There are some definite flawed characters presented here. An underachieving lawyer who seems to judge women by their looks only. An artist who is crazy. Some horrible people doing horrible things. People who decide the law is for them to decide. But they all work. I was surprised that the book told the entire story instead of making me wait for another sequel. It was satisfying to know, but felt a it abrupt. Even with this one wrapped up, I’d read these characters again. They are imperfect. I like that.

This is an old fashioned airport legal thriller,. I especially enjoyed how the lead character develops over the course of the book from a C student with no confidence to a great lawyer in a really plausible way. So many of these books have a lead character who is smarter then everyone in the room, it is fun to have to watch someone grow into his suit. The case he takes is of a man who thinks he is the reincarnation of Renaissance painter who steals back a painting he sold and ends up with a thumb drive implicating people in sex trafficking. It is a pretty jarring shift from goofy to traumatic that the book rubs up against, but overall I burned through this pretty quick and had a good time with it.

Bestselling NYT and international author Phillip Margolin returns with a tantalizing standalone legal thriller, AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE. An attorney gets caught up in a complex, multi-layered case with a web of secrets and lies in this twisty suspense whodunit.

About...

Charlie Webb has not always had it easy. He considers himself a third-rate lawyer, graduating from a third law school. His confidence is low. Both professionally and personally. When he could not get hired by the major law firms, he hung out his own shingle.

His cases are mostly minor, ranging from friends of his youth to court-appointed ones. He has led an unremarkable and insignificant life.

UNTIL... he is appointed the attorney for a crackpot artist known as Guido Sabatini (Lawrence Weiss).

Sabatini was arrested for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back his painting (he did not like where they hung it or its placement). He is also an accomplished card shark and burglar, and while he is there, he steals a thumb drive from the owner's safe.

Not knowing what Sabatini has stolen, the attorney negotiates the return of the painting to drop the charges. But who knew what dark secrets were contained on the flash drive that would threaten some very powerful figures who would stop at nothing to retrieve it?

The restaurant owner and bodyguard are being investigated for the sex trafficking of minors. The plot thickens when a minor theft becomes a double homicide for Charlie, and a mysterious new woman steps into his life wanting to help. Can he trust her?

Charlie Webb's life soon becomes very intriguing... How are all the characters connected?

My thoughts...

AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE is a gripping legal thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat with unexpected twists and turns!

Readers will root for Charlie as he navigates a new adventure filled with twists and turns. The character development in this book is so strong that I wished for a new series featuring Charlie.

It is fast-paced and intense, a riveting thriller featuring a mysterious, eccentric, and colorful client. He believes he is the reincarnation of a Renaissance painter who worked alongside Michelangelo and de Vinci.

What makes him even more interesting is that he was a brilliant mathemetician, a professional card shark, and a skilled burglar before becoming an artist.

As the bodies start piling up, the case turns into anything but insignificant! Someone is setting up Guido. Charlie is not confident he can handle this case, but Guido wants him, and bingo, he has his first murder trial!

AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE is highly entertaining — blending crime, legal, murder, and vigilante justice. One of my favorites by the author. (I am a huge legal thriller fan).

Audiobook...

The incredibly talented Peter Ganim narrates the audiobook, which brings the story to life with his engaging performance. I highly recommend it for an immersive reading experience.

Recs...

This book is for fans of the author, those who enjoy well-written, compelling legal thrillers with dramatic courtroom scenes, and fans of John Grisham, Robert Dugoni, David Baldacci, and John Lescroart.

Thanks...

Thanks to Minotaur Books, St Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and #MacAudio2024 for gifting an ARC and ALC via NetGalley and Google Play.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Nov 5, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars
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- Published Nov 5, 2024

An Insignificant Case by #philipmargolin @minotaur_books

— A legal thriller about a third-rate lawyer, Carlie Webb, who has shady friends who send him business. He represents a man who is a thief and has gotten his hands on a very important thumb drive. Soon, Charlie’s life is in danger and some very bad characters will stop at nothing to get it. I enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more by him! Legal thrillers are my jam!
4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Thank you so much to #philipmargolin @minotaur_books for the opportunity

I am a new fan of Philip Margolin, a very prolific writer, and am definitely looking forward to reading more of his books after finishing his most recent release (November 5, 2024) An Insignificant Case. In it we meet Charlie Webb a lawyer with a less than stellar practice, living a simple life in Portland, who is surprisingly assigned a case by a judge that had the potential to become the " big one." To help put Charlie into perspective, the author wrote: " if Charlie Webb were a grade, he would be a C." The case did become quite big with multiple murders, sexual assault, theft, kidnapping and more. The characters on both sides of the law were realistic, and the storyline was well developed and fast- paced. An Insignificant Case is an entertaining and intriguing read; I liked Charlie Webb and was silently cheering him on. Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, St. Martin's Publishing, and Philip Margolin for the opportunity to read an ARC of the book; my review reflects my honest opinion. 4 Stars.

