Anatomy of a Murder

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The judge's lifetime of of experience is on full display here, talking with the reader through Biegler's conversations with Manion and others about the nature of law itself: its uses, its shortcomings. For example, there was the time a kid farted really loudly during my lecture about gerunds, and there were a bunch of accusations and counter-accusations about who dealt it and who smelt it and who denied it and who supplied it. Especially as the defence Lawyer, Paul Biegler, expresses his thoughts while talking to witnesses or questioning them in Court.

Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). Well, no, the second par of that's not fair; once it gets going, everyone begins putting in those eighteen-+-hour days and falling asleep at their desks. A rarely used defence of ‘Irresistible Impulse’ (read as, not guilty by virtue of temporary insanity). At forty, Paul Biegler's world seemed to have come to an end: after ten years as DA in his small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the people had elected a new hero, a young army veteran.It was surprising how few people ever learned to follow the arrow and instead stood there gripped by a sort of dumb enchantment, pounding stupidly on my private door.

But it isn't enough that a jury might sympathize with Manion morally: how can he be defended legally? I stood looking up over the Miners' State Bank as the big waning yellow moon swam out from behind a jagged dark cliff of cloud. While I've been reading legal thrillers by John Grisham for the last fifteen years, I'd never heard of this 1950s-era novel. The other images from popular media, though, the ones of lawyers seizing on any slender possibility that could remotely work in their favor?I really liked the trial, which has great battles between the two main attorneys, the prosecuting attorney-hired gun from LOWER Michigan, who takes some shots as a snob by the UP-defender Traver, though he also makes fun of some of the small town no-nonsense life “up there”. One quick bit of comic relief is the trial of an alcoholic who steals a case of whiskey and admits it right from the first; he just wants to plead guilty and go to jail, so shut up, judge! He needs a case; he's not the only defense attorney in his small Michigan town, and the other one's flashier; his secretary, Maida (the perfect 50's secretary, sassy and efficient both), would like to be paid her salary, thank you. I'll have to look for the movie, as Jimmy Stewart won an Oscar for his portrayal of Paul Biegler, and he was always a favorite actor of mine.

Martin's in 1958, Robert Traver's Anatomy of a Murder immediately became the number one best seller in America, and was subsequently turned into the successful and now classic Otto Preminger film. There boxes of carbon paper, ruled legal pads and brown manila envelopes and all the rest had taken the place of Grandma's steaming platters of pig hocks and sauerkraut.Because Jimmy Stewart plays our hero in the movie, there may be little doubt going in as to how the case will turn out – but it's not that simple. As my car turned the corner the headlights swept the rows of tall drooping elms planted by my father when he was a young man--much younger than I--and gleamed bluely on the darkened windows. One day, and all in good time, I would doubtless marry and move my lucky bride in among all the clanking curios and relics in the old house on Hematite Street. Based on a real-life murder case that Voelker/Traver successfully defended, the plot contains no real surprises or twists, although there are some minor reversals of fortune, and while there are some colorful characters their actions and dialogue often strain credibility to the daytime soap opera limit and beyond. I had heard of this novel most of my life, and I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about back in its day.