Star Witness
D.W. Buffa Book Review

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Plot Summary of Star Witness

"

Putnam, May 2003, 24.95, 400 pp.
ISBN 039915034X

She is a world famous movie star married to the director who gave her a break that turned her into an American icon. When she is found murdered in her swimming pool, a stocking around her neck and her throat slit to the bone, the husband calls famous defense attorney Joseph Antonelli because he thinks the police will arrest him for the crime of premeditated murder. Joseph meets his client Stanley Roth, a few minutes before the police arrest the director.

Antonelli bails him out and agrees to defend him but there is no evidence that he can find that will exonerate his client. The only three people on the estate at the time of death were Stanley, the victim and the maid. Stanley's clothing in his hamper had his wife's blood on it and there is no evidence that Mary Margaret Flanders had any enemies. The trial is long, hard and nerve-wracking because for once Antonelli believes he is defending an innocent man.

STAR WITNESS is a great legal thriller, one that takes readers into the heart of Hollywood where appearances are everything and motives seem murky. The reader see the toll a high visible murder trial takes out of a lawyer, who in this case at least, defends a client more interested in creating another movie, certain he will be found innocent. It is fascinating to watch how a prosecutor could make a defendant look guilty with purely circumstantial evidence. D.W. Buffa keeps readers engrossed in this fulfilling drama that ends in a way nobody could have predicted.

Harriet Klausner

Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout.

"
Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Star Witness

Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%

Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Murder of certain profession? - actors/producers/directors
Kind of investigator - skilled citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - none

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - California

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 1
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript

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D.W. Buffa Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:

Harriet Klausner

SCHOLARS: David Gordon Susanna Marlowe

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Star Witness D.W. Buffa Book Review

Star Witness
D.W. Buffa Book Review