TRIAL BY FIRE

N.Y.: Dutton, 1996. First edition, January 1996, so stated, with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. "auline had few perils to equal the torments that Rosenberg thunders upon her heroines in her bestselling legal thrillers. Here, as in her debut novel, First Offense, the author puts a female prosecutor in mortal jeopardy, only to have her fight back fiercely; now, however, the emphasis is more on legal justice than vigilantism. Dallas prosecutor Stella Cataloni wins a high-profile murder/kidnapping trial against a child molester by suddenly baring facial scars (hidden for years by long hair) that were caused by the fire that killed her parents when she was 16. Shortly thereafter, Tom Randall, her former teenage beau and father of her miscarried baby, returns to Houston after 18 years in hiding, to tell a confusing tale of the night of the fire. His version differs from Stella's, however, which in turn differs from yet some other versions. When Randall, whom Stella has publicly accused of setting the fire, is shot to death, the prosecutor is charged with the murder. Now she must endure jail, make bail and clear herself. As events complicate, she also exposes a police corruption scam, saves her feckless younger brother from drug charges, divorces her husband, finds the love of her life and finally, using the computer technique of "forensic animation," learns the truth about the fire. The details about Texas's justice system are sharp, the story generally gallops along and--though it isn't Rashomon--most readers will still be eager, like Stella, to know what really happened on that fateful, fiery night." -- Publishedrs Weekly. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Book.