No Lesser Plea

After reading and thoroughly enjoying Without Fear or Favor, the 29^th and latest book in Robert K. Tanenbaum’s Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi series, I decided to start at the beginning and gradually work my way through these novels. It just might take me a while, but the protagonists are compelling figures and the plots have been excellent. In this first book, No Lesser Plea, Tanenbaum introduces us to New York City’s Assistant District Attorney Karp and his colleague Ciampi. He wrote that in the 60’s and 70s, it was a great time to be a crook in New York, as well as a great time to be an attorney who was willing to do battle with such crooks. The primary antagonist was Mandeville Louis who rightly claimed to be the city’s most successful armed robber. But, not only was Louis a robber, but he was also a murderous psychopath. Louis’ nemesis was none other than Karp who was determined to put Louis away for the rest of his life.

Tanenbaum wrote about the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building, New York’s jail, the Manhattan House of Detention, which was more commonly referred to as “The Tombs.” But Karp had not yet hit the big time and was stuck dealing with run of the mill criminals. It was when he was transferred to the Homicide Bureau that he hit the big time, and it was then that he stumbled across a matter with Mandeville Louis. It was also the time that his relationship with Ciampi developed, a character Tanenbaum introduced as follows: “The door opened and Marlene Ciampi breezed in, in blazer, knee-length gray flannel skirt, and high boots, a Marlboro gripped between her teeth like a stogie.” She was late for a meeting and said, “I’ve had an un-fucking-believable whorehouse of a day.” Then, a bomb went off in The Tombs.

Close to my own sensitivities, Tanenbaum presented a clueless psychiatrist, Dr. Stone. “It was perfectly clear to him that criminals, especially violent ones, were mentally ill. Take such a person and place him in an environment in which everyone assumed he was mentally competent – in, say a court room – and the mental disease could not help but get worse.” The condition was known as the Ganser Syndrome, and Tanenbaum didn’t make that up. The diagnosis is part of the factitious disorders in psychiatry. Louis knew about the Ganser Syndrome and was able to convince Dr. Stone he had it. Stone had an equally clueless colleague who rubberstamped his diagnosis of Louis. But, Karp knew Louis was only gaming the system. How could he prove that?

The author surrounded his cast with a set of interesting, believable, and entertaining characters. The writing was good and the court room scenes were excellent. I’ve already downloaded book #2 of the series, Depraved Indifference, but my reading queue is very long, so I’m not sure how quickly I’ll get to it.