Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Chapters 11-15 The first people posting please provide a synopsis of these chapters

11.
The family learns they are cut from the will, but are assured by the lawyers that they have the real claim. Lettie learns how much she could potentially get, and that it is substantial.
Doomas (Dufuss) Lee: local reporter.
Lucien gets a sudden interest in the law again. He wants in om the case.

12.
Judge Atlee will be the deciding factor. 3 heart attacks, but still going strong. Jake is somewhat upset that Lettie has hired some black lawyers from Memphis (Booker Sistrunk with partner Kendrick Bost). Wade Lanier is representing the daughter. D. Jack O’Malley is representing the son. Joe Bradley Hunt is representing the grandchildren of the deceased.
Jake is stunned when the Memphis lawyers try to wrest the case from him, but the judge is not having it. The executor quits, leaving Jake to seek a replacement. He talks privately with the judge, who has some ideas of his own, but mostly wants to see the right thing happen, and suspects all of these lawyers just want the money.

13.
Doofus wipes the story all over the front page of the local rag. He calls the will “suspicious”.
Jake also worries that the Memphis lawyers will alienate the local jury.
Harry Rex shows up and talks the case in terms of “we”. He also knows the Memphis connection could lose it for them.
Sistrunk hires Buckley, the former DA as the associating lawyer so he can practicer out of his state. He picks him because nobody hates Jake more.
Ian (son in law) learns that he has to pay expenses even on a contingency billing. The vultures continue to circle. Each lawyer wants the others tossed off the case. There are a dozen lawyers involved at this point, with the number growing.

14.
Arlene Trotter: Seth’s secty.
Jake goes to meet her and get a look at the lumberyard office. Kamila and DeWayne also worked at the yard.
Jake discovers a bank account with over 21 million dollars sitting in it just waiting. The employees tell him of another lawyer that showed up and tried to get information and access by claiming he was working the estate.
They do like Jake though from his earlier work, and begin to sketch for him the final days of Seth’s life.
Quince Lundy, suggested by the judge, became the new executor.

15.
Lettie ponders her lot in life. Not too good now, with the abusive husband staying near, relatives moving in and the Memphis lawyer loaning her money to stay afloat. As much as Lettie wants to be free of her husband, he wants to be free of her, but free and rich. For now though,m he steals some of Lettie’s house money and goes out drinking and gambling. He loses most of the money gambling, the rest after being in a fight, and then gets jailed for drunk driving. Ozzie, the sheriff, comes to get him out of jail and take him home, advises him that the Memphis lawyers are bad news. The sheriff also mentions that the FBI has been nosing around his truck, and that the whole trial thing will go very badly if he does not clean up his act.

Well, we saw that coming with the husband, the good-for-nothing. I am so frustrated that Lettie is letting all those leeches hang around the house and crowd her out of her kitchen and bed. But, Grisham tells us, she likes being the center of attention. I found myself wondering if I would feel torn like that as well, and maybe I would.

I like that Jake has allies in this, like Ozzie, Harry Rex, Lucian, and even Judge Atlee, at least to a point. There is something very satisfying in a story where the hero, who you know is going to be drug through the ringer, has a small victory here and there. In fact so far Jake is having a fairly easy time of it. I'm wondering when things are going to go wrong for him.

Oh, and that Sistrunk is a snake-in-the-grass. He reminds me a bit of Al Sharpton, who for the occasional good he does, has had his claim-the-limelight moments.

I wish Lettie would show him the door.

I also like that Jake is getting a lot of positive fallout from his winning the Haley case. There is a strong message here, that it pays to do the right thing.

Again, totally agree with the comments. The battle lines are drawn, and there is quite a group of evil ones, with just a few good ones, trying to do the right thing. The suspense is building, making me wonder just what is going to come out during the trial, and will good win out?

It took me most of the book to decide if the judge was good or bad, but I won;t spoil this by putting my opinion this early in your read. Lucien also is in the grey area between being a player and being a "hanger-on"

Yes, I agree, Barry. Lucien worries me, he is a bit of a wild card here.

I don't see anything here so far to make me feel that the judge is bad, although he does seem to weigh in on Jake's side more often than I'd expect at this point in a legal thriller. Usually this early on our hero is getting kicked around by everyone, including the judge. But the groundwork has been laid that they are on friendly terms, so I guess that explains it. I'm surprised the opposing attorneys aren't howling more about that apparent bias. Well, I guess Sistrunk did, with (view spoiler)[his motion for the judge to recuse himself. (hide spoiler)] <---- not sure if that happened in these chapters so I put in a spoiler alert just in case.

