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Willa Jansson #6
Star Witness
Just when attorney Willa Jansson is about to take a little time off from her job at a Son Francisco multimedia firm, a friend calls in a special favor. So, on her first day of what should have been her well-earned vacation, Willa's off to Santa Cruz to solve what she hopes will be a simple case of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run. But Willa is about to discover that nothing about this case -- or the town where it occurred -- is quite as it seems. Alan Miller's sports car went over an embankment and onto the coastal highway below, landing atop another car and killing its driver. But there are no tire tracks, no witnesses, and Miller's injuries aren't consistent with a car crash. Unable to recall where he was just after the accident, Miller's memory is jogged under hypnosis -- a recollection so far-fetched that Willa knows it will never stand up in court. All of a sudden, seemingly idyllic Santa Cruz is rife with dangerous secrets, and Willa must outrun helicopters, snipers, reporters, her own interfering mother -- and try to maintain her credibility and her career by making the jury buy her client's out-of-this-world alibi. If she can just keep the witnesses alive long enough to testify....
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1997
4 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Lia Matera
35 books10 followersLia Matera is a graduate of Hastings College of the Law, where she was editor in chief of the Constitutional Law Quarterly. She was also a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School before becoming a full-time writer of legal mysteries. Prior Convictions and A Radical Departure were nominated for Edgar Allan Poe awards. The Good Fight and Where Lawyers Fear to Tread were nominated for Anthony and Macavity Awards. She has written nine novels, including the critically acclaimed Face Value. Matera lives in Santa Cruz, California.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 2, 2021
Star Witness by Lia Matera is the 6th book of the Willa Jansson mystery series set in 1990s Santa Cruz area. Willa is supposed to be on vacation from her job at a San Francisco multimedia legal firm. But she owes Fred Hershey a huge favor, from his help in the previous book (Last Chants). She can't refuse when he asks her to represent Alan Miller in a vehicular manslaughter / hit-and-run case.
Alan's car was definitely atop another car, crushing its driver. But was Alan driving at the time of the accident? Did he run away from the scene? Alan can't remember anything past picking up a hitchhiker earlier that evening, and dropping her off when he reached Davenport, his home town near Santa Cruz.
Fred puts Alan under hypnosis to recover the missing hours. A bizarre story unfolds of alien abduction. Willa learns of other events happening on the same night in Davenport that suggest extraterrestrial factors, for example mysterious crop circles. She builds a defense case with UFO experts as her supporting witnesses.
Not only does Willa need to defend Alan in court, they all need to survive attacks from an unknown killer. Plot twists abound. The courtroom scenes are entertaining, but the overall focus on UFOs really dates the book.
Alan's car was definitely atop another car, crushing its driver. But was Alan driving at the time of the accident? Did he run away from the scene? Alan can't remember anything past picking up a hitchhiker earlier that evening, and dropping her off when he reached Davenport, his home town near Santa Cruz.
Fred puts Alan under hypnosis to recover the missing hours. A bizarre story unfolds of alien abduction. Willa learns of other events happening on the same night in Davenport that suggest extraterrestrial factors, for example mysterious crop circles. She builds a defense case with UFO experts as her supporting witnesses.
Not only does Willa need to defend Alan in court, they all need to survive attacks from an unknown killer. Plot twists abound. The courtroom scenes are entertaining, but the overall focus on UFOs really dates the book.
June 29, 2020
If you are into UFO and alien abduction stuff, this book will be up your alley.
March 18, 2015
Willa Jansson was all set for a three-week no-brainer holiday when she made the mistake of answering the telephone. In a few moments visions of idyllic beaches and languid hours vanish. Psychiatrist Fred Hershey calls in a favor and Willa is hard-pressed to say no in this delightful romp through the strange.
For the past year Willa has been coasting along as a multimedia attorney—mostly because she thought it sounded cool and she’d been unemployed when the opportunity came along. Hershey wants her to defend a client accused of manslaughter in a hit and run accident with bizarre extenuating circumstances.
In this case of tabloid proportions, the accused, mushroom authority Allan Miller, maintains he can’t remember the accident happening. Under hypnosis he confessed to being kidnapped by aliens where he underwent gross experiments. Even he would rather he be guilty of the crime than admit to what his subconscious maintains happened during a period of missing time. (Cue eerie music.)
As Willa reluctantly investigates the earthly possibility that her client committed this crime, the other world of UFOs and alleged abductions comes to the forefront. A crop circle is found in a field by a local citizen who brings believers from all over to Santa Cruz. Shades of Roswell, New Mexico! Even Willa experiences missing time and struggles with trying to explain it to herself.
To offer a balanced defense she requests the least kooky UFO specialists she can find. Unfortunately they can’t agree among themselves just how to explain, let alone prove, UFO abductions.
Other witnesses are afraid to testify due to the financial and social ramifications, including a runaway who makes several more breaks for freedom. Willa loses her job, when the firm catches on to the shenanigans going on in Space People’s Court.
Further complications arise because of a well-known columnist who has been sitting in on the testimony. He exposes Miller’s long ago doctoral thesis which posed the theory that mushrooms may be an alien life-form, opening the prospect of Spore Wars. Well, you get the idea.