I DNF around 40%. I could not make sense of the storyline, and could not get into the book at all. I expected more of a legal thriller but this was not that.

An average lawyer in the midst of an extraordinary case

Meet Charlie Webb, a guy who graduated from a forgettable law school and makes a living from mostly run-of-the-mill cases. His steadiest referrals come from two former teammates from his high school football squad who now are members of the Barbarians motorcycle club. He gets his fair share of court appointed cases as well, which don’t pay that well but are better than not getting paid at all. He catches one such case, that of eccentric artist Guido Sabatini (real name Lawrence Weiss) who has a pattern of selling his paintings but then stealing them back if he doesn’t feel they are being displayed properly. In this instance, he sold his painting to restaurant owner Gretchen Hall but was incensed to discover that she hung it in her office rather than put it on display in the public areas of her business. Dipping into his Lawrence Weiss-based skills as a card counter and burglar, Guido breaks into the restaurant, cracks open the safe and takes the painting…plus a flash drive that he thought might prove to be a good bargaining chip. Charlie is fairly certain that if he can make Guido return the painting to Gretchen, the case will go away…but he doesn’t know about the flash drive, and that is where the problem lies. When Gretchen, her driver Yuri Makarov and her film director friend Leon Golden are arrested for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring which may involve some very powerful players, the importance of the missing flash drive becomes clear. Soon people are turning up dead, and Guido is arrested for murder. Worse still, he will only accept Charlie as his lawyer, a job for which Charlie is completely unprepared. There are a lot of dangerous people who want that flash drive back and are clearly willing to kill to do so. With help from the more experienced lawyer assigned to assist him and a little back-up from the Barbarians, Charlie will need to keep his client safe and figure out who is behind the killings before someone else pays the ultimate price…and maybe he can even get some justice for the trafficked victims.
Author Phillip Margolin is an accomplished criminal defense attorney as well as an author, and that expertise is evident throughout the book. Charlie is no legal wunderkind (in fact he sees himself as barely adequate) and having a client’s life in his hands is a pretty intimidating experience for him. But he is more clever than he thinks, and as the story unfolds he will grow into his role even as a beautiful woman (who may or may not be on the level) drops into his life and the ugliness of the trafficking group disturbs him. A well-plotted legal thriller with a tangle of possible villains and intriguing storyline that keep the reader guessing till the end, this is a whydunnit as much as a whodunnit, An Insignificant Case is a stand-alone book that fans of author Margolin’s other books will surely enjoy, as will readers of Brad Meltzer, James Grippando and James Patterson. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me early access to this compelling story.

I enjoyed this book from start to finish. I really like how the author starts telling the story with seemingly random events that slowly begin to connect. I enjoyed the characters in this story. I found Charlie a great leading character and liked him more and more as the story progressed. Not much was straight forward in this one and I really enjoyed how the layers were uncovered. I was happy with the ending as well. This book reminded me why I like the books by this author so much! I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I've been a Phillip Margolin fan for more years than I'll admit to. He's a terrific writer with the skills to keep readers enthralled in a story from page 1. AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE is just such a story.

Charlie Webb, a lawyer of dubious skills, is probably not your first pick when searching for legal representation. He knows this, keeping his business doors open with clients who can't afford to look for anyone else. When his latest client proves to be more than a simple breaking and entering, Charlie finds he has opened a door and let in a huge amount of trouble. The book synopsis compares this story to a Grisham story and it's a perfect comparison. The background community of Portland, Oregon's lower income citizens and Charlie's list of small time cases, are perfectly pictured in the build up to the race Charlie must run to keep everyone safe. The tension builds as the "rest of the story" rolls over what is supposed to be a simple case. As trouble seems to find them in every chapter, this story builds to a "hold your breath" finish. Anyone who loves legal thrillers will love this one too.

This book was not what I expected. I expected a Courtroom thriller. I got a bad guys/good guys shoot them up instead.
The main character believed he was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, but was able to revert to a high IQ card counter when needed. As a painter, he’ would sell his paintings and then steal them back if the paintings weren’t placed in a high visibility area. When he stole the paintings back he often took something else of value. When he took a thumb drive that chronicled illegal sexual activities, people wanted him dead. The plot was confusing for me—so many people and so many names to keep straight. The plot was also a bit too far-fetched.
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital ARC. This review is my own opinion and has not been coerced in any way.

I've read and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of the author's books featuring former MMA fighter and current attorney Robin Lockwood, so when I got the chance to read this standalone book, I jumped at it. The lawyer here is Charlie Webb, an "average" guy who through no fault of his own got accepted into law school and passed the Bar. Living in Oregon, most of Charlie's clients are in the local Barbarian Motorcycle Club, just because he treats them right (and for the most part wins their court cases).

Charlie is also an old friend of sorts of a man who calls himself Guido Sabatini, a painter by profession. He recently sold one of his paintings to a woman named Gretchen Hall, who hung it on the wall in the office at the restaurant she owns. That, alas, really annoyed Guido, who was mightily offended that it wasn't on display where diners could see it. To rectify the situation, he broke into the office and stole the painting - along with at least one item from Gretchen's office safe.

That, of course, is a big no-no from a legal standpoint; Guido definitely will find himself in a court of law (as he's done in the past) - but not before he convinces Charlie to defend him. Unbeknownst to both of them, though, Gretchen is a suspected ringleader in a group of rather nasty folks who traffic young girls. And as luck would have it, the item Guido stole from that safe is a flash drive showing living proof that the police suspicions are right on the money.

That, needless to say, puts Guido - and everyone associated with him - in the crosshairs of those who are desperate to keep that video from ever being seen, even if murder is involved. So Charlie and his friends must be vigilant to the nines if they even hope to make it to Guido's trial, much less get him acquitted. More than that I can't reveal except to say it's quite an adventure. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me a pre-release copy to read and review.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

4.5 hearts

I discovered this author earlier this year when I was looking for lawyer series. I LOVED his Robin Lockwood series and hope to continue reading it soon. When I saw this new standalone, I was thrilled to read it.

The main character Charlie Webb is a regular, good guy. He's not too smart or too ambitious but he has integrity which turns out to be the most important thing. He gets assigned a case to defend a "painter" who stole the painting back from the person who bought it. His paintings are truly inspirational. He broke in and apparently took another item as insurance, a flash drive. He agrees to give everything back if the owner will hang the painting where more people can see it.

Meanwhile, the owner of the painting has been arrested for sex trafficking along with her movie producer partner. Now multiple people including their clients are worried about what the painter took and attempts on his life begin. Charlie teams up with Bridget, the prosecutor in the sex trafficking case to try to resolve things. He also has a new legal intern who turns his head.

An Insignificant Case is fast paced and exciting. The hunt for the flash drive leaves a trail of bodies on the side of those trying to conceal it and those trying to expose it. It's fun to see Charlie grow and use his legal skills effectively. He learns more about people as well. I really enjoyed this and would recommend it highly. I wouldn't mind having more stories about Charlie.

An Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin was the best legal thriller I’ve read in some time.
I’m a big fan of his stories and d writing and was eager to start his new one. Which did not disappoint.
A gripping story that made me almost read the book in one go.
This book is well written and plotted as are all of Phillip Margolin’s novels.
The suspense was interesting and his writing was excellent.
Great story and plot as I would expect from Mr. Margolin!

4.5 Stars raised to 5. This was a riveting, entertaining mystery and court drama. I had never read anything by Phillip Margolin, which was a big mistake. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for introducing me to this writer, who is now on my list as a writer I definitely want to follow. The court scenes were compelling, with increasing suspense. The storyline and the characters were brilliantly developed, with the predominant ones memorable and intriguing.

Charlie Webb lacks self-confidence and self-respect. He has led a mediocre life and considers himself insignificant. He has a few loyal friends who regard Charlie as better than he views himself. He was always a C student and was turned down by first-rate law schools, settling into one that was third-rate. Unable to join a legal team, he opened his own modest law office where he represented old friends from a motorcycle gang and a few court-appointed cases. His bank balance is very low. He has always had difficulty with women, considering them out of his league and fearing rejection.

Charlie has been to an insignificant legal case. He must represent a deluded artist, Guido Sabatini, who has a marvellous talent. Guido, whose real name is Lawrence Weiss, becomes belligerent if referred to his actual name. He firmly believes that he is the reincarnation of a Renaissance painter who worked alongside Michelangelo and de Vinci. Before he started painting incessantly, he was a brilliant mathemetician, a professional card shark, and a skilled burglar. After winning a huge sum of money at cards from fellow gamblers, they tried and failed to get it back and now want revenge.

