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The Undertaker's Widow
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Plot Summary of The Undertaker's Widow
"State Senator Ellen Crease is running for the U.S. Senate when her husband is gunned down in their Portland, Oregon, home. She is able to reach her bedside weapon and shoot the perpetrator. At first it looks like she killed the man in self-defense and for shooting her husband. But further investigation reveals that she may have hired the man to shoot her husband and then she shot him so that she would have no witnesses. She is immediately indicted for murder.

In the meantime Judge Quinn, a more junior superior court judge is assigned the case. While vacation just prior to the trial, he is lured by a young woman to a secluded cove for snorkeling and perhaps more. Quinn's relationship with his wife had been on the rocks and he was further disappointed when she had to stay behind and work on an important real estate deal. However, they are both being set up. The girl was sent to Quinn and her death was faked. This information and some secret photos cause Quinn to suppress evidence at the pre-trial hearings of the senator in order to preserve his own career and keep from being accused of the girl's death.

It is soon evident that the girl didn't really die, the dead man's son had a motivate for murder, and Ellen's competitor in the senatorial race may have gone too far in order to win the election. Judge Quinn must quickly find out what really happened in order to clear his name and to convict the right person."

BethG, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The Undertaker's Widow
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Legal Thriller Yes
Legal Plotlets - fighting judge/jury tampering - finding out whether someone is really guilty

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - none
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Pacific NW
City? Yes
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 3-4
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to The Undertaker's Widow
A Stain upon the Robe by Terry Devane
Rough Justice by Lisa Scottoline
Juror Number Eleven by Terry Devane
Final Justice by Nancy Kopp
A Clean Kill by Mike Stewart


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Phillip Margolin Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
BethG  

SCHOLARS:
Samantha  fran laniado  


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