Critic's Corner

      What's your verdict on Unanimous Verdict?  Whatever it is, send it along to criticscorner@unanimousverdict.com and we will put it here, space permitting.  Or -- better -- write a review for Amazon.com.  To go here, it can be praise or condemnation -- but it must be temperate and constructive, helpful to others contemplating the book.

      Here are some verdicts so far:

". . . a thrilling murder mystery, the book soars!" -- Kirkus Discoveries

  Against the backdrop of the Supreme Court case Brown vs. the Board of Education, Unanimous Verdict unravels a young black man’s murder in 1950s Washington, D.C.

  Private Investigator Neil Endicott, 24, survived the Korean War and life as a cop on the beat, but this white man from the middle-class suburbs of Chevy Chase, Md., might not survive his first murder case, involving an upper middle-class black man from D.C. When he first speaks with the victim’s mother, he’s unsure whether he should take the case. Then he’s uncertain whether he should continue when he learns he must work with established black PI Lou King. Eventually, Endicott realizes he has nothing else going on and that working on a real murder case might establish him as a man in the eyes of his father and family. In working the case, the protagonist comes face to face with his latent prejudices, the bigotry of his family and being the object of narrow-minded views. Endicott, King and the victim’s friend, Ezra Lowell, must travel not only into the deep South of the ’50s, but they must delve into the secrets of a prominent family to solve the case. 

    Unanimous Verdict is a riveting yarn, and Endicott makes a sympathetic subject, who finds himself as he unravels a mystery. ... When taken as purely a thrilling murder mystery, the book soars ...  A gripping, disturbing trip to the South of the ’20s and ’50s ... 

-- Kirkus Discoveries Review

 

Unanimous Verdict gets 4.5 stars on Amazon

4.5 stars on Amazon.com (3 reviews)

". . .kept me engaged to

the end. . ." 

  "James Kidney's well plotted mystery and interesting characters kept me engaged to the end, and the streets, buildings and demographics of Washington and its suburbs in the early '50s came alive in this well researched book. The book holds its own for any reader simply as a good mystery, and may have special appeal for book clubs looking for a catalyst for discussion of race, readers familiar with the District of Columbia, and those of us who appreciate books with larger than usual print."

Robert in New Braunfels, TX

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"It doesn't get much better in this genre."

"Mr. Kidney creates drama and teaches us about where we have been as a nation. I found it hard to put down -- a good yarn and a good history lesson. It doesn't get much better in this genre."

Barbara in Washington, D.C.

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"A great work of historical fiction."

"Unanimous Verdict instantly grabbed my attention. I grew up in the DC area well after the Civil Rights Era, and found myself struggling to put it down. The characters are very easy to relate to and the descriptions of both the people and the places are remarkable. The book proved to be very interesting as well as informative as it paints a vivid picture of life in both the north and south during the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement. Unanimous Verdict is a great work of historical fiction that I would highly recommend."

     S.T. Rose, Bethany Beach, DE