I have just finished John Fairfax’s Summary Justice, the first of his courtroom thrillers featuring the convicted-murderer-become-barrister William Benson and his much more conventional and accredited lawyer cum tutor Tess de Vere. I am delighted to say it is a winner and a wonderful opening to what looks to be a series somewhat akin to the Cormoran Strike – Robin Ellacott detective mysteries.
The three biggest points of correspondence are just the ones you’d want to find if you’re a Serious Striker.
First, the novel was a satisfying story unto itself with twists upon twists, spectacular back and forth revelations in the Old Bailey, and delightfully involved narratives written by both the murder victim and by the murderer. Summary Justice works as a stand-alone book.
Second, there are two background mysteries akin to Robin’s reasons for dropping out of college and the death of Leda Strike. Tess de Vere has just returned to the UK after years overseas and why she left and came back is only hinted at (her best friend Sally really wants to know). More important and urgent is whether Benson did or not did not commit the murder for which he was convicted and served eleven years in prison. Tess sets out with Sally to find out who killed Paul Harbeton if it wasn’t Benson — and what Tess learns and what we see of Will’s time at home with father and brother is not especially reassuring with respect to his innocence.
Third, the lead characters and the supporting cast are well-drawn, credible, and engaging. Benson’s sidekick from prison, Archie Congreve, his legal secretary, Molly Robson, and his legal mentor and seeming Magwitch, Miss Camberley, promise to be constants and delights in the novels to come.
I look forward, then, to starting the next book, Blind Defence, which I’m sure will be another thrill-ride, to taking the next step forward in it to learning about the over-arching mysteries, and just to spending time with Will, Tess, and Company. As I do with Strike5, right?
Please do get a copy of Summary Justice and give it at least one reading before we start discussing it next month. I was confident that it would be a great choice for our conversation after reading five of Brodrick’s Father Anselm mysteries; after finishing Summary Justice today, I know you will love it.
If you need an extra boost, read the rave reviews sans spoilers for the book at The Literary Shed (UK) and at GoodReads. Then go to the library or your local bookstore or to BookFinder4u.com, pick up your copy, and start reading!
If you are surfing the internet and wind up at J. K. Rowling’s home website, that’s 
We’ve already learned a lot from this trick. Prof Beatrice Groves’ four part series on Rowling and Scotland was inspired at least in part by her learning this trick and trying to figure out the badge photo near the top of the page. Rowling’s internet minions have changed the foto used for the ipad screen consequent to her latest re-tweet of a Pottermore message about the Times Square event (so right-clicking on the badge only brings up the iPad), but early last month it brought up the picture to your right. Prof Groves with a little help from her friends recognized it as the Murray Clan broach and the rest is history.
This week I hope to post several pictures here from JKRowling.com and Robert-Galbraith.com to challenge you to figure out what they are, why it might be on the home page, or just what it means. Today’s mystery image is from the upper right hand corner of the homepage and almost completely covered by the iPad with Rowling’s current twitter page on it. 
Anyone care to guess which album it is or why she chose it for her homepage? The Smiths were one of Rowling’s favorite rock bands at UExeter, but they didn’t make her list of Desert Island Discs; how do they rate this just barely visible picture on the front page of the world’s best selling author? The closest match I could find for it was 
ET Online: Do you have a Fantastic Beasts 3 update for us?
The man sounds positively petrified of saying something he shouldn’t (or is that just his response to a reporter asking him about a film other than the one he is supposed to be talking about?). Regardless of Redmayne, we now have to add that answer to the pile of possible answers to the question, “What is The Presence doing if she’s not tweeting every day?” The speech for the 
I am just off the phone with Prof Louise Freeman, and, yes, we will both be speaking at the
Wizards and muggles from near and far descend upon Staunton, Virginia for the annual Queen City Mischief & Magic. With a touch of wizardry, the historic downtown is transformed into a magical village, offering themed shopping, dining and hands-on activities for all ages.
This is not an academic conference, in other words, akin to either the annual MLA gathering in Albuquerque or the Chestnut Hill College colloquium. QCMM is a fan gathering with a serious egghead side-show of talks about the Harry Potter books and films, talks accessible to all levels of readers. HogwartsProfessor.com faculty will be featured this year in that aspect of the festival; I’ll be talking about ‘Why We Love Harry Potter’ and Prof Freeman, a Psychology Professor and licensed Behavior Analyst, will discuss ‘Magic and Mental Health.’ In addition to my keynote talk, I’ll be speaking at a local church and in several Mary Baldwin classrooms.
The conference House-elves have a tentative schedule and plan for venues that will be posted soon on the QCMM website, 
I learned at 
Here is your one-stop resource for Oxford University’s Beatrice Groves’ work posted online! This page is posted under ‘
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