Robert Whitlow’s The Witnesses is an entertaining story about law and romance in the South. Frank House aka Franz Haus has a new life in America. He served on General Berg’s staff where he was known as the Aryan Eagle because of his insights into future situations and his ability to predict the outcomes. He deserted after a horrific experience near the end of World War II, then spent the balance of the war hiding in plain site as a fisherman on the Seine. Feeling called to the US, he traveled here, married, and had children. His daughter and son were killed by a drunk driver and his grandson, Parker, came to live with him. Now Frank and his best friend, Lenny, spend most of their days fishing.
Parker, now grown, is an attorney in a small law firm in New Bern, NC. The newest member of the firm, his partners load all the scut work and research on him. Parker occasionally has brilliant insights that have helped the partners win cases. On one case in particular, Parker urges Greg, the senior partner, to keep a particular juror—a pretty, blonde photographer, Layla Donovan. That instinct served them well and Parker is intrigued. When he runs into her at a friend’s wedding—he attending, she taking pictures—he decides to pursue the interest.
Greg decides to invite premier attorney, Thomas Blocker, to work with them on a case where their expertise is lacking. Blocker agrees only if his contact at the firm is Parker. Parker learns to his chagrin that Blocker is Layla’s father.
The cases proceed as does Thomas’s interest in Layla—and Blocker’s interest in Parker. The characters are well-written, the story proceeds in deliberate order, and we learn about and come to care for Frank and Parker and Layla. The descriptions are apt but not excessive and the action intriguing. You’ll enjoy the development of the story and the characters. Four stars.
Robert Whitlow is a multi-published author, who writes legal fiction set in the South. He won a Christy Award for Contemporary Fiction. He received his JD from the University of Georgia School of Law and was on the staff of the Georgia Law Review.
Thomas Nelson gave me a copy of The Witnesses, but I was in no way obligated to write a good review.
Deb’s Dozen: Bible History Persian Era Brought to Life in a Harvest of Rubies
Tessa Afshar is a brilliant author whose first book, Pearl in the Sand, resulted in her being voted as “New Author of the Year” by the Reader’s Choice Awards. She was born in Iran and lived there for her first fourteen years, attended a boarding school for girls in England, and then moved to the US. She converted to Christianity in her twenties and her life changed. She holds an MDiv from Yale and for the last thirteen years has served in full-time Christian service.
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Lynette Eason has four series to her credit: Women of Justice, Deadly Reunions, Hidden Identity, and Elite Guardians. You will want to read all of them. She is the winner of two American Christian Fiction Writer Carol Awards, the Selah Award, a Golden Scroll Award and others. She lives in South Carolina where she plots more murder and mayhem