Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

Welcome to our discussion on Anatomy of A Murder, by Robert Traver, which is part of our Spring/Summer Collection Group Reads. Your discussion leader is Lisa.
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Summary
First published by St. Martin's in 1958, Robert Traver's Anatomy of a Murder immediately became the number-one bestseller in America, and was subsequently turned into the successful and now classic Otto Preminger film. It is not only the most popular courtroom drama in American fiction, but one of the most popular novels of our time.

A gripping tale of deceit, murder, and a sensational trial, Anatomy of a Murder is unmatched in the authenticity of its settings, events, and characters. This new edition should delight both loyal fans of the past and an entire new generation of readers.

Hi everyone, looking forward to this read - it’s supposed to be a good one!

Greetings, everyone! Same here, I got my copy and can't wait to read this in June :-)

Per FantasticFiction.com:
"Robert Traver is the pseudonym of John D. Voelker who served as the Prosecuting Attorney of Marquette County, Michigan and later as the 74th Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court."
I'm looking forward to reading it!

Ooo, I didn’t know that, Pam!

I'm in.

Ive started and its promising.

Waiting for mine to come in to the library...

Leena wrote: "Ive started and its promising."

My bad, updating the wrong thread. Ive started the boynin ehe Woods

Hi!
I finished reading Anatomy of a Murder at 2:45 AM ... It kept my attention all the way through; however, the ending sucked! GRRRR!

Oh crap! Mine is in and I’ll be picking it up tomorrow…

Interesting so far.

I loved this one. It seems so old school in light of what happens in court these days.

Just getting started. I think I'm going to like this, considering the writing style of the Foreword, and the great description of the street and Paul's office. Very rich, I can picture it well.

˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜ wrote: "I loved this one. It seems so old school in light of what happens in court these days."

Sheri, I agree. The way that Paul (view spoiler)[ gently coaches and leads the Lieutenant towards the insanity defense, looking for some self-awareness and authenticity there, is striking. (hide spoiler)] I feel like now, the lawyer just leads the show and tells his client - here’s what we’re going to do. Whether it’s honest, or ethical, or not. Paul definitely had a desired outcome here, but went about it in a respectable way, and in a way that helped him learn about his client.

This author has a distinctive voice, and I’m really enjoying his writing. We know so much up front that I’m just bracing myself for what is sure to be many unforeseen events that are going to unfold here.

Finally finished this book. I loved it. It was incredibly dense text that demanded every single word carefully read, and therefore took me a long time. I found this a fascinated read that detailed so many aspects of a trial, as well as the details of both prosecution and defense. This book was truly unlike anything I've read.

I found the differences between a trial in the 50s and now very interesting as well. Biegler called out Dancer for focusing on trying to convict this man, rather than illustrating the case. I feel like that is exactly what all defense lawyers do in present times, and I often think that prosecution and defense should be more united in presenting events to a jury, rather than focusing on "winning".

(view spoiler)[I was dying to know the story behind the story here, and we never really find out. What was the motivation for Quill to do what he did? Was he suicidal? In despair over Mary? Was the bartender, Paquette, complicit somehow? As much as I would have liked to know these things, I can live with the fact that it's not disclosed, because it's realistic. Often, that makes for a better book than dramatic reveals. And the fact that the Manions stole away in the night makes me think that the Lieutenant indeed used Paul, is a jealous and irrational man, and wanted to get his wife as far away from Paul as he could, as quickly as possible.
His evasion of payment also reinforces the idea that he is a bad man who worked every angle he could to get off here, with no intention of taking care of Paul. (hide spoiler)]

Plenty of other things swimming around in my head right now - what do others think?

Lisa wrote: "Finally finished this book. I loved it. It was incredibly dense text that demanded every single word carefully read, and therefore took me a long time. I found this a fascinated read that detailed ..."

Lisa, I'm really late to the discussion; somehow I thought that this book was for July!

But I'm still glad I got my hands on the book and its because this group did read it as some point. I am nearly halfway through and like you, I found the text dense and it took a while to get really into the story — I think that there's a little bit of descriptive text but I kind of ignore it when it gets too much and just focus on the story line.

I'm just getting into the trial. This will be the area of the book that I will have to particularly pay attention because this is where all the skills of the lawyers come into play. I already think that D.A. Mitch Lodwick will not come out very well. Have not come across the prosecutor you mentioned (I looked up the 1959 movie based on the book and that role went to George C. Scott, which would be really great to see).

Hi Pamela! The trial is fascinating and so well written, in my opinion. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts. The denseness continues, but I found it terribly interesting.

Lisa, what makes you ask of Quill is suicidal? I didn't pick up on that.

˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜ wrote: "Lisa, what makes you ask of Quill is suicidal? I didn't pick up on that."

Hi Sheri! It felt to me like Quill went out and attacked Laura to invite Lieutenant Manion’s wrath. (view spoiler)[ Although Quill was a ladies’ man, it seemed like the rape was entirely uncharacteristic. Then it seemed like he couldn’t “finish”, let her go, and then attacked her again, like he was conflicted. There was much made about his prowess with guns and his weapons behind the bar, yet he made no move to use one. He positioned himself behind the bar, and sent his bartender out on the floor, almost like he presented himself as a target, and reducing risk of injury to others. The bartender also was apparently on lookout for him, declining the option to sit down with customers, instead remaining standing, watching the door. It was said that Quill never stood behind the bar to give his bartender a break, nor did he ever buy rounds for the house, which he also did that night. Almost like a farewell. Adding all of this up seemed to me like he set these events into motion and stood there and waited to die. (hide spoiler)] But if so, why?

Interesting and I don't know why. Maybe guilt?