Judicial Whispers [Paperback]

The characters of this book, even though not the happiest lot, were so well developed that I felt as if I knew them. Ms. Fraser is able to write in such a way that you befriend each one of them, wishing that you could help them out of their triangular dilemma: Anthony loves Rachel who loves Leo who loves Anthony. Certainly not a happy ending, but a realistic and practical one for all involved. My favorite character was Rachel's secretary, Felicity, hopelessly zany and unorganized, but so likeable. I also was interested in the intriguing British court system which is so unlike ours. This book keeps your interest high from cover to cover and is well worth reading.

Caro Fraser's "Judicial Whispers" reads as if she wrote it for the PBS "Masterpiece Theater" series. There are tons of characters. The thoughts and movements of everyone of them have been detailed as if giving actors directions. What should have been included in this novel, originally published in 1995 and just now being released by St. Martin's Press, is a glossary or preface explaining British legal terms. That would help Americans follow the story better. Advocate Leo Davies, 44, wants to "take silk" and become a "Queens Counsel." There's no explanation what this means to the London lawyer, though it's apparent that Leo's elegant flat (apartment), country home and sexual exploits with young men and women won't be enough to satisfy him if he doesn't get voted in by a gaggle of aging judges. So Leo, taking a suggestion from one of the more open minded of the judges, decides to hide his bisexuality by dating a nice girl over the winter. The liaison, he decides, will last until the silks, whatever they may be, are awarded at Easter. It almost sounds as if the author is setting up a "La Cage aux Folles" type of plot, with lots of punch lines and pratfalls. Fraser isn't. Her thoughts are darker, more sinister. At a boring reception, Leo picks up a stoned young woman who happens to be the beautiful and brilliant attorney, Rachel Dean. Rachel has deep flaws. She's been physically abused by men in the past and can't love or make love. Leo, of course, easily breaks through her ice and she falls for him, spurning another young lawyer, Anthony Cross. Cross, a past protege of Leo's, may be ambivalent about his sexuality but he knows he loves the cool, aloof Rachel. Cross becomes cross with Leo for stealing his prize. The most human character in an otherwise stiff bunch is Felicity, Rachel's bumbling secretary. It's Felicity's inept typing, copying and mailing skills that help move the plodding plot along. There are lots of other minor characters, such as the office manager who sexually harasses Felicity, Leo's mother, some of Leo's past lovers and Felicity's boyfriend, who beats up the groping office manager. Those who watch "Masterpiece Theater" know that British drama doesn't usually reach the emotional crescendo American television programs do. "Judicial Whispers" recounts a bumpy time in Leo's life, but there is no showdown or retribution for his manipulating and philandering ways. "Judicial Whispers" might be just right for someone who wants to enjoy a PBS-type story line without having to look at a picture tube.

First, let me vent a little about the marketing. The cover blurb mentions Rumpole of the Bailey, implying the book will be similar. Not hardly. This is not a mystery, there is no mystery to be found in this story whatsoever. The legal machinations that the reader sees are merely part of the background, setting up ways for characters to meet, to work together and to inhabit a life. No case is followed and no case has any bearing on the events of the story other than as a plot vehicle to move A to B and so on.

However, just because I felt misled by the marketing doesn't have anything to do with the book itself. The plot is interesting, the characters are sufficiently complex that I should want to know what happened to them, though I didn't engage as fully with them as I could have if the author had more discipline.

Authors should show, not tell, allowing a reader to infer the character's motivation. By leaving that up to the reader, the author will draw the reader in to the story, breathe life into the characters and make the reader care about the characters. This is because the reader has played an active role in coming to understand the characters' motivations.

When the author, as Caro Fraser does relentlessly, leads you through the characters' motivations step by step, explaining everything as fully as possible, then you don't have to actively engage to understand the characters. Inevitably, you are not going to care as much about the characters as when you have to think about why they are doing something.

One example will suffice. A senior clerk in the chambers fears that he will be shuffled off into retirement if Leo takes silk. How does the reader know that? Because Caro Fraser puts the reader into the clerk's mind while he thinks about this and decides to try to derail Leo's application.

How could she have presented this differently? She could have had the clerk find out about the application, talk about it with someone who points out the possibility of this affecting his own supervisor, and then a conversation where he stars his whispering campaign against Leo. Then the reader would wonder why he did that and try to understand. If Fraser wanted to insure that the reader got it, she could then insert another conversation with the clerk spreading some gossip, the recipient of that gossip wondering why and then going AHA, you think that if Leo gets the.... This way, the reader who wants to be engaged in the story will have an opportunity to figure it out and the AHA will confirm it and the reader that can't figure it out would still get the motivation handed to him or her, but not before having time to think about it a bit. Instead, it's all laid out in one fell swoop, a shortcut that cuts short any possibility of fully engaging in the story.

He's a minor character and taking a shortcut with him is okay, but when altogether too many characters and every single one of the main characters have their actions explained it's tiresome and, as I have said, disconnects the reader from fully caring about anyone.

This story has great potential. Many of the characters are written to be likeable, even Leo whose actions are motivated by single-minded and selfish ambition. I think, however, that I would like him better if I was left alone to work out his motives.

As a reader, I dislike it when an authors tells instead of shows. It implies that the author doesn't trust her readers to "get it" without her intervention.

If you have nothing better to read, you can spend a couple mindless hours with this book without coming to any harm. However, reading it as written is an exercise in detachment. I prefer to read books that more fully engage me and it is a testament to some subtle skill on Caro Fraser's part that I bothered to finish it at all.

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