Simple Justice

by John Morgan Wilson

Book Overview

A Benjamin Justice Mystery A gritty tale of mean streets, low life, spurned lovers, gay bars and crimes of passion which introduces gay investigative reporter Benjamin Justice Wilson writes with such skill, pluck and conviction that it becomes both suspenseful and moving.' Washington Post'

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553575325
• ISBN13: 9780553575323
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Simply Good!

It must be something about the California climate, but that state keeps producing one good mystery writer after another: Joseph Hansen, Walter Mosley, Michael Nava and now John Morgan Wilson. His first novel SIMPLE JUSTICE is told from the viewpoint of Benjamin Justice, a former journalist who had to give back a Pulitzer-- hey, this character is right up to date-- for writing about what appears to be two fictional characters, one of whom is dying of AIDS. He is coerced into coming out of his alcoholic retirement by his former boss Harry Brofsky to work on a story about a murder outside a gay bar in Los Angeles. Besides these two, Wilson creates other memorable characters. Justice's landlords, Maurice and Fred, could have become stereotypes, but they don't. Alex Templeton, a black heterosexual reporter, makes for an interesting character as does the closeted tennis chamption Samantha Eliason. Wonder whom she's based on.Wilson avoids doing what many mystery writers do, i.e., he doesn't make the story a treatise on some profession-- journalism, college professors, police departments, for example. Also, the narrative is fast-paced and you do not see the scaffolding underpinning the story line. Most importantly, the characters, particularly Justice, are fully developed as people. Justice actually becomes more self-aware and actually grows as a character, something I don't expect from a mystery character. Finally, Wilson makes a political statement but does it with finesse and subtlety.There are nice touches. Wilson pays tribute to Walter Mosley by having Samantha Eliason's beefy bodyguard reading Mosley's mystery BLACK BETTY, for instance.The novel is ultimately quite moving as Wilson takes on difficulty subjects: relationships, homophobia, single gay parents, dysfunctional families, love, forgiveness. SIMPLE JUSTICE is simply a very good mystery.

Simply Solid Work

I?m not comfortable posting raves. I?m always suspicious of the ones I read, since many of them sound like a publisher?s secretary paraphrasing their own ad copy. This is an exception.Simple Justice deserved the awards and accolades it got. I am a mystery buff with a bad habit of sticking to ?tried and true? writers. I went looking for fresh authors recently. Out of about twenty ?new? talents, this is the one real gem I found. Unlike the homophobe who posted in 1997, whether I personally like a character or his/her motivations is irrelevant to me. I want tight, convincing prose, an interesting mystery that doesn?t cheat, and a collection of unique characters that remain true to themselves and grow during the book. Wilson gave me all of that and more. The writing is truly award-caliber. Each character is deliciously flawed and extremely well-realized. The mystery is a great first effort, and aside from the ?Perry Mason? confession, I was intrigued throughout. Yes, any student of mysteries would pick the killer from the ?line up? in the first half of the novel, but it?s still a good read. I recommend this book, with the single caveat that mystery novelists of the last ten years have become obsessed with the ... exploits of their characters, and Wilson is no exception. Since his characters are ..., expect ... (duh). Alternately, you can skip the ... scenes and jump straight (no pun intended) into a first-rate mystery novel.

A Sam Spade For The New Century

With simple prose and words that paint a picture of West Hollywood and the newspaper industry in bold strokes, Mr. Wilson draws the reader both into the mystery as well as the characters and their surroundings. His writing is tense and with Matthew Justice, he has created one of the more credible and interesting characters.The plotting is fast, the cast of characters both amusing and realistic and story itself is without fault.

Well Deserving, Edgar

This book deserves the Edgar more than some of the recent winners. Good story, told well. I'm eager to read more of this writer's work.

Engrossing Tale & Character

Given the plethora of mystery novels on the market today, if a writer is going to launch a series of mystery novels, especially using Los Angeles as the central locale, in order to achieve success, the writer is going to have to take extraordinary efforts to make their work unique. John Morgan Wilson accomplishes this in his first, Edgar winning novel, Simple Justice (1996). What distinguishes Simple Justice from the multitude of other mystery titles available is the complex, yet very real character of Wilson's protagonist, Benjamin Justice. By the time of the events in Simple Justice, Benjamin Justice, at age thirty-eight, has already known incredible highs and lows in his life, both professionally and personally. A man haunted by his past, Justice also knows the pangs of loss-- his lover of ten years having died of AIDS. And there are deeper scars that weigh this man's soul-- scars reaching back to when he was a teen, living in a home with a physically abusive father and one terrible night in particular that would forever change the landscape of Justice's family and his life. With the ironically named Benjamin Justice, Wilson has created a character that, because of his personal history, should know more about justice-- or the lack of it-- than most and a character that is motivated by the highest code of right and wrong. Therefore, when he is given a second chance by his former editor to work in journalism again, Justice is extremely reluctant toopen old wounds, but when he does, he does so with a keen sense that nothing is more critical than the truth and that he owes it to himself and those few who have stuck by him to always find that truth. Narrated by Benjamin Justice, Simple Justice has elements of a modern noir detective novel to it with plenty of edge to the story without becoming a parody of classic hard-boiled detective fiction ala Chandler and Hammett. Justice finds himself dealing with a cast of unique characters,all of whom have traits which cast suspicion upon them. Though the murder plot to be found in Simple Justice is well done, the turmoil in Benjamin Justice's own life is as real and captivating to the reader as who done it. Although the way it is presented telegraphs the identity of the true murderer in advance, the final confrontation between Justice and Billy's killer is gripping and worthy of the best of Perry Mason. All in all, Simple Justice is an impressive, satisfying mystery with an exceptionally well-drawn and sympathetic protagonist, that belies the fact that it is a first novel.