Ram RS’s Reviews > Marc Kadella Mysteries Vol 1-9 > Status Update

I’ve been noticing this for a while now but some subtle racism is leaking through the author’s writing. He seems to assume white is the default race. “With a white defendant, the racial composition of the jury shouldn’t be a factor.” Non-white is not a special case, Dennis. Race is always a factor.

This book is better than the previous one. The crime has already happened, the accused is already being represented, and we’re almost at the trial. I like legal thrillers with as much courtroom trial content as possible.

I’m quite a way into the third book now and the writing has gotten better (as in, fewer typos) but character bios are repeated verbatim and the writer uses skin color description for book white people alone. Also, read the books in order - the endings of the two previous books were spoiled in the first half of the third though each book is technically an independent mystery.

At long last, 55/90 chapters into the second book, the crime has been committed and the lawyer retained. So. Much. Backstory. But if that means future books spend a lot less time on backstory, it’d be worth it.

I’m at chapter 41/90 in the second book and the “judge has been accused of murder” is yet to happen. So much backstory and side stories though, at least not all of them disconnected. I hope the main plot kicks in soon.

I’m a few chapters into book 2 now, and I’ve forgiven (or at least forgotten thanks to the books I read between this and the previous) the problems with #1. There is a lot of new characters and backstories to them but all quite interesting.

At last, we're at trial. This book is more like a political thriller than a legal one. The author claims to write better (more realistic) than most legal thrillers. By that, if he meant that the legal stuff would be written in as boring a manner as a lawyer's paperwork, he was right. No legal maneuvers just yet and going by reviews, the author uses the twist-at-the-last-minute gambit, which I am not a huge fan of.

The story is really good. Corrupt people galore and not even the protagonist is a Boy Scout type, so that makes for good reading. One of the characters is a little difficult to believe though, makes one wonder how a first time offender can be so good at the offense. Maybe that will be addressed later. Grammatical errors still aplenty though. Use commas, author!

The story is nice enough but God, the grammar! Ever heard of this new concept called commas, Mr. Carstens? Or to put in a way you’d understand, “Ever heard of this new concept called commas Mr. Carstens?”