Matera doesn’t draw any conclusions regarding the legitimacy of UFO reports or abductions, but getting there is a hoot. After all, the truth is out there.
To read the entire review go to: https://reluctantmediumatlarge.wordpr...
For the past year Willa has been coasting along as a multimedia attorney—mostly because she thought it sounded cool and she’d been unemployed when the opportunity came along. Hershey wants her to defend a client accused of manslaughter in a hit and run accident with bizarre extenuating circumstances.
In this case of tabloid proportions, the accused, mushroom authority Allan Miller, maintains he can’t remember the accident happening. Under hypnosis he confessed to being kidnapped by aliens where he underwent gross experiments. Even he would rather he be guilty of the crime than admit to what his subconscious maintains happened during a period of missing time. (Cue eerie music.)
As Willa reluctantly investigates the earthly possibility that her client committed this crime, the other world of UFOs and alleged abductions comes to the forefront. A crop circle is found in a field by a local citizen who brings believers from all over to Santa Cruz. Shades of Roswell, New Mexico! Even Willa experiences missing time and struggles with trying to explain it to herself.
To offer a balanced defense she requests the least kooky UFO specialists she can find. Unfortunately they can’t agree among themselves just how to explain, let alone prove, UFO abductions.
Other witnesses are afraid to testify due to the financial and social ramifications, including a runaway who makes several more breaks for freedom. Willa loses her job, when the firm catches on to the shenanigans going on in Space People’s Court.
Further complications arise because of a well-known columnist who has been sitting in on the testimony. He exposes Miller’s long ago doctoral thesis which posed the theory that mushrooms may be an alien life-form, opening the prospect of Spore Wars. Well, you get the idea.
Matera doesn’t draw any conclusions regarding the legitimacy of UFO reports or abductions, but getting there is a hoot. After all, the truth is out there.
To read the entire review go to: https://reluctantmediumatlarge.wordpr...
January 6, 2014
Good, simple story about a law case (in which the defendant says he didn't do it because he was being abducted and probed by aliens at the time).
Abridged audiobook read by Alexa Bauer
Approximately 3 hours
I'm reviewing Star Witness as an audiobook - more on that below.
Part of my positive reaction to this book, I am sure is a negative reaction I've recently had to several books on tape that I've listened to lately. Some have tried too hard to be overly-complicated. Some have injected way too much romance, so much that you forget it was supposed to be a legal thriller with a bit of romance, not a romance with a bit of legal thriller. However, this story is a no-frills, just-the-facts-ma'am legal story - thank goodness!
Now, this is not to say that it is not entertaining and the facts are not truly bizarre.
Lia Matera's book is set in California and involves a man who is arrested for vehicular manslaughter, but he claims he can't have done it since he was being probed by aliens in their spaceship at the time. Matera neither ridicules nor endorses the concept of alien abduction, much to her credit.
The audiobook version was performed by Alexa Bauer and she did an absolutely wonderful job. Kudos all around!
Read all of my reviews at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
Abridged audiobook read by Alexa Bauer
Approximately 3 hours
I'm reviewing Star Witness as an audiobook - more on that below.
Part of my positive reaction to this book, I am sure is a negative reaction I've recently had to several books on tape that I've listened to lately. Some have tried too hard to be overly-complicated. Some have injected way too much romance, so much that you forget it was supposed to be a legal thriller with a bit of romance, not a romance with a bit of legal thriller. However, this story is a no-frills, just-the-facts-ma'am legal story - thank goodness!
Now, this is not to say that it is not entertaining and the facts are not truly bizarre.
Lia Matera's book is set in California and involves a man who is arrested for vehicular manslaughter, but he claims he can't have done it since he was being probed by aliens in their spaceship at the time. Matera neither ridicules nor endorses the concept of alien abduction, much to her credit.
The audiobook version was performed by Alexa Bauer and she did an absolutely wonderful job. Kudos all around!
Read all of my reviews at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
April 29, 2015
Well written and well reserched
like any good lawyer Ms. Jansson has done her homework and explored every version of the truth. The motives,the prospective, and the psyches of her characters affect their versions of events. Ultimately, as Is so often the case in real life, The Rashomon effect rules all testimony. The book is great fun with a great lesson. We can know very little beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty. Even Republicans are sincere if sadly misinformed.
like any good lawyer Ms. Jansson has done her homework and explored every version of the truth. The motives,the prospective, and the psyches of her characters affect their versions of events. Ultimately, as Is so often the case in real life, The Rashomon effect rules all testimony. The book is great fun with a great lesson. We can know very little beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty. Even Republicans are sincere if sadly misinformed.
July 13, 2012
Another Willa book. She's working in 'Net law now, but hating it. Goes on vacation & gets suckered in on the defense of a case involving UFOs and alien kidnapping. Sort of a woo-woo book--too weird for me, but a fun read. Doesn't waste time trying to answer all the questions it raises, which makes it a plus for me.
January 6, 2010
A novel set in Davenport, CA,near Santa Cruz. That makes it fun because I know the territory. The story involves possible UFOs, a crop circle, and maybe murder. It was a fun read.
July 18, 2014
A good and interesting read especially if you like UFO and alien on Earth intrigue. Heavily researched with a biography in back
July 13, 2013
Boring and annoying whodunit featuring UFOs and an alien abduction alibi.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews