Star Witness Hardback - 2003

Attorney Joseph Antonelli tackles a case overflowing with greed and glamour, moviemaking, and murder in this new thriller in the Edgar Award-nominated series. The novels of D. W. Buffa have been lauded for their "emotionally driven twists and . . . unflinching narration" (Entertainment Weekly) and their "resonance that continues to play on the reader's mind" (The New York Times). But none have prepared us for the brilliance of this new novel, a haunting tale of near-Fitzgeraldian eloquence set amid the vaulting ambition and passion of Hollywood. Star Witness is about a man on trial for murder--a man recognized as one of the film industry's most successful writer/directors, a man of almost mythic drive and talent, and someone who looks more guilty with every passing witness. Attorney Joseph Antonelli--suave, philosophical, fearless--takes up the director's defense for the murder of his wife, the actress every woman wants to be and every man wants to possess. Despite Antonelli's examination of the prosecution's witnesses, the jury finds fewer and fewer reasons to doubt. Then the director shows Antonelli the script he considers his masterpiece--a re-imagining of Orson Welles's Citizen Kane--with a visionary film director as its hero. In this story-within-a-story, the accused reveals his version of the tragedy--the secrets of his marriage, and the ominous events that led to his wife's death. In it we see the way art can imitate life--and unmask a killer even the court can't find. Star Witness is a stunning novel about the nature of fame and the ever-confusing intersection of truth and fantasy, dream and desire--a rich tale of Hollywood unlike one you've read in many years.