Juror

Stanley Hastings #6

by Parnell Hall

Shanghaied into jury duty and placed on a hopelessly boring civil case, Stanley Hastings swings into action when a juror is murdered, and engineers a most unusual courtroom climax. An amusing inside look at the jury selection system and a must for any prospective juror.

"This unlikely private detective operates in an exquisitely refined state of paranoia ... he manages to effect a pretty astonishing resolution to the mystery ... (the case) turns out to have a surprising kick at the end.”
—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

"Terrific…You’re never, never, never, ever gonna guess whodunit!" —San Diego Tribune

"A great book … hilarious … you’ll become addicted to Stanley Hastings." —Mystery News

"The last scene of the tale's approximately forty in-court pages embodies a terrific stunt payoff, and, all in all, this is a hugely enjoyable novel."
—Jon L. Breen, Novel Verdicts, The Armchair Detective

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

262 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly and dated, but clever

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

this time stanly gets jury duty even tho hes self employed and should be exempt, as he got a w2 for his small one line part in arnolds movie a long time ago.

as he describes his jury process you can tell its accurate! its so funny when its someone else describing it and not you actually living it

so he finally gets on a case. one of the beautiful women, a want to be actress, comes on to him, but even he knows its cause she wants something from him

first she tries to get him to fake a slip and fall for her to get $, when that doesnt work she has him pick her up and drop her off to jury duty which his wife is not happy about (dont blame her)

he goes up to her apt when she is making him late again and finds her dead body

well this is a different cop and not very bright so his friend the cop suggests he look into it so he can not wind up a suspect again

i only have a few pages left and im still not sure who did it! but from the phone records he just got i think he knows

totally didnt see that coming , it was the gray haired lawyer, silver fox! guess the woman asked him to do the same scam he did for her friend for the slip and fall years ago so he killed her

[Angie Boyter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+. With one exception(Safari) I have much enjoyed this laid-back series about a very soft-boiled private detective who specializes in trip-and-fall cases but keeps running into dead bodies....
And having been on juries and had to sit through other kinds of court cases as well, I especially enjoyed the descriptions of court procedures jurors must suffer.

[Constance Holtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stanley's finally getting it.

I love Stanley, but he's been pretty dense through 5 books. This time around, with coaching, he got it right. Missed the reference to The Monkees, though. I like the series and plan on sticking around to see how much smarter Stanley gets.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoying the Stanley Hastings series, despite the fact that they're a bit outdated. Still amusing stories with a fun plot twist.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another highly entertaining mystery, with a good mix of humor and puzzle.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok, so it's not great literature, but it sure is a fun read.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detective Hasting gets jury duty and discovers another murder.