The Heart of Justice

A corporate takeover leads to a moral dilemma in this archly written but truncated posthumous novel from Coughlin (In the Presence of Enemies). The dilemma belongs to Judge Paul Murray, who unwittingly has received his recently acquired position on the federal bench thanks to his new wife, beautiful socialite Hope Scott. Hope asked powerful corporate raider and old boyfriend Jordan Crandell to recommend Paul for the judgeship; Crandell obliged. Now Crandell is in a headline-grabbing legal fight with takeover king Lew Valentine to buy up the computer company Starwares. As fate and plotting would have it, the Starwares case ends up in federal court, with Paul presiding. Coughlin devotes most of the novel to building up a world where amoral types like Crandell and Valentine will be judged by people who are flawed but essentially moral and upright, like Paul. But what the author offers is nearly all setup: instead of giving it the space and weight it deserves, Coughlin deals with Paul's moral dilemma--to rule on the case or to step down?--in only a scant few pages. Perhaps Coughlin's death in 1992 is the reason behind this sketchy and unsatisfying climax; otherwise, the book is a sharply observed tale of self-interested sharks who tear away at each other during a corporate takeover. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo. (Feb.)