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Review: Brian Kennedy has created a compelling courtroom suspense thriller with his first novel, Improved Lies, set among the country club elite of northern Michigan.

Defense attorney Ken Edwards has an almost impossible task. His client, businessman Ted Armbruster, is accused of murdering his wife in their home. The evidence: Ted was found standing over the body, the murder weapon, a bloody golf club, in his hands. To top it off he admitted being responsible for her death, signing a confession witnessed by his neighbor, a friend and also an lawyer. But Ted later swears to Ken that he's innocent and Ken believes him. While preparing for trial, Ken comes across a number of suspects that might have wanted to see Ted's wife dead, some with both motive and opportunity, but none seem strong enough to break the prosecution's case. Ted would rather go to jail than accept a plea bargain, so Ken has no choice but to try to persuade the jury that reasonable doubt exists and that his client should be found not guilty of murder.

The author uses golf as a metaphor for the law, and a round of golf as a metaphor for a trial. The title is a play on words: an improved lie in golf is the intentional alteration of a ball's position so to make it easier to hit. As Ken Edwards states in his closing arguments, "to improve your lie is to cheat." He then goes on to say, "It is to ignore the truth about where your ball has come to rest and to create a false reality by cheating to gain advantage." For the crime being tried, he explains, "[I]t's best not to lose sight of the tangled web that lying creates. First, the lie; then the cover-up, or improved lie; then, when that fails, murder."

Improved Lies, like many legal thrillers, is split into two parts: the pre-trial investigation followed by the trial itself. Both work well here. The investigation brings multiple red herrings into the story, information that may (or may not) point to the guilt (or innocence) of third parties (or Ted), all of which are intended to introduce reasonable doubt into the minds of the jurors. Ken is hampered in part by restrictions placed on him by his client, restrictions he doesn't quite understand nor is he prepared to honor if it means his client may be found guilty. But the best part of the book is the trial which, for the most part, is riveting. The author's experience as an attorney comes through here with an authenticity that keeps the reader deeply absorbed in what happens, almost as if they were part of the jury.

Other than a few plot points that don't quite work (most glaringly, Ken neglecting to ask an obvious question about an investment club that factors into his defense), Improved Lies is an exceptional legal thriller that will keep the reader guessing as to the outcome until the final pages.

By MysteriousReviews.com

Renfrew-born author writes murder mystery
"A first novel gaining a great deal of attention in the U.S. was written by an author who was born in Renfrew. Brian Kennedy mixes golf and murder in his mystery novel, Improved Lies, published by Durban House." Read More >

By JOHN CARTER; Ottawa Region Media Group - December 21, 2007

Brian, just finished your book, "Improved Lies". I starting it on Monday, and could not put it down. Love your characters, plot, and especially your humor through out the book. The ending was a complete surprise !!!! I can't believe it won't be a best seller, once the critics read it. I do not remember reading a book I enjoyed so much. Be prepared to be up in the States signing your autograph in all the Book Stores.

Jotted down some of my favorite lines, and took a few notes. Will look forward to discussing them with you in the near future..

Congratulations on your great achievement !!!!!!!!!

Very Sincerely,

Barbara

"First novel offers fresh look at classic crime story"
Sara Pearce, The Enquirer (Cincinnati.com) Read more >

Reviewed by Tissie Chang, The Sunday Gleaner

Improved Lies tells the story of defense lawyer, Kenneth Edwards, on his biggest ever criminal case and how he struggles for justice and truth. All the evidence points towards his client who is caught red-handed stooping next to his wife’s bloodied corpse. His client has good motive, and the weapon used to kill her is none other than his own golf club. Yet, both client and lawyer maintain his innocence despite there even being a confession the client has signed.

It is obvious that author Brian Kennedy, as a retired attorney, has used his knowledge of law and the judicial system to good effect. However, with the crime thriller genre he has chosen, the novel frequently runs the risks of being quite clichéd. There is no doubt that Kennedy can write. The clarity of his style is quite filmatic at times, and one could easily imagine the book being made into Hollywood thriller movie.

The novel contains all the usual suspects; the truth-searching protagonist; the love interest; death threats from mobster boss (including a pig’s head); corrupt policemen and suburban scandals.

The concerns a reader might at first have with the novel’s masculine perspective is neatly summed up by Kennedy himself. The narrator, Edwards, describes his misgivings towards the murder case: “The juxtaposition of death, a woman’s fashion complement, and men’s toys was disconcerting.” That is to say murder, sex and golf are the major components of the book’s storyline.

Despite all this, Kennedy’s mastery of plot does compel you to read on. The chapters are short and sometimes quick paced, often ending on a cliffhanger. This makes it an easy read. Kennedy also employs an effective use of prolepsis to create a foreboding atmosphere leaving in the reader’s mind, just as it adoes in the lawyer’s many unanswered questions.

The first person account is written in a colloquial style, thus, the reader’s continuously gaining insight into the murder feels more personal. In turn, this aides the reader’s absorption in the unfolding story and, at times, makes Improved Lies a difficult book to put down.

Just as there are many twists and surprises in the plot, there are, too, in Kennedy’s abilities as a writer. The novel is not simply just a story, but a study of loss, grief, guilt, middle age and the nature of justice. You may sometimes think you have the book figured out; the client has to be cleared of the murder he did not commit; Edwards has to win the case; there has to be a happy ending. But you come to realize the book holds more complexities than this.

Even if a novel about murder, women and golf does not seem your thing, it does make a good read on at least the basest level that one can – it is a good story.

"The plot has more twists and turns than a Renfrew County backroad. " Renfrew Mercury 12/21/07

This overstuffed first novel from a retired attorney exhibits a few typical rookie mistakes—too much plot resolved too quickly; a tendency to overwrite—but it rolls right along in spite of itself, generating plenty of narrative drive and boasting an ingratiating maverick-lawyer hero. Ken Edwards is a “bone diver” (“a lawyer who dives for cases in the manner of a dog diving for a bone that falls from the table”), but that seems about to change when he receives a phone call from a golf buddy who says that his wife has been murdered. So begins an oddly satisfying mix of detection, golf, shenanigans among the idle rich, and courtroom dramatics. Unlike most thriller writers who use golf as a backdrop with which to satirize country-clubbers, Kennedy has a real feel for the game and incorporates it effectively into his plot. And Edwards has the makings of a genuinely appealing lawyer hero, in the mold not only of Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer, 2005) but also of George V. Higgins’ Jerry Kennedy, fellow bone divers. Now, if Kennedy can elevate his prose a few notches closer to Connelly and Higgins, we could have a first-rate series.— Bill Ott "

"An old fashioned crime-and-courts potboiler" The Bay City Times 2/24/08
Another article from the Editor of the Bay City Times... Click Here>

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