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Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow

The novel begins with the discovery of Carolyn Polhemus dead in her apartment, the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed outright by a fatal blow to the skull with an unknown object. Rozat “Rusty” Sabich is a prosecutor and co-worker of Carolyn and is assigned her case by the district attorney. At the time he is also helping his friend and boss Raymond Horgan with his re-election campaign. If Horgan wins, Sabich will keep his job and if not, he will lose it. The case is further complicated by the fact that, unknown to the people around him, he had a brief affair with Polhemus that ended months before her murder.

Despite his obvious conflict of interest, Rusty is handling the investigation, while keeping the affair secret. He’s assisted by Dan “Lip” Lipramzer, a police officer who is investigating the details and evidence for Rusty. During the investigation, Rusty learns Horgan also had a brief relationship with Carolyn. The only person who knows of his affair is Rusty’s wife Barbara, and that has placed a strain on their marriage. Evidence surfaces that points the finger at Rusty and he is indicted for murder. He hires lawyer Alejandro “Sandy” Stern, an Argentinean who has been a frequent opponent over the years, to defend him.

The evidence against Rusty consists of a bar glass with his fingerprints, physical evidence, and calls from his home on the night of the murder. As the trial ensues, Rusty learns that the judge also had an affair with Polhemus and that he and Horgan took bribes from various suspects. Stern is able to discredit the expert forensic testimony and a key piece of evidence goes missing. The case is dismissed and it appears Rusty has gotten away with murder. However, later at home he discovers that his wife killed Polhemus out of vengeance.

Many of the minor characters in Presumed Innocent also appear in Turow’s later novels, which are all set in the fictional, Midwestern Kindle County. A sequel to Presumed Innocent, titled Innocent, was released on May 4, 2010 and continues the relationship between Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto.

( Courtesy of Wikipedia,  paperback  498 pages )

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Pay The Rent Or Feed The Kids, the tragedy and disgrace of poverty in Canada, by Mel Hurtig

Canadian politicians have, from time to time, proclaimed a war against poverty. What they are really prosecuting, however, is a war against the poor. Unemployment benefits are routinely denied to people who, over the course of a lifetime, have contributed a portion of their earnings to UI (now called EI).

Welfare rolls have been slashed by provincial governments. The downloading of government services combined with tax cuts that benefit the rich have resulted in the reduction or elimination of countless programs, from hot lunches in the schools to subsidized housing. Politicians and bureaucrats have responded by inventing new definitions of poverty but people without food remain just as hungry as before and people without shelter are still without homes.

At no time since the Great Depression has the gap between rich and poor been so wide and the outlook for poor people been so grim. Hard-hitting and outspoken, Hurtig builds a compelling portrait of Canadian society under the rule of the “neo-Neanderthals.” He puts together the latest and most reliable statistics with stories told by people on the front lines of the poverty wars.

Many of these stories are as heart-rending as the comments from politicians and their corporate supporters are callous. Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids challenges all Canadians to re-examine the society we are living in and to demand changes for the better.

( Courtesy of GoodReads,  paraphrased from the sleeve  357 pages )

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Once More With Feeling, by Méira Cook

After twenty years Max Binder is still in love with his fiery wife, Maggie, and is determined to get her the perfect fortieth birthday gift. But Max’s singular desire — to make his wife happy — leads to an unexpected event that changes the course of his family’s life and touches the people who make up their western prairie city.

Set over the course of a single year, Once More With Feeling tells the story of a community through intersecting moments and interconnected lives. The colourful citizens who make up this city — bisected by railway lines and rivers, connected by boulevards and back alleys — are marked by transformation, upheaval, and loss: the worker at a downtown soup kitchen who recognizes a kindred spirit amongst the homeless; the aging sisters who everywhere see the fleeting ghosts of two missing neighbourhood children; a communal voice of mothers anxious for the future of their children in the discomfiting world they inhabit — this place of memory, amnesia, longing, and belonging.

Featuring a cast of eclectic characters, Once More With Feeling is about a community, about a family, and about the way time makes fond fools of us all. Award-winning author Méira Cook has crafted a novel that is at once funny, poignant, and yes, full of feeling.

( Courtesy of House Of Anansi Press Inc. )

*** please note:  this is  an uncorrected proof edition ( 432 pages )