Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

This is a masculine book for those who love the legal profession. The plot is pretty straightforward. An army lieutenant is on trial for murdering the man who is alleged to have raped his wife.   The action unfolds in the remote reaches of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the quieter, gentler 1950s.

Three quarters of the way into the novel, I finally came to the realization that this was not a murder mystery, but a narrative-disguised-as-novel about how a lawyer defends his client.  The title just as easily might have been Anatomy of a Murder Trial.

No stone is left unturned.  We read how a defense attorney gets into the head of his client, how he constructs and tests his line of argument, how he might pour over old law journals or burn the midnight oil in mock cross-examinations with a buddy, how he plays the jury, the judge and the opposing attorney.   The trial is recounted in detail right down to and including the dialogue for the swearing-in of each witness.   

Our main character is former District Attorney Paul Biegler now sole practicing attorney of his own firm. For reasons I never figured out he goes by the nickname of Polly.  Polly is a man’s man, a bachelor who loves to fish, smoke, have a drink and practice law.  He likes women, but romance in the book is a sideline. 

The language and characters are a little dated but that made the reading more fun I thought.  For example, the psychiatrist for the defense sports a crew cut. The local townspeople bring “bag lunches” to the courtroom. Maida the secretary is just that, a secretary to whom Polly occasionally delivers a put-down or a tap on the butt.  She, in turn, says things like “Not on your life, Boss” or “You’ll do it, Boss.” 

Sprinkled about are references to an “innocent choirboy,” “two altar boys in the wake of a priest” and feeling “virtuous, like a boy scout.”  Then again, Polly admits to telling a “big whopper.” Later, it’s a boxing metaphor as Polly recounts how the prosecuting attorney “looked at me keenly, like a smart boxer stung in the first round….”  Not to be outdone, our Polly returns fire and says, “…I saw that I had scored with a sneak right.”  

Robert Traver, a pseudonym for John D. Voelker was himself a State Supreme Court Justice in Michigan.  He looks vaguely like John Wayne in some of his photos. Voelker as Traver gives the reader plenty to think about.  He includes a bit of philosophizing about life’s big issues, he paints a vivid picture of the natural beauty of the Upper Peninsula as well as of rural, small-town culture and he does a good job portraying the male characters.  However, I found his depictions of women to be little more than shallow caricatures.  Except for that, and the mini-romance which I found rather unimaginatively woven in, everything else about the book made it a good read.