I like John Grisham. But sometimes Grisham takes a beating from the critics. They complain that his books are all the same, there is little character development, etc. Well, for those of you who like Grisham, too, but agree that sometimes he writes himself into a rut, I have the antidote: "The Emperor of Ocean Park" by Stephen L. Carter.

Carter

Carter's mystery novel unfolds around the death of former federal judge Oliver Garland, whose long career was marked by the scandal of his failed nomination to the Supreme Court. After he retired from the bench, the Judge became an outspoken figure in conservative politics. His long career earned him much respect and more than a few enemies.

The official cause of death is a heart attack, but the Judge's son, Talcott Garland, begins to suspect the truth is not that simple. At the funeral, Talcott is approached by his father's friend, former CIA agent Jack Ziegler, whose relationship with the Judge was the basis of the Supreme Court scandal. Ziegler is a shadowy figure, accused and acquitted several times of serious crimes, including murder. Ziegler's appearance is followed by a visit from two men posing as FBI agents. Slowly, subtly Carter begins to build the mystery, the suspense that forms the core of the novel.

Carter, a Yale law professor who has also published several nonfiction works, has written a novel that contains many Grisham-like elements. Family relationships figure prominently in the story. The Judge was not an ideal father, and Talcott and his siblings, Mariah and Addison, often seethe with resentment toward each other and their father. The scandal of the Judge's failed Supreme Court nomination tainted his children also and the family never recovered from the death of the favorite child, Talcott's younger sister Abby, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver who was never caught.

Like Grisham's bestselling legal thrillers, "The Emperor of Ocean Park" has its foundation in government and the legal profession. The Judge's career on the bench is the foundation for the plot, Talcott Garland is a law professor, and his wife, Kimmer, is a corporate attorney whose name is on the short list for a spot on the federal appeals court as the story opens.

In many Grisham novels, racial tensions are an important element of the plot. But whereas Grisham's narrators are always white, Carter's narrator, Talcott, is black. The racial tensions in "The Emperor of Ocean Park" are not the oppression and prejudice imposed on blacks in the South, but the resentment, jealousy and ambition that divides the upper class black community around Washington, D.C. In Carter's novel, there is no solidarity within the "darker nation."

Talcott Garland makes an interesting and complex narrator. On the one hand he seems stuffy and distant, but he also has a deep sense of loyalty and ethics. He has no illusions about the disappointments in his life -- his wife's adultery with a coworker chief among these -- yet he seems reluctant to change. Often, Talcott is most critical of himself. In one scene Talcott berates a student in front of a class, and is appalled at his own lack of professionalism:

"This time, the students are too shocked to laugh. They do not really like the arrogant Mr. Avery Knowland, but now they like the arrogant Professor Talcott Garland even less. In the abrupt, nervous silence of the high-ceilinged classroom, it strikes me, far too late, that I, a tenured professor at one of the best law schools in the land, am in the process of humiliating a twenty-two-year-old who was, all of five years ago, in high school -- the campