The Undertaker's Widow by Phillip Margolin is a murder mystery that takes several twists and turns before we finally get the whole story.  Along the way, there are far too many characters and far too many people doing illogical things, making this book a disappointment.

An intruder breaks into the Hoyt home.  Lamar Hoyt, wealthy business tycoon, is killed by the intruder.  His wife, senatorial candidate Ellen Crease, shoots the intruder.  It looks to be a simple case of self defense until some new evidence turns up making it look like Crease might have set the whole thing up.

Judge Richard Quinn takes on the case.  But life spins out of control for Quinn when he's out of town for a speaking engagement.  A quick dalliance with a woman, who is killed right in front of his eyes, leaves him with a dilemma.  Go to the authorities with what he saw, or look the other way?  Certain that admitting he was with the victim at the time of her murder would lead to more trouble than it's worth, he keeps silent.

But then the blackmail starts.  Apparently someone knows what he's done.  And that person wants him to fix the Crease case, in exchange for their silence about what happened.  Now the idealistic, honest judge finds himself in a real pickle!

The rest of the book is split between trying to figure out what really happened that night at the Hoyt home, and the judge's grief over his actions.  The story of the murder, itself, is interesting enough.  There are plenty of people who had motive to see Lamar killed.  Or, maybe Ellen was the intended victim?  Or, was it a simple burglary?   With a never-ending list of witnesses and suspects, this part of the story was pretty good.

But I hate when people bring on their own misery, then expect us to feel sorry for them.  The judge did one thing after another that I never would have done, so it was hard for me to feel bad that he's in a mess now.  For instance, I never would have agreed to spend the day with a stranger I just met on the plane.  Especially when I'm in town on business, and this other person is staying 40 minutes away, in a remote area.  But the judge can't resist the beautiful woman and puts himself in a bad place.  OK, maybe that's not the worst thing in the world, after all, nothing inappropriate had to happen between them, so I'll give him a pass on that decision.  However, deciding not to call the authorities after he witnesses the woman's murder?  That I can not excuse.  I understand that you'd rather not be involved, and you'd prefer that your wife not know what you were doing that day, but a woman was murdered!  For a judge to act so cavalier about this is beyond me.  And yet, Margolin wants us to feel sympathy for this man, and root for his actions not to catch up with him.

As if all of this weren't bad enough, I didn't like the judge's wife, either.  She does not support her husband, and never has.  She hasn't "forgiven" him for becoming a judge, thinking he should have kept his high-salary partnership in a law firm, instead.  How ridiculous!  Her husband loves being a judge, and it's hardly a career that one can be accused of "settling" for.  She also encourages the judge to make some pretty bad decisions.

So there you have it.  I couldn't possibly sympathize with the main protagonists, thus the book was a disappointment for me.  Despite my interest in the murder investigation, I was bored with this book, and really struggled to finish it.

Also by Phillip Margolin:
After Dark
The Associate
Ties That Bind
Wild Justice

Recommended: No