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Covenant With Death

door Stephen Becker

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775344,866 (3.88)2
A stunning courtroom drama set in 1920s New Mexico: "If you enjoyed Anatomy of a Murder or To Kill a Mockingbird, this is your kind of book" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). On a sultry day in the spring of 1923, Louise Talbot spends the last afternoon of her life lounging in the shade of a sycamore tree in her front yard. Beautiful and vivacious, Louise is the talk of Soledad City--every man lusts after her; every woman wants to know her secrets. She is found strangled to death that evening, and when the investigation uncovers her affair with another man, the citizens of the frontier town draw the obvious conclusion: Bryan Talbot murdered his wife in a fit of jealousy and rage.   Presiding over the trial is twenty-nine-year-old Ben Lewis. Appointed to the bench as a tribute to the memory of his late father, he fears he is too inexperienced to sentence another man to death. All the evidence points to Talbot, however, and it is a magistrate's sworn duty to see that justice is served. But when a last-second twist casts the question of the defendant's guilt or innocence in a shocking new light, Judge Lewis must decide whether to uphold the law--or let a murderer go free.   A thrilling suspense story and a fascinating inquiry into human nature and the true meaning of justice, A Covenant with Death was a New York Times bestseller and the basis for a feature film starring George Maharis and Gene Hackman.… (meer)
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Toon 5 van 5
What would Aticus Finch be like if he were a flesh and blood man with lusts and loves and thick black hair on his back? Stephen Becker writes a clean and vigorous story of a man, a judge, who believes that it is the letter and spirit of the law that defines a civil society.

Mr. Becker's prose is admirable; some passages positively ring. Judge Lewis is a young man in the spring of 1923, living with his mother in a small city in the southwest, probably around Las Cruces. Judge Lewis has a clear and ironic idea of the worthiness of man, the beauty of women, the importance of living life to the fullest, and the necessity for honor and mercy. His mother, a widow, is a fine woman. His young clerk, a Zuni, is a "professional Indian" who offers insight into legal precedent often reflecting on General Custer. The people of the city are everyman – generous, petty, noble, venal, pompous, and sometimes stupid.

This is a courtroom drama and generally I don't like them. Here, the elegance of the first person narrative and the overall economy of process in those bygone days, redeem the book. Some readers may find the last few pages of courtroom summation to be overlong, but I don't think the scene could have been handled differently. Mr. Becker knows the Texas law of the period and he tells us the options open to Judge Lewis, the prosecutor and the defense. Once the procedural choice is made, the written summation is inevitable. It is how, according to the law, the verdict would have been presented.

Stephen Becker was born in 1927 and died in 1999. He was educated at Harvard and in 1954 was honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts. "A Covenant with Death" was first published in 1964 by McMillan and it has been reissued several times. It was made into a film in 1967 starring George Maharis and Laura Devon.

I received a review copy of "A Covenant with Death" by Stephen Becker (Open Road Integrated Media) through NetGalley.com. ( )
  Dokfintong | Jan 15, 2016 |
Noted during my 1980's attempt to read every book in my small town library. ( )
  juniperSun | Dec 4, 2014 |
What can I say? Somehow I let myself read the cover for this book and it gave me a hope for a type of story which simply wasn't there. Now I look at it again and see that the comment was made by a Judge who felt that it changed him. Well, that makes sense, it did have very readable legal reasoning and courtroom procedures. Somehow, that judge thought it had "boisterousness" and was "funny." I found it mildly amusing in some parts, but downright tedious in many places. I did enjoy the relationship of the narrator with his mother, but first-person narrative is not my favorite, and the narrator spent too much time examining his own bellybutton, as well as his other parts. Pontificating and introspection make for a dull read in my book and I was only able to finish this by much skimming. ( )
  MrsLee | May 5, 2013 |
Il legal thriller è mediocre: la vicenda, narrata senza chel'A. approfondisca alcun argomento trattato, è pretesto per valutazioni non sempre pertinenti e di cui, comunque, non si avverte la necessità. Una sola perla: elencando i luoghi comuni diffusi negli Stati Uniti degli anni '20 del secolo scorso, l'A. indica, tra l'altro: "I sindacati sono pagati dalla Russia." Anche i sindacati USA come il PCI foraggiati dai rubli grondanti sangue del KGB? ( )
  fortunae | Apr 3, 2010 |
I studied under Steve Becker for two years, and he was a purist of the language. Maybe too much. This, and the non-fiction book "Comic Art in America," were two of three well-received books of the more than score he published in his lifetime. This one was made into a movie, the only book of his for which that was done. Steve wrote me a five-page criticism of a group of stories I'd collectively titled "The Flower Children" and his criticism didn't pull any punches. However, those six stories were reedited, incorporating many of his suggestions, and finally saw light as part of the novel, "A Candle in the Rain" published in 1990 by Panther Press. Throughout his life, Steve could guarantee a purchasing audience of some 2,000 people, and that's enough for the publishing houses to accept his work. ( )
  andyray | Feb 4, 2008 |
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A stunning courtroom drama set in 1920s New Mexico: "If you enjoyed Anatomy of a Murder or To Kill a Mockingbird, this is your kind of book" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). On a sultry day in the spring of 1923, Louise Talbot spends the last afternoon of her life lounging in the shade of a sycamore tree in her front yard. Beautiful and vivacious, Louise is the talk of Soledad City--every man lusts after her; every woman wants to know her secrets. She is found strangled to death that evening, and when the investigation uncovers her affair with another man, the citizens of the frontier town draw the obvious conclusion: Bryan Talbot murdered his wife in a fit of jealousy and rage.   Presiding over the trial is twenty-nine-year-old Ben Lewis. Appointed to the bench as a tribute to the memory of his late father, he fears he is too inexperienced to sentence another man to death. All the evidence points to Talbot, however, and it is a magistrate's sworn duty to see that justice is served. But when a last-second twist casts the question of the defendant's guilt or innocence in a shocking new light, Judge Lewis must decide whether to uphold the law--or let a murderer go free.   A thrilling suspense story and a fascinating inquiry into human nature and the true meaning of justice, A Covenant with Death was a New York Times bestseller and the basis for a feature film starring George Maharis and Gene Hackman.

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