A Moveable Verdict

A Hollywood courtroom crime drama evokes the scandalous exposures of Dominic Dunne in his heyday. Here, we have a young, highly acclaimed film actress on trial for allegedly murdering Marc Sterne, the son of a Hollywood mogul. The evidence against her is largely circumstantial; nonetheless, it is in some ways persuasive…thus, it’s up to the jury to decide if she’ll walk the long hard walk or not. Figuring into the story is the presiding judge, Cliff Rhodes, who has a lot more at stake in the outcome than ever he imagined…and then there’s Audrey Sterne, the victim’s step-mother, and Rhodes’s paramour of an earlier time. Concealing a pivotal fact of the past, she is drawn into the fray in ways that threaten her entire way of life, not least of which is her marriage to Julio Sterne, the mogul who is the father of the deceased. And what of Romaine Brook, the celebrated young Oscar-winning actress? Is she innocent of the alleged murder? Being framed? Or is she duping the jury by putting on the best act of her life? The situation is further tangled, when Alonzo Fahey, a private-eye with Quixotic tendencies, unwittingly opens Pandora’s Box, as he makes inquiries in the wrong places, although for the right reasons.
The story gives us two trials: the one of the courtroom, and the other taking place behind the scenes.
At story’s end, all is blended.
The outcome complies with H. L. Mencken observation: “Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.”