A Criminal Appeal

Nora Lumley #1

by D.R. Schanker

When a thirteen-year-old deaf black child is convicted of a murder he did not commit, Nora Lumsey, a recent law school graduate and clerk at the Indiana Court of Appeals, is drawn into the case as she sets out to find the real killer and encounters a world of harsh injustice and high-level cover-up. A first novel. 10,000 first printing.

Genres: Mystery

336 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 1998

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this book was the beginning few chapters. The author, a Hoosier law clerk on the court of appeals himself, seems to encapsulate the experience and life in Indiana. I was frequently disturbed about some of his passages regarding the sexual impulses of his character, Nora. Women just don't think that way; men, yes, but not women. The style of writing is predictably annoying at times, but overall I enjoyed reading it.

[Kali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book sitting in a little library, read the first page and couldn’t put it down. This book had me conflicted for many reasons.

What I liked about the book is that the story reads pretty interesting, it made me want to keep reading. Not many stories where you hear about God and people in the story keep their faith. Lumsey though has many conflicting feelings within her which kind of bothered me, but that’s her character. Despite not relating with Lumsey it was a good read.

I’m split between a 3-4 star, but after reading the ending I didn’t think the story was too bad.

[Helena · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author didn’t seem to understand women’s relationships and the trope about “big-boned women” got pretty tiresome. The big reveal wasn’t all that surprising. Not one of my favorites.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Indianapolis a ten-year-old deaf-mute boy, Dexter Hinton, has been tried as an adult for the murder of an elderly white woman, and has been sentenced to 55 years. Unsubtle white legal clerk Nora Lumsey is instructed by her white judge to draw up the motion rejecting Dexter's appeal, but as she noses into the case she discovers evidence that, far from being thrown out, the appeal should be granted. She also finds that Dexter grandfather, acting in loco parentis, lives just a couple of doors away from her.

Soon, in alliance with Dexter's teacher at the deaf school he used to attend, Owedia Braxton, Nora is breaking all the rules of the legal profession's propriety and uncovering, not just the real killer, a kingpin of Indianapolis's gang culture, but also the extent of the good-ol'-boy corruption that holds the city in its thrall.

There's lots of good stuff here, and I'm not surprised the novel was nominated for an Edgar. Schanker does a fairly fine job of tackling Nora's inner conflictions as she gets over her racist upbringing -- not without occasional recidivism -- and learns to look past her first impressions of people to see them, for good or ill, as they are.