Sworn to Defend

Brooklyn lawyer Cass Jameson gets Keith Jernigan out of jail and scheduled for a new trial. However, she begins to question whether, although innocent of the crime he was jailed for, he may be guilty of more serious crimes, and a present danger to women - including her. However, this is only the start of the serious problems Ms. Jameson will shortly face. This a face-paced story with new twists, plot developments, and surprises in every chapter. The novel is hard to put down, and as you approach its end, it's almost impossible to do so. The solution of the mysteries, there are some minor subplots, may prove surprising, and the quite sudden and unexpected resolution of Kate's nightmarish problems may remind one a bit of the sudden resolution in the last paragraph of Poe's "Pit and the Pendulum" Along the way, one learns a bit about Japanese antiques (netsuke, sagemono collections, choba dansu, etc.), darkroom techniques (now disappearing in these days of digital photography), and the religious practices of New York's Crown Heights Hasidic Community If you like to be kept completely in the dark about later plot issues, please skip the next paragraph until after you read the book, and go directly to the conclusion below. However, if you don't mind some minor discussion of plot issues, or you have already read the book and are looking at other reviews - read on. With this mystery there are some minor discrepancies, e.g., at the end of Chapter 19 Cass tells us that she is looking at a photograph, not at the image, but at the angle it was taken. As an avid photographer, Ms. Jameson should certainly have been able to distinguish the differences in perspective and depth of field between a wide-angle and telephoto lens. This novel clearly demonstrates Ms. Wheat's superb ability as a story teller and writer, while it concurrently reveals a slight weakness in developing a flawless mystery resolution. In conclusion, this is an interesting action-filled story whose twenty-five chapters will keep your attention from start to finish, which, in spite of some minor weaknesses, is highly recommended.

At the Appellate level, Brooklyn attorney Cass Jamison proves that her client Keith Jernigan could not have committed the robbery that he was previously convicted of, thus obtaining freedom for the innocent man. Subsequently, Cass gets embroiled in a divorce case when her tenant Nellis Cartwright wants her previous settlement with her former spouse, Grant Eddongton, re-negotiated because she insists her attorney, a friend of Cass, botched up the case. Keith reappears in Cass' life when the son of her secretary is arrested after forming a friendship with the man. Cass suspects that Keith had something to do with the arrest and begins to investigate the man. She learns that though he was framed for the robbery count that she got him acquitted on, he threw acid into the face of a former girlfriend. When Nellis is shot in her office, Cass thinks that she might have been the intended target and wonders if she is again going to on guard until she gets some answers. SWORN TO DEFEND is a great 250 page mystery novel that fans will swear is one of the best fictions pieces of the year due to an intriguing twist on the story line in which the client is innocent of the charges, but culpable for a more devastating crime. However, the final few pages seem as if Carolyn Wheat needed an upbeat-like ending for a climax, which thankfully fails to take away from a greatand fast-paced tour of Brooklyn that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Fans of urban legal procedurals need to read this novel and Cass' previous two stories (DEAD MAN'S THOUGHTS and MEAN STREAK) for some of the best the crime genre has to offer.Harriet Klausner