arrives on the scene claiming to be the father and insisting that he wants the baby himself. Kali O'Brien is the attorney of record for the couple because her former lover with excess emotional baggage is the brother of the adoptive mother. The talk show host is brutally murdered and Kali is left to defend the adoptive mother all the while trying to find out who actually did kill Bram Weaver.

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Rating:
Summary: To Adopt or Not to Adopt
Review: A plot with issues straight from current events...adoption, rights of birth parents, what's best for the child, emotional issues of natural and adoptive parents. Throw in a murder and a trail without a clear cut idea of "who done it" and it's a good read.

A high profile couple has identified a young pregnant girl who is willing to allow them to adopt her baby. Shortly after the birth of the baby, Bram Weaver, a controversial talk show host, arrives on the scene claiming to be the father and insisting that he wants the baby himself. Kali O'Brien is the attorney of record for the couple because her former lover with excess emotional baggage is the brother of the adoptive mother. The talk show host is brutally murdered and Kali is left to defend the adoptive mother all the while trying to find out who actually did kill Bram Weaver.

...

Rating:
Summary: family ties
Review: for an attorney with a client on trial for murder, she spends an inordinate amount of time musing about her personal life and her unfulfilled emotional needs. an unseemly mix of diary type reflections and courtroom drama. abrupt,unsatisfying conclusion to the trial, after some workmanlike courtroom scenes. plot's loose ends are fastened by the convenient velcro of coincidence.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining courtroom drama
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed my first outing with Jonnie Jacobs' legal heroine Kali O'Brien. Returning to San Francisco after her married lover returned to his wife, Kali is just putting her life back together when another former boyfriend, Steven Cross, refers his sister Terri Harper to Kali to handle a pending adoption. Harper lost a child earlier when a parent changed her mind before the adoption was final so she sought legal advice. Things go haywire when a controversial radio talk show host, Bram Weaver, claims the child is his and announces his intention to gain custody. When Weaver is brutually murdered, Terri is picked up as the most likely subject.

Throughout the development and conduct of Terri's defense, Kali seeks to find other explanations of the circumstantial evidence against her client but desperately tries to find out alternative suspects. There are several interesting side plots, including resumption of a love interest between Kali and Steven Cross and the uncovering of the hit and run killer of Cross's wife and daughter.

I thought I discovered the real murderer through several obsure clues and was pretty sure I was right until the very end. The ending was a bit disappointing as the conclusion of several plot lines unraveled all at once in an unbelievable way.

Still the story was intriguing, the characters--including Kali's senior citizen roommates--likable and interesting and I had a great weekend read.

Rating:
Summary: Jacobs does it again
Review: In the Bay area, former professional football star, Ted Harper and his wife Terri hire attorney Kali O'Brien to expedite an adoption. The teenage single woman Melissa Burke is living with the Harpers until she gives birth. Not her usual case, Kali could use the easy fee and begins to insure all the papers are properly signed including obtaining the signature of the father, Gary Ellis. Melissa gives birth to a healthy girl named Hannah. Case closed.

Case reopened when obnoxious anti feminine radio talk show host Bram Weaver claims to be Hannah's father. He demands the Harpers hand over his child. Kali begins preparation for what seems like a sure shot losing custody battle. However, that preparation changes when the same night that Bram spent a court ordered hour with Hannah, someone kills him. The obvious motive lies with Terri, who already attacked Bram in court, leaving Kali to defend her from a charge of murder one.

WITNESS FOR THE DEFENSE is an exciting legal thriller that twists and turns from a simple adoption to a relatively simple custody case to a complex homicide. Kali in her fourth appearance remains a refreshing attorney. The key secondary players (Harpers, Melissa, and Bram) provide the depth to the story line that turns this into an exhilarating tale. With this legal suspense series and her Kate Austen murder mysteries, Jonnie Jacobs continues to provide some of the best genre entertainment.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Jonnie Jacobs' Back and Better than Ever.....
Review: It was supposed to be a simple adoption. Attorney, Kali O'Brien had seen to it that everything was in place and would go smoothly. The birth mother, Melissa, a young college student who wanted her old life back, had signed all the necessary papers terminating her rights, as had the father and Terri and Ted Harper had brought their beautiful new daughter home. Within days, what all thought was a final adoption began to fall apart. Obnoxious, controversial radio talk show host, Bram Weaver, claims he's the baby's father and he wants his daughter. When Melissa doesn't dispute his claim, the Harpers are devastated and Kali gets to work preparing for an uphill custody battle that in her heart she knows her clients don't have a chance of winning. But when Weaver is found shot to death and evidence begins piling up against Terri, Kali begins a new fight to not only save her client, but to put this family back together..... Jonnie Jacobs has written a fast paced, page turner that's about to keep you up, reading all night. "Ripped from the headlines", her plot is compelling, with scenes full of suspenseful and riveting detail. Her characters are interesting and real and her writing, very crisp and smart, with good down to earth dialogue. As a practicing attorney, Ms Jacobs' expertise in the law and courtroom procedure, adds real credibility to the story. Witness for the Defense is a great read and a book that should be on all mystery/legal thriller lovers summer reading lists.

Rating:
Summary: My first Jonnie Jacobs, but not my last!
Review: This book held my interest & was quite engaging. Not exactly a page-turner that I could not put down, but one I certainly had no trouble coming back to. Kali O'Brien is a likeable heroine and I look forward to reading more in the series. Recommended reading in the legal mystery/suspense genre.

Rating:
Summary: My first Jonnie Jacobs, but not my last!
Review: This book held my interest & was quite engaging. Not exactly a page-turner that I could not put down, but one I certainly had no trouble coming back to. Kali O'Brien is a likeable heroine and I look forward to reading more in the series. Recommended reading in the legal mystery/suspense genre.

Rating:
Summary: a real page-turner
Review: This is a great book that kept me reading late into the night. Just when I thought the story had settled in to a certain direction, it took a twist that raised new questions and sent it off on a different path. The courtroom scenes were interesting and believable, the characters well-developed, and the writing smooth. I've enjoyed all this author's books, but Witness for the Defense is one of her best. A wealthy and well-known San Francisco couple, a hate-mongering radio host, a pregnant teenage girl with secrets of her own, a missing murder witness, and a sleuth whose involvement in the case isn't as straightforward as it first appears all add up to a winning combination.