Because he is nervous, thinking that he does not have the skills and ability to represent Guido, Charlie is given a first-class, experienced lawyer to assist him. Guido is charged with theft. He sold a magnificent painting to Gretchen, a restaurant owner She hung the artwork in her office rather than in the main dining area, where customers could admire it. Angry and feeling disrespected, Guido breaks into her safe to retrieve his painting and also takes a thumb drive. Charlie's arguments for the defence were better than anyone expected, and he did a good job thinking on his feet.

In the meantime, Gretchen, a movie producer, and her bodyguard are taken into custody and charged with the sex trafficking of young girls. The case is now becoming tangled. Bodies start piling up, and the case has accelerated to a significant one. Guido has been set up to look guilty. Charlie wants out, but Guido will not consent to anyone else defending him. Charlie now has his first murder trial.

The thumb drive is now in Guido's possession, and it contains a video of a disturbing rape and murder of a young teenage girl. It also shows the leaders of the sex trafficking ring and some of its powerful and prominent clients. Those wanting the video will go to great extremes to retrieve it to avoid going to prison. Guido is in great danger. He refuses to disclose to Charlie and other legal authorities where he has hidden it. Elin is a naive, pleasant, and pretty young girl who sits in the courtroom taking notes. Charlie was persuaded to allow her to help when she said she was interested in a possible future in law. Mainly, he was attracted to her but wouldn't dare ask for a date. This was all a deception on Elin's part. Her identity, background and motives were entirely different, and her goal is to enact vengeance on somebody.

Charlie uses great resources to keep Guido protected from imminent harm. Guido finally agrees to hand over his evidence to the judge if he can choose the place and the people present. This meeting erupts with violence, chaos, and some shocking surprises. Arrests are made, and we learn about the outcome for those involved, except very little was said about Guido.

I thought this gripping and intense book would make an excellent series. It was thought-provoking, contrasting legal with moral issues. Is vigilante action ever justified? Would some agree that the law may be subverted by principles and morality? What is true justice? Recommended.

This standalone novel is an excellent legal thriller that included sharp writing, intense action and a uniquely addictive plot that had me turning pages quickly. Charlie Webb is a third-rate lawyer, with a few clients, but no one who will make him rich or even allow him to move from his tiny apartment. Then, he is assigned the case of Guido Sabatini. Guido is one of the quirkiest characters that I have ever had the pleasure to meet within the pages of a Margolin book. He is a talented artist as well as a card shark, holding an advanced degree in mathematics. When Charlie and Guido meet, Charlie thinks the case will be simple. Guido just has to return the painting that he took from restauranteur Gretchen Hall as well as whatever he lifted from the safe at the same time. Guido had a problem with his masterpiece being hidden away in Gretchen’s office while Gretchen has a problem with the fact that Guido stole a flash drive that implicates her in multiple crimes. The action is addictive and deeply immersive. I was completely engaged in the drama of the story because the plot has a high sense of believability. When murder becomes part of the plot, the twists begin and just keep building the story into one that was a mystery within a mystery that begged me to try to solve them all. The characters were fascinating and all unforgettable. The story was relevant, with a realistic crime element and the signature style of the author who weaves a complicated web and then unravels it methodically for the readers. This is a slam dunk as a legal thriller and I was sad to see the story end, even though the conclusion was satisfying and well planned. Crackling with tension throughout the plot and subplots, the novel includes deliberate misdirection and is very atmospheric, with plenty of edgy action. This may be my favorite book by the author, especially since it has multiple layers and a well-crafted plot that kept me reading and totally engaged as I tried to guess what would happen next.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

DNF at 40%. I enjoy courtroom thrillers and have enjoyed other books by Margolin in the past so I was intrigued by this one. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. Examples of what didn’t work for me. Charlie has a new potential client come in but she’s so beautiful he can’t concentrate so he takes down her contact information before giving her his rate while thinking if she can’t afford it at least he will have her info to be able to ask her out. Very shortly after he’s in an intense shooting situation with a woman he works with and after tackling her and saving their lives he’s focused on her breasts pushing against him. Is Charlie an adult lawyer who is going to figure out what’s really going on or a thirteen year old boy? Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley and Macmillan audio for the gifted ebook and audiobook.

A Quirky But Enjoyable Murder Mystery

An eccentric painter who goes by the name of Guido Sabatini sells one of his paintings to Gretchen Hall, the owner of La Bella Roma. He expects it to be displayed in the restaurant dining area. When he returns to see his painting displayed, he does not see it. The maître 'd tells him the owner has it in her office. Upset, he breaks in at night and discovers that his painting is hanging over the safe that Hall opened to access the money to pay him. He saw the combination in the mirror. He opens the safe. He didn’t want money and felt around to see if he could find something to blackmail her. It is all bulky paperwork, but he finds a flash drive. He takes it. This flash drive leads to much more trouble for Sabatini than he could ever imagine.

