Follow Mary's Tour and Enjoy!
Have you just left Maggie Ball, The Compulsive Reader? Welcome to Book Readers Heaven!
If you started here and want to go back to catch up, click over for Interview with Mary.
You can continue on to Dallas Woodburn's Writing Life for the next tour stop!
If you'd like to get to know the main character a little before reading about the first book in the trilogy, click over to read a short story by the author...
Anyone entering the room might think he had stepped into a small warehouse of fine china. So stunning was the contrast with the simple, sleek style of the other rooms that anyone might believe he had mistakenly entered a room belong to an entirely different person. Numerous tables, all laden with stacks of chinaware, were crowded together. The first impression was one of a jumble, but precise organization rapidly became apparent. The den was brimming.
In neat rows and categorized piles, dinner platters, bread and butter plates, teacups and saucers lines the tables. Several massive soap tureens squatted on various tables. All was laid out not with great imagination, but with a view to displaying wares for sale....He went straight to his favorite set of place settings. His mother loved chinaware, particularly the delicate floral pattern of Spode...
Momentarily a sense of peace settled upon him. Before he killed...he had to choose the right piece. First, he picked up the sugar bowl and turned it to the light. Too precious....{he} caressed a teapot's rounded side, so cool and smooth to the touch...Holding the elegant pot up to the lamp, he grasped the spout firmly. With one quick wrench, he snapped it off. Slowly, he ran...over the edges. The break was clean and smooth. Carefully he placed the broken pot and spout on the table and covered them with a snowy white napkin.
As he slipped a razor and knife in his pocket, he heard the chant from the dark figures. "Kiss...kiss. One last kiss!"
"Good night, Mother," he said softly. "One day you will be proud of me. Perhaps I will learn compassion." He turned out the light, and was gone.
~~~
Conduct in Question:
The first in a Trilogy
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If you're a regular reader here at Book Readers Heaven, you may have already read about Martin's other Trilogy...If not, check out:
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| http://gabixlerreviews -bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com /2015/01/night-crossing-by-mary- e-martin-shares.html |
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| http://gabixlerreviews- bookreadersheaven .blogspot.com/2015/01/the-fate -of-pryde-second-in.html |
I must mention the Trilogy of Remembrance first, because if you have read and enjoyed these books. literary drama in the art world, as much as I have, you will want to know that the Osgoode Trilogy I just began must be considered from a totally different genre--Legal Thriller!
Then I must quickly add that while totally different, Conduct in Question, for you who enjoy legal thrillers or mysteries, in particular, will be quite pleased! Martin's expertise and experience in practicing law--small estates--has been wonderfully put to creating a suspenseful, taut, and a puzzling mystery story, where readers will not be able to keep up with which "who" is doing "what." I was caught from the first page and had selected a number of characters as the main villain, which proved to be wrong, in trying to figure out, of course, who the serial killer was!
What, you thought real estate law could not be a thriller??? Wrong!
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| Frustration with his lack of artistic skill flooded the Florist as he walked swiftly up Yonge Street. He glanced at the dingy porn shops. Through grimy windows, he saw magazines with pictures of women, twisted and bent. There were photographs of men posing naked together. How sick, disgusting, and depressing, he thought. Sometimes he yearned for the cleansing power of fire to destroy such depravity. He shook his head. No one appreciated fine art anymore. At least he reached Bloor Street, where the shops were more suited to his taste. In one small bookstore he examined the art section, finding what he was looking for deep within the racks of books: a selection of line drawings by the masterful French painter, Matisse...he was transported by the beauty and expression in the effortless flow of line...How could an artist achieve such life and magnificent truth with just one or two lines? |
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| ...His carvings were much too fussy. On his last one, he had striven for greater artistic style and flair. The scrolling stem along her neck was a bood beginning. How splendid it was to create a masterful mark with just a few lines...He would learn from Matisse. An artist must rise to the challenge. This time, he would seek the finest canvas to satisfy his requirements. ~~~ |
I loved how Martin molded her story completely around the community's land dealings, while concurrently, everybody in town was afraid because of the continued hideous attacks on young women... You see, as many artists do, "The Florist" tried to follow the works of Henri Matisse, by carving flowers, with a knife, into his victims bodies... 
Certainly not like a tattoo that somebody might choose, especially since the color was always red...the blood running from the cuts that had been made... Whew!When we meet our main character, he seems quite the milquetoast. His flamboyant boss has been the front man for their law firm, while he has been kept in the back, doing all of the work...
