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Burroughs' last tape
The final journals of Beat legend William S. Burroughs reveal the kinder, gentler last days of an "evil old man."
By Gary Kamiya
[02/25/00]

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"A Trip to the Stars" by Nicholas Christopher
A kidnapped little boy, his lost aunt and a fantasy about people finding themselves in the days of flower power.
By Polly Morrice
[02/25/00]

Pros and amateurs
One way or another, men still expect to pay for sex -- and women pay for it, too, by keeping their financial goals low.
By Ann Marlowe
[02/24/00]

Forced crossing
An involuntary traveler across the gender line -- and the first man who went under the knife to become a woman.
By Pam Rosenthal
[02/24/00]

Ivory Tower
Priceline U.
Make me an offer: At eCollegebid.org, students name their price for tuition. You may get a cut-rate deal -- at a no-name school.
By Brian Braiker
[02/23/00]

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Nothing but the Truth By John Lescroart Delacorte Press, 435 pages, Fiction Buy this book Actual Innocence By Barry Siegel Ballantine Books, 280 pages, Fiction Buy this book The Attorney By Steve Martini G.P. Putnam's Sons, 429 pages, Fiction Buy this book

The court -- like that quintessential '90s vehicle, the SUV -- is where vague notions of adventure can intersect with making it big time. If the lawyer's cause is just and its success depends on his success, there is bound to be some confusion between doing good and doing well -- a confusion that is readily embraced in these stock-enhanced times.

That said -- and I've said far worse -- I should add that I love the genre. The arcane rules! The wiliness! The chicanery! Still, I'm surprised at how many people are writing these things. Although the monetary rewards can be great -- John Grisham's glow could not be more golden -- the form is one of the most rigid I know. A trial is a trial; every reader is familiar with its shape. A defense attorney, a prosecutor, the accused, a judge, some witnesses: The cast of characters is as inflexible and unwieldy as the court building itself. (Civil cases are the exception.) It is a rare legal thriller that does not feature the defense attorney as the hero. Vogues in murderers come and go (for a while the judge was popular), but in the end you're still stuck with the same old cast members. Fooling with the witnesses can at least give you some elbow room, and three new mysteries pay special attention to them.

In "Nothing but the Truth" John Lescroart, the most flavorful of legal-thriller writers, starts off in happily predictable fashion. Ditmas Hardy, his hard-drinking defense attorney, is in court while three cases are summarily dealt with: comedy, tragedy, triumph. Bam, bam, bam. Then Hardy's office calls: His wife has not picked up the kids at school. Now that we have seen the court process from the outside, we move to the inside. The point of view switches to the wife, who has been called in front of a grand jury. The assistant district attorney bullies her; she keeps saying she has to go get her children; he misleads her; she in fact does know something about a friend she has promised not to reveal; the ADA sneers and insinuates; she loses her temper and ends up in jail.

Robert Benchley once wrote an essay in which he fantasized about being a successful witness. When the opposing attorney snidely cross-examines him, he maintains his composure with just enough irony to amuse the judge. This fantasy must be all the more prevalent now, thanks to "Court TV": How would I do up there on the witness stand? As an answer, what happens to Hardy's wife emerges full-blown from a nightmare.

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