From a murder mystery to secret pasts, Jason M Hadden reviews the latest offerings


Struggle for justice



The Letter

Wyndham's Theatre, London until 11 August

Director: Alan Strachan



Six thunderous bullets are all it takes to kill a man in Alan Strachan's haunting West End revival of the Somerset Maugham classic legalistic thriller The Letter. This is not so much a classic whodunnit, but more a 'Why did she do it' and 'What price love?'



Set in 1920s Malay, Jenny Seagrove (of counsel Jo Mills in Judge John Deed fame) plays the embittered, cool, calculating Leslie Crosbie, who opens the piece firing the fateful bullets. But was it self-defence in the face of a possible rape or revenge on an ill-suited lover? It all looks clear-cut until an incriminating letter provides evidence that Crosbie's tale is more fiction than fact.



Seagrove takes to the piece with theatrical brilliance; not perhaps allowing us to like her character, but rather as the play advances for us to understand her, even to the event that we know people like her - those trapped in a loveless marriage for the sake, well, of anything else.



The undoubted stars of the play are the lawyers. Anthony Andrews as Crosbie's defence lawyer gives a timing to the performance rarely seen recently in the West End. Every mannerism is wistfully measured in this delightfully balanced and underplayed performance. His moral struggle is one prevailing today for many in the profession, namely 'How far am I prepared to go for my client?'. After all, 'the law's the law'. But then again, law at what price when friendship and duty are in issue?



As with every great hero, Andrews has his foil in his able and ever thoughtful Chinese legal assistant, played by Jason Chan, who proves to have the cunning and delivery equal to that of his English counterpart. Their interplays are the real gems of the production - beautiful nuances, telling looks and an obsequiousness which pervades devilish motives.



Paul Earnsworth's sets feature a number of scenes all exquisitely designed, with an attention to detail that make you feel as if a window had been opened on the stage to 1920s Malay. From the veranda of the bungalow on a rubber plantation to an opium den, the smattering of lines in the local language throughout the piece only served to convince and the interplays between the white immigrants and the local 'boys' are beautifully scripted. Changes in the scenes are artfully dealt with as part and parcel of the servant's duties.



In parts, the performances are almost 'am dram' in style, which gives a certain charm and ambiance to the piece. This is a delightful period drama in which the law takes centre place. How far can, and should, a lawyer go in defending his client?



Jason M Hadden is a solicitor-advocate and presenter with BPP





Criminal read



Boozers, Ballcocks & Bail

Stephen D Smith

Neville Douglas Publishing, £10.99



The one thing all non-criminal solicitors (that is to say, solicitors not practising criminal law) have in common is a vague sense of envy that your given practice area just does not seem to produce the kind of sexy, violent, racy stories that you get from criminal work. Somehow the criminal lawyers always have some wonderful anecdote to dine out on and Steve Smith is no exception.



Set in the early 1980s, this is the story of how he and a friend set up together in practice, and his subsequent attendance on the criminal fraternity of Rotherham. Mixed in with his court appearances are cameos from his social life, often set in the local pub, as well of course as the not infrequent appearance of the infamous escaping ballcock.



Whilst the author certainly comes across as a larger-than-life character, and his client experiences range from the tragic to the laughable, somehow the whole does not quite equal the sum of its parts.



At times the book leaves you feeling like the new person stuck listening to a group of friends reminisce about the 'good old times', sitting through the descriptive equivalent of someone else's photos. At the time you imagine it would have been hilarious, but somehow something seems to get lost in the telling.



The characters seem almost less than substantial, as if parts of their tales have been left out to protect the innocent, or the guilty, which perhaps stems from the author's desire for this to be the first in a lengthy series.





Secrets and lies



What's Truth Got To Do With It?

David Crigman QC

Librario Books, £8.99



David Crigman QC is the latest in a long line of lawyers to turn their hand to fiction writing and in so doing introduces us to his heroine, the 'beautiful junior counsel' Naomi Nicholas. It is perhaps ironic that they are never simply plain Jane.



Mr Crigman's world is full of murder, blackmail and caricature. At the heart of his tale is his apparent conviction that everyone involved in the law has a secret past and ulterior motives for their actions. As such, the concepts of truth and justice are simply hostages to fortune.



The novel welcomes the reader into the grudges and game playing of QCs and their clerks in the criminal bar.



Whilst Mr Crigman clearly has an exceptional knowledge of the law, his characters become little more than one dimensional and somewhat stereotypical.



The novel is not helped by the author's decision to scatter the prose with witness statements, medical reports and long tracts of cross-examination.



Whilst the final few chapters provide the reader with twists and turns, you are rather left wondering whether they really added anything to the story or were merely there because the writer believed them to be a requirement to this genre.



That said, this is an easy-to-read, entertaining yarn.