The Prosecution

Buffa's debut novel, The Defense, earned accolades for its multilayered plot, careful writing and philosophical musings about guilt and innocence. This sequel attempts to combine those same elements, with less satisfactory results. Once again, Portland's crackerjack defense attorney Joseph Antonelli is selected for a formidable task--this time, to act as special prosecutor investigating the murder of Nancy Goodwin, wife of Chief Deputy D.A. Marshall Goodwin. A grungy sociopath named Travis Quentin admits to having slashed Nancy's throat, but claims he was hired by Goodwin and his new wife, the ""shapely and infinitely desirable"" Assistant D.A. Kristin Maxfield. All Antonelli has to work with is the problematic Quentin's uncorroborated testimony; nevertheless, for reasons not entirely clear, Antonelli brings Goodwin to trial. Minutes after the verdict on Goodwin is revealed, Antonelli learns that Judge Horace Woolner's wife has been charged with the murder of her putative lover, the rich, sexually ambiguous and powerful Russell Gray. Antonelli automatically goes to bat for the accused woman, but Buffa hasn't developed the Goodwin plot sufficiently to abandon it just yet. Even if readers accept Antonelli's telephone-booth transformations from defense attorney to ethical hero/special prosecutor, they may be skeptical of the one-dimensional evil of everyone else in Portland's power circles and their unlikely off-the-record confabs with Antonelli. The many weaknesses in plot and character are not disguised by the pretentious, and sometimes downright silly, academic asides. Author tour. (July)