Barry wrote: "It took me most of the book to decide if the judge was good or bad, but I won;t spoil this by putting my opinion this early in your read. Lucien also is in the grey area between being a player and..."

Without saying anything that is secret at this point, Sistrunk was lashing out in all directions to ensure bias was working for him, not against him.

I was as riveted as the courthouse observers at watching Systrunk's antics. Today I started listening to the audio at 1.25 speed. The slow drawl of the Mississippi voices were getting on my nerves while stuck in traffic on the morning commute. I needed something to move faster. ;)
In the evening on the way home, the 1.25 speed simply sounded "normal".
Barry wrote: "Without saying anything that is secret at this point, Sistrunk was lashing out in all directions to ensure bias was working for him, not against him."

That's interesting. I've never tried speeding up the play although I know a lot of folks do it. Of course I can't do it with my no-frills iPod Shuffle, but then again I'm loving the slow cadence of the Mississippi drawl.

Ann wrote: "Today I started listening to the audio at 1.25 speed. The slow drawl of the Mississippi voices were getting on my nerves while stuck in traffic on the morning commute. I needed something to move faster. ;)
In the evening on the way home, the 1.25 speed simply sounded "normal". ..."

Hmmmm, maybe that is why I am not fond of audio books, they talk much slower than I read!! May have to "speed listen" next time, lol!

Carol: I have never been tempted to speed up the audio, but a co-worker who strictly listens to non-fiction swears by it. The audible app offers 1.25 as the lowest increment of additional playback. I can't imagine going faster than that.
I am enjoying the accents; unless they are poorly done, southern accents are wonderful. I am a southern girl after all from Tennessee (though Nashville accents are pretty mild compared to Mississippi accents) If Matthew McConaughey was reading it I would probably want to slow it down. :) :)
One of my favorite aspects of audio listening is enjoying the character voices. I don't feel the 1.25 pace is harming that. I can always switch bask to real time.
Liz: The desire to know what happens next a bit quicker is a catalyst, I will admit. When not reading a group read, the length of time it takes to listen is never an issue. Here I want to be able to keep up better.

I agree with all the comments so far. I'm not sure yet about the judge I want to think he's a good guy that it's acting but who knows. I got a kick how everyone seemed to be coming out of the woodwork.
ALL I think thinking about when I think of matthew was I had heard stories way back about him and his family. my bil's nephew knew this guy and he showed up at the shore a few summers ago because down in texas there was no work for him so he was up here working. and he was talking one night how he was good friend's with matthew and his family. and how wonderful they were. and he hoped matthew would make it big with acting. who knew back then.

I think Judge Atlee is smart in wanting to take it out of his hands. He didn't live in a cave during the Hailey case. He knows with a case like this, being high profile and about race, he doesn't want to be a target for violence.

I'm not a legal expert, but if a judge picks the "Executor" isn't that un-ethical? Atlee know's the guy, Quince Laundry. Laundry may be a stand-up guy and qualified, but he's also chosen by the judge, a friend. If anyone reads this that has a better legal mind than me, please explain.

As I'm reading this, all the characters have pissed me off atleast once. One could say that is what makes for a good thriller. However in "A Time to Kill" I really liked Jake. In this book Jake talks too much everyone. Yes, he trusts them,but when you have the amount of money attached the estate, it changes people, and Jake should realize this. It's even changing him, thinking about the house in almost every other chapter. Even Ozzie took 25k under the table. Everyone needs the cash, wants the cash, KILL for the cash?!?!

Ryan wrote: "I think Judge Atlee is smart in wanting to take it out of his hands. He didn't live in a cave during the Hailey case. He knows with a case like this, being high profile and about race, he doesn't ..."

Hi Ryan. I'm not a legal expert either so I don't know the answer to your question. I did a quick Google search on the question and came up with that most states have a list in order of importance as to who a judge should consider if an estate needs an administrator, but this is in the absence of a will. The suggested list starts with family members, and eventually if there is no family to consider resorts to a lawyer.

It took me a minute to remember who all Jake talked to, but I think I'm remembering that he would go to the local diner for breakfast and answer questions people put to him. That does seem a little odd, if I'm remembering correctly.