Synopses & Reviews
"A bold, brash entry into the world of crime fiction. Judgment Calls is strong, smart, and shocking." - Linda Fairstein
A Judgment In Question
After three years on the job in Portland's Drug and Vice Division, Deputy DA Samantha Kincaid gets what she wants: her first case with the Major Crimes Team. Kendra Martin, a 13-year-old runaway, has been found drugged, viciously assaulted, and left for dead in the Columbia River Gorge. Despite pressures to kick the case to assault, Samantha goes for attempted murder. Unfortunately the girl's story isn't gelling. Then again, neither is the alibi of the suspect she ID'd, a low-life who insists he's innocent. One thing is certain. Kendra knows the streets better than Vice-and Samantha's following her down every last one of them to crack the case.
A Life On The Line
But the road to the truth is more dangerous than Samantha dreamed, leading to an earlier death-penalty conviction, a teenage prostitution ring, and threats to Samantha's own life. When the possibility of a serial killer enters the fray, it sends Samantha's trial into a tailspin, and tests her judgment-in both her professional and personal life-to the very death.
"This is smart, savvy, expert-and highly recommended."
- Lee Child
"First-rate, suspenseful entertainment...we'll be hearing more from tough, tart, sexy,
high-minded Samantha Kincaid."
-Washington Post
Review
"This is a solid debut, and the publisher promises that we'll be hearing more from tough, tart, sexy, high-minded Samantha Kincaid." Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post Book World
Review
"Burke's earnest, fast-paced debut introduces a sharp new crime series revolving around Deputy DA Samantha 'Sam' Kincaid, a hip, 30ish lawyer working in Portland's Drug and Vice Division....[A] solid first effort from Burke." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Burke blends courtroom drama and criminal investigation with surprising aplomb, and she uses her Northwest setting to good advantage....This promising debut augurs well for a successful series..." Mary Frances Wilkens, Booklist
Review
"Burke...writes with both a clarity and a self-assuredness that belies her first-novelist status. The plot lines are tightly woven, and she adroitly ties things together in the end. This is the first in what should be a popular series..." Library Journal
Review
"[R]eads like an extended tutorial on how to prosecute crimes on borderline evidence....But will it be enough to draw us forward to the next installment, already in the works? Competent but routine." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Captivating. Alafair Burke is a wonderful writer, with the kind of skill and confidence I most admire! I'm a big fan and look forward to the next novel in the series." Sue Grafton, New York Times-bestselling author of Q is for Quarry
Review
"Judgment Calls expertly shows that the most gripping drama is not found in the courtroom but in places where choices get made in the shadows cast by politics and corruption and human desires. Burke comes out of the gate with a first novel that proves she's got what it takes and will be sticking around." Michael Connelly, bestselling author of Blood Work and Chasing the Dime
Review
"Judgment Calls is a remarkable debut a skillfully told tale with memorable characters and plot twists that will keep readers involved from the first page to the satisfying end." Jan Burke, New York Times-bestselling author of Bones
Review
"A terrific debut; very different from her famous father's work, but the storytelling DNA is all there, for sure. This is smart, savvy, expert and highly recommended." Lee Child, bestselling author of Perusader
Review
"[A]n accomplished and thrilling tale....[A]n engrossing novel that compares to the best of the genre." Rocky Mountain News
Review
"Burke (herself a former Portland deputy D.A.-turned-law professor) is a splendid guide through [the novel's] satisfyingly twisty plot." The Seattle Times
Synopsis
In Samantha Kincaid, Alafair Burke has created a complex, appealing character a woman consumed by a sense of justice, who is also tough enough to take on a man's world. Seamlessly juxtaposing courtroom scenes with those of criminal investigation, Judgment Calls reveals not only an insider's knowledge of the criminal justice system but a fresh new voice in the world of crime writing.
Synopsis
A seemingly simple assault case spirals into a complex web of violence and deception for Deputy Districy Attorney Samantha Kincaid, when she uncovers a trail leading to a prostitution ring of underage girls and a possible serial killer.
