Let’s Start A New Series – No Defense – Kate Wilhelm (Barbara Holloway # 5)
This afternoon I finished No Defense by Kate Wilhelm. It is the 54th book I have read in 2018. And how I came to read it is a little different. A few weeks ago I came home with nine books from the used book sale at the library. Typically, when I do this my wife says “ that’s ok but now you need to get rid of nine books”. And I usually say “ yeah right!” Which of course means no way!
This time though, I thought maybe I should whittle down my to be read shelves of books. So I went through my paperbacks and came up with nine books to donate to the library for their next book sale. No Defense was one of the books I tossed in the box.
Anyway, the other night I looked over those books and pulled out No Defense to read figuring who knows maybe I’ll enjoy it! And enjoy it I did!
No Defense is book 5 in the Barbara Holloway series by Kate Wilhelm. It is the first book I have ever read in the series. It is also the first book I ever read penned by Ms. Wilhelm. From Goodreads….
Barbara Holloway takes on a seemingly impossible case. Vinny and Lara Jessup’s wonderful marriage comes to a tragic end and Lara becomes the prime suspect when she is accused of staging the accident that killed her husband. With only the word of an accused woman and a mysterious box of papers about the unsolved murder of Vinny’s son, Barbara takes on the widow’s case. Read More
My Thoughts On No Defense
While I enjoyed the book overall. I did think that things moved rather slowly through the first half of the book. The second half of the book was much better. Especially when the pieces of the puzzle started to come together revealing what really happened.
I enjoyed the characters and felt they were well-developed. The blurb on the front cover of the book from The Chicago Tribune indicates that character development is one of Wilhelm’s strong points.
“Wilhelm cares as much about her characters as she does about the courtroom- which is why her books are such a genuine pleasure.”
I do think that I may have enjoyed the book a little more, if I had read the preceding four books. So will picking up a book that I was ready to give away lead me to another series to read. I guess we’ll see!!
About Kate Wilhelm
While I was reading about Kate Wilhelm before writing this post I discovered that she passed away this past March. That was two months before her 90th birthday. Mirror, Mirror the 14th book in the Barbara Holloway series was released in 2017, fifty-four years after the release of her first novel!
Here’s little bout Ms. Wilhelm from her Goodreads page…..
Kate Wilhelm’s first short story, “The Pint-Sized Genie” was published in Fantastic Stories in 1956. Her first novel, MORE BITTER THAN DEATH, a mystery, was published in 1963. Over the span of her career, her writing has crossed over the genres of science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy and magical realism, psychological suspense, mimetic, comic, and family sagas, a multimedia stage production, and radio plays. She returned to writing mysteries in 1990 with the acclaimed Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl Mysteries and the Barbara Holloway series of legal thrillers.
Hmm, the acclaimed Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl Mysteries. Maybe I need to check out those books, too! So many books, so little time!! Anyway, check out No Defense