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| He opened the door...Frank Sasso, a friend of Suzannah Deighton, Marjorie's himself to his feet, Frank Sasso demanded, "Where's the check from Suzannah's trust... Harry swallowed hard. "What are you talking about, Frank? You know any application for money has to go through Gideon Trust." "Listen, Jenkins. That partner of yours said the check was gonna be ready this morning..." ~~~ |
Harry Jenkins was really an unhappy man--with his job, with his wife, and especially his lack of freedom...Then everything changed...
His boss dropped dead at the office and he was left the only partner in their firm. Frankly, his death was not really a loss, except he had taken out a personal loan against the firm! And now Harry was being hounded by the bank officer to repay!
At the time of his boss's death, Harry had just been given the instructional handover of the estate of Marjorie Deighton.
Later, they had been scheduled to meet with Marjorie, to revise her will, but when he and his secretary got there, they found Marjorie dead...
Jenkins was positive that this really wasn't a natural death, even though the first police investigation indicated it was..
Two deaths--his boss who had brought a ton of past poor decisions to rest now on Jenkins... including a mysterious "secret trust" of Marjorie Deighton, which was not included anywhere in the office's files!
And the dysfunctional family of Marjorie, who immediately surrounded him like wolves, waiting for the will to be read and handled...
Then Jenkins thought he found some relief, when a new client came to him, asking him to handled everything related to the acquisition of a group of sites,which surrounded the Deighton home, as well as a church... The latter presented its own set of problems when they wanted their land changed to a commercial property in order to allow some part of its land for development.
The amazing thing for readers to watch is the slow change of Harry Jenkins as he tackles each and every issue in a professional, courageous manner--even when he makes some wrong decisions, that gets him into worse trouble, he carefully and meticulously faces the challenge and moves to correct...the type of lawyer we'd all like to work with when needed!
The author's character development of Suzannah Deighton was critical for the storyline. She was the youngest of three siblings due to inherit; however, the more important part of this character is her being trapped in a relationship with a man who abused her. In fact, all three were so uniquely crafted, along with the back story of each, that it makes you wonder how they were all still interacting as a family unit... The entire character development and dialogue is outstanding in so many different ways! I loved it! I believe you will too! Highly recommended!
GABixlerReviews
MARY E. MARTIN is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of THE OSGOODE TRILOGY--CONDUCT IN QUESTION, FINAL PARADOX and A TRIAL OF ONE--about murder and fraud, love and forgiveness in the world of the law. Meet attorney Harry Jenkins, a lawyer and a true gentleman.
AND
THE TRILOGY OF REMEMBRANCE-- THE DRAWING LESSON, THE FATE OF PRYDE and NIGHT CROSSING-- is about artists and revelations in the glitter and shadows of the art world. Meet Britain's finest landscape artist, Alexander Wainwright.
The books in THE OSGOODE TRILOGY are legal suspense novels, inspired by her many years of law practice in Toronto, Canada. The protagonist lawyer, Harry Jenkins, while unraveling murder and fraud, finds along the way, love, compassion and understanding. She writes with the sure knowledge of an insider and creates a rich tapestry of characters and fast paced plots.
Upon completion of THE OSGOODE TRILOGY, she began THE TRILOGY OF REMEMBRANCEand created an entirely different world--of art and artists. The Drawing Lesson, which won Honorable Mention in the New York Festival of Books, is the first novel and The Fate of Pryde is the second. NIGHT CROSSING won honourable mention in the London Festival of Books.
Alexander Wainwright is a painter whose magical light enchants viewers with visions of the beyond. He travels throughout the world in constant search of his muse seeking answers to the big questions such as --do we live in a random world or one governed by secret, mysterious forces. Or, how can the very best and very worst of mankind thrive in the breast of one man? Or must a creative spirit choose between his art and true love?
After writing, art and photography are her greatest passions. Currently, she is exploring the world of cyberspace as a place to tell story. "Why," she asks, "should a character be confined to the pages of a novel?" And so you will find Alexander Wainwright star of this trilogy, exploring time travel and other mysteries of cyberspace where he meets famous artists and writers. This means lots of blog-sized stories are waiting for you.
Sign up for her blog at http://maryemartintrilogies.com/blog
...which she frequently shares with Alexander Wainwright
AND visit Alexander on his Facebook page Alexander Wainwright-A Character of The Trilogy of Remembrance. Please consider liking his page as it would mean ever so much to him.
AND visit the Facebook page for The Trilogy of Remembrance. It loves "likes" too!
MARY E. MARTIN graduated in Honours History at the University of Toronto and in law at Queens University, Kingston. She practised law for thirty years in Toronto. She and her husband live in Toronto and have three adult children, one grandson and one granddaughter.
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