This novel has two threads. The first thread starts with a robbery and escalates to a murder trial after three deaths. The second thread is the second murder trial. The major difficulty is that he is totally unprepared to be the defense attorney on a murder trial. The next largest difficulty is an eccentric client who believes he is the reincarnation of Guido Sabatini, a Renaissance painter who worked with Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. The police believe that Sabatini stole a flash drive that has evidence of a ring that trafficked underage girls. Very powerful men in that ring will do anything to get the flash drive. The tension is kept by characters working to keep Sabatini out of jail and vulnerable to attempts to persuade him to give them the flash drive. Several violent attempts occur. There are many twists, turns, and misdirections. Several of these attain the level of what I call literary grenades. My attention was completely captured. The novel’s flow is just right.

As this is a stand-alone novel, character development is extensive for the protagonist, Charlie Webb. Two B-storyline threads contribute to learning his character. One is Webb’s relationship with the prosecutor, Bridget Fournier. The second is his relationship with his assistant, Elin Crane. As a C student from elementary to law school, he shows some glimmers of legal brilliance. There even is a C-storyline as Web goes from an insecure lawyer surviving on court appointments and his biker gang friends to one who can conduct a murder defense with confidence.

This novel has minimal objectionable aspects that can cause some readers to stop reading. Intimate scenes are non-existent, and foul language appears infrequently. A few violent scenes are portrayed, but the level of violence is quite tolerable. The only warning is that this novel has crimes against women as a central aspect. As this novel seems to be a stand-alone, there is no worry about what happened in previous novels.

I had two issues with this novel. The first occurs during the second murder trial. If I were a juror, I would have voted not guilty on the three murder charges, as the prosecutor did not present any direct evidence that the defendant was at those scenes. The second issue was the ending. I started watching movies on TV that were made under the Hays Code. I like my novels to end that way, too. What I liked was the Guido Sabatini character. His antics regularly brought a smile to my face.

I have read three previous novels by this author, but they were Robin Lockwood novels. When this ARC became available, I did not read the description and thought it was another novel in the Lockwood series. This author is one of my Must-Read authors. Even with that surprise, I did enjoy reading this novel and would like to see more novels with these characters. I rate this novel with four stars.

I received this novel's free prepublication e-book version through NetGalley from Minotaur Press. My review is based solely on my own reading experience. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

Entertaining and fast-paced legal thriller.

This is a standalone, so I was able to jump right in and get my fix as I love fiction involving legal maneuvering and complicated plots. This one however, got me with the characters. So many different personalities on the legal end and a really quirky mathematician turned artist who made for a very interesting criminal.

The basic plot involves an inappropriately displayed painting, a stolen flash drive, sex trafficking, murder, and vigilantism. The story takes off quickly and the excellent writing kept me hooked. As the action ricochets from one scenario to another, the attorneys adapt and try to keep their client alive.

Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss) is a most unlikely criminal as he's a slightly crazy painter who believes he was trained by the masters in a past life. He gets mad when a painting he sold to a restaurateur is not hung out in the main dining area but hidden away in an office. He decides to break in and liberate it, but also, in spite, takes a flash drive from the office safe thinking he will simply give it back once the owner hangs the painting in a more suitable place. Arrested for theft, he needs an attorney. Enter third rate lawyer Charles Webb. Charlie's a good guy but he's no match for what's coming. Oh, Guido. What a nest of serpents he let loose. There is something on that flash drive that many people will get to keep secret.

I really liked this story and was lucky to be able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publishers. The narrator did an excellent job of voicing the characters with appropriate tone, accents, and dramatic flair. The production was well done and enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

Charlie might not be a legal star but he's good at what he does. And now what looked like a fairly simple case has turned into a sticky wicket with far reaching implications-and murder. This is topical (as are all of Margolin's novels) but trafficking, as real, tragic, and horrible as it is, is becoming a too common plot element. This is a standalone but I can envision Charlie taking on other cases-he's the one you will root for. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Entertaining read.

I liked this book, the story was interesting. I thought the dialogue was rather stilted for most of the book, especially at the beginning. I thought there was something wrong or slow about the characters at first. This was not like Phillip Margolin's books. I have read them all and always enjoy them. This was a good story, and I was just a bit frustrated with the characters. I know that Lawrence was strange, but I got the feeling that most of the characters weren't as natural and normal as Margolin's characters usually are. Other than that, the story was good.