Disappointing. Started out well but the writing deteriorated badly. Forced myself to finish this but not sure why!

A very good first book featuring a story set in Toronto. This fact alone makes me assign one of the stars to the rating. The story is interesting, and Rotenberg distinguishes the differences between Canadian and America court room etiquette. The Canadian way seems less theatrical, more polite. Some nitpicks- I didn't like that Rotenberg had to detail out some places, as if he was dictating to a slow child. One example is when he talks about Yorkdale Mall, Instead of just saying Yorkdale mall and one adjective to describe it he goes off detailing where it is and what it is...Who cares? It's just a mall not a wonder of the world. The characters are okay, nothing amazing or interesting...But the story makes up for it.

I loved this book. I have been to Toronto and it mentioned some of my favourite places. Good writing and a great story.

murder takes place in toronto

I was mostly disappointed with this book. The writing was formulaic and lacking in any real suspense. It was a struggle to finish reading this as at no time did the story or the characters compel me to want to finish it. The last 100 pages did get better than the first 200 or so but, all-in-all if you like legal thrillers there are better choices out there.

Nicely developed characters, pretty suspenseful. If you like a good mystery this book is for you.

First book by a Toronto lawyer set in TO featuring a Detective Greene. This story is about a man who greets the paper delivery man at the door with bloody hands saying I just killed my wife then refuses to talk to anybody even his lawyer.

I'm disappointed... can't even finish reading it. The first 5 pages were compelling. But when more and more characters got involved, to me, Robert put too much words on characters' backgrounds, but solving the murder, too much details on supporting characters, like what they feel, what they wear, come on, does it have anything to do with the murder??!!! I skipped to the end, what I can say is that the mystery isn't mystical. It'll be a gernal fiction to me, definitely not a crime/detective mystery.

This is an absolutely outstanding mystery. It has it all, great characters, great plot, great setting, good pace. Radio personality, Kevin Brace, the "voice of Canada", meets his newspaper delivery person every morning with a slice of orange and a smile, while drinking his tea. Except for one morning, where he isn't there right away and when he appears, he has blood-covered hands and confesses to murdering his wife. After that Brace stops talking and won't say a word, even to his lawyer, whom he communicates with only in writing. A conviction seems certain. The police investigating the case include a seasoned homicide detective and a fairly new police officer (who turned to the police from a career as a lawyer after his brother's murder remained unsolved). They are both good at noticing things and both look at the aspects of the case very closely, finding new things to think about as the case moves forward. Also on the case is a fairly new Crown attorney, for whom this is his first homicide case. He also has his own thoughts about his role, and how that is played out for the best outcome. So very many interesting characters, with so many interesting things going on in both their personal and professional lives.

The Toronto details are so minute, I could have written it myself. Interesting use of character. Would read this author again.