Woman with a Gun
By Phillip Margolin 
(Harper)


Phillip Margolin takes a lighter approach with “Woman with a Gun,” an entertaining novel that, however, lacks the tight plotting and insight into the law of his legal thrillers.

Instead, “Woman with a Gun” is more like a Lifetime movie with pedantic dialogue, a few improbable twists, romance and revenge. Still, some of us like Lifetime movies and, despite its flaws, “Woman with a Gun” makes one want to know what’s behind the photograph of a woman at the beach that captivates an aspiring novelist and launches a police investigation.

Stacey Kim came to New York City hoping to find inspiration to write a novel. Instead, she toils at a mindless job, too tired at the end of a day to write. Then at a museum exhibit, she is mesmerized by the photograph “Woman with a Gun,” in which a woman in a wedding dress stands at the edge of the ocean, holding an old-fashioned gun behind her. The 10-year-old photograph earned a Pulitzer Prize and a new career as a photographer for Kathy Moran, a former attorney who had slid into drugs. The photograph was snapped when Kathy spotted newlywed Megan Cahill, badly beaten and dazed, having just found the body of her millionaire husband, Raymond. He was shot just hours after their wedding. Parts of his valuable coin, gun and stamp collections had been stolen.

Stacey sees the potential for a novel, so she quits her job, heading for Palisades Heights, Oregon, where the crime took place and where many of the people involved still live.

The case has never been closed and the Cahill collections never recovered. As Stacey learns how the lives of the prosecutors, cops, victims and witnesses intersect, she also searches for evidence that may have been overlooked a decade ago. Naturally, the young writer’s life is threatened as she digs deeper into the case.

It’s a time-worn gimmick that somehow a novice unearths evidence that cops, the prosecutor and defense attorneys overlooked. Stacey has unparalleled access to old files and police reports, and just about everyone in this small town opens up to this young stranger, willing to dredge up an event most people would want to forget.

Still Margolin sets up “Woman with a Gun” in such a compelling way that it’s vital to find how what actually did happen in the Cahill home. And if it shows up on the Lifetime channel, surely there’s a role for Meredith Baxter. (MCT)