Synopsis
A seemingly simple assault case spirals into a complex web of violence and deception in this bold debut thrillerDeputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid walks into her office in Portlands Drug and Vice Division one Monday morning to find three police officers waiting for her. A thirteen-year-old girl has been brutally attacked and left for dead on the citys outskirts. Given the lack of evidence, most lawyers would settle for an assault charge; Samantha, unnerved by the viciousness of the crime, decides to go for attempted murder. But as she prepares for the trial, she uncovers a dangerous trail leading to a high-profile death penalty case, a prostitution ring of underage girls, and a possible serial killer. And she finds her judgment—not only in matters of the law but in her personal life—called into question.
In Samantha Kincaid, Alafair Burke has created a complex, appealing character—a woman consumed by a sense of justice, who is also tough enough to take on a mans world. Seamlessly juxtaposing courtroom scenes with those of criminal investigation, Judgment Calls reveals not only an insiders knowledge of the criminal justice system but a fresh new voice in the world of crime writing.
Synopsis
After three years on the job in Portland's Drug and Vice Division, Deputy DA Samantha Kincaid gets what she wants: her first case with the Major Crimes Team. Kendra Martin, a 13-year-old runaway, has been found drugged, viciously assaulted, and left for dead in the Columbia River Gorge. Despite pressures to kick the case to assault, Samantha goes for attempted murder. Unfortunately the girl's story isn't gelling. Then again, neither is the alibi of the suspect she ID'd, a low-life who insists he's innocent. One thing is certain. Kendra knows the streets better than Vice-and Samantha's following her down every last one of them to crack the case.
But the road to the truth is more dangerous than Samantha dreamed, leading to an earlier death-penalty conviction, a teenage prostitution ring, and threats to Samantha's own life. When the possibility of a serial killer enters the fray, it sends Samantha's trial into a tailspin, and tests her judgment-in both her professional and personal life-to the very death.
About the Author
A former deputy district attorney in Portland,
Alafair Burke now teaches criminal law at Hofstra School of Law and lives in Long Island, New York. She is the daughter of acclaimed crime writer James Lee Burke.
Author Q&A
Judgment Calls
is your first novel and the first in a mystery series. Would you say youre following in the footsteps of your father, James Lee Burke?
Actually, when it comes to mysteries, you could say my father followed in my footsteps. Many people don't know that he published several works before turning to crime fiction with The Neon Rain, so no one thought of my father as a mystery writer during my formative years. I, however, was a huge fan of the genre. I plowed through the entire Encyclopedia Brown series and used to steal time with my dad's manual Royal typewriter to hammer out page turners like "Murder at the Roller Disco." So, for the record, I beat my dad to the mystery punch.
Clearly, though, hes been a huge influence on me. What I really think I inherited from my family more than any particular writing style (or talent for that matter) is a narrative tradition. The Burkes are people who tell stories, and I grew up watching my father work a full-time job and then come home and write every single day to get his stories on paper. That clearly affected me and turned me into someone who is able to sit down and write. People have asked if I worked to find my own voice. The work would be in trying not to have a different voice. My father is a man of his generation raised in the south, and Im not. So of course our works are incredibly different.
Samantha Kincaid, your protagonist, is a district attorney. What led you to choose this profession for her?
I guess this goes back to the rule of write what you know. I was a Deputy District Attorney in Oregon, so my personal experience with crimes and how they are solved comes from that perspective. I also think that the role of the prosecutor is fascinating and relatively unexplored territory. Most accounts of the criminal justice system both fictionalized and not tend to tell the story of a trial from the defense perspective. One gets the impression that a crime is committed, the police either get their man or they dont, and then the defense goes to work trying to prevent a conviction. The story thats rarely told is the prosecutors. A bad prosecutor can blow a good case through incompetence or apathy or press a bad case out of blind ambition. Prosecutors are entrusted with a tremendous amount of power and responsibility. Doing the job well requires incredibly hard work and good judgment.
A man got the maximum sentence in New York recently in a high-profile case involving the murder of a doctor. At the sentencing, the doctors widow acknowledged the prosecutor personally, saying shed seen him pursue the case with sweat and tears for five years. But thats a person no ones heard of, who works his tail off in some run-down office for a third of what he could be making in a different line of work. I know this book is a drop in the bucket of pop culture, but I hope it begins to humanize prosecutors and to depict the vast discretion they have in determining the result of a case.
Does Kincaids profession allow you any flexibility or options other professions might not?
Sure. As a prosecutor, Samantha gets to straddle the line between the investigation stage of a case and the trial. If your protagonist is a cop or a PI, she runs the show during the chase, but then falls to the background when it comes time to put on the proof. A defense attorneys a player during the trial, but has little room to maneuver before court proceedings start. I enjoy the flexibility Samanthas position gives me to unfold the plot either during an investigation or as part of a trial.
Are any aspects of Judgment Calls based on actual cases you saw as a prosecutor?
Ill tell you as long as you promise never to write that my books are "Ripped from the Headlines!" The plot is actually a fictionalized amalgam of a number of cases I encountered at the D.A.'s Office. The story line involving letters to the newspaper from a self-proclaimed killer is based on an actual serial killer who was caught after writing a series of letters to the Oregonian. The prosecution at the heart of the plot is based very loosely on a case that was handled by a friend of mine one of his first major crime prosecutions was for the rape of a teenage girl who had initially lied to the police when she reported the offense. She said the man had abducted her, when in fact she had arranged to meet him after chatting with him on the Internet. That initial lie, about that limited fact, didnt change anything about the horrible crimes the man committed against her, but it threatened to derail the prosecution. A lot of lawyers would have dumped the case or pled it out, but I remember watching my friend pour everything he had into it. That stuck with me, and it seemed like the perfect introduction to Samantha Kincaid.
Is Samantha Kincaid modeled on anyone you know?
Samantha's educational and professional experiences are definitely based on my own. Like me, Samantha graduated from Stanford Law School and turned down more lucrative job offers to work as a state court prosecutor in a city she loved. I like to think that her most noble characteristics her desire to stand up to perversions of justice and always feel good at the end of the day about the decisions she made are shared not just by me, but by most people. In Judgment Calls, we see Samantha allow those shared human traits to materialize in unusual and occasionally extreme ways, but hopefully the reader gets a sense that this is a woman with an almost consuming determination to do what is right, no matter the personal cost. I saw that obsession in some of the people I was lucky enough to work with in Portland. Theyre some of the finest people Ive ever known, and I intended Samantha to embody their fortitude.
In some ways, Samanthas clearly better than I am. Shes taller, more diligent, and could beat me in a race without breaking a sweat. As for some of Samantha's more neurotic traits, I plead the Fifth.
Youre currently teaching criminal law at Hofstra. Do you draw any inspiration for your fiction from your work?
I remember as a law student watching an episode of Law and Order. The detectives were about to take a guy into custody outside his apartment, and the older guy told the young one to wait, then made the arrest after the suspect opened his car trunk. I had just learned about a rule that lets police search the "grab area" around an arrest, and I thought it was so cool to watch the show and understand why the detective had done that, so he could search the trunk without a warrant. I see my students react the same way to law taught through pop culture. To make sure there were a few moments like that in Judgment Calls, I sometimes have Samantha explain why things are being done a certain way.
Any friendly competition between you and your father?
No way. Hes way too cool to compete with.
Are you at work on a second novel? Anything you can tell us at this point?
Im currently working on the second book. Samanthas promoted to the Major Crimes Unit and is working her first case there, which involves a missing judge. As she works to find out what happened to the judge, she finds herself digging through the missing womans messy personal and professional life. Troubles ensue and plots unfold, but I'm not giving away much more than that for now.
What can we expect for Samantha Kincaid?
I hope that's not another way of asking me to spoil the next book. I will say you learn more about Samantha's background. Judgment Calls was a way to introduce her life and the people in it Grace, Chuck, and Martin (her father). (Oh, and, of course, her loyal dog, Vinnie.) With the basics covered, the second book is letting me dole out the back story you dont learn in Judgment Calls. As for her future, I expect Samantha to live a nice and long, but never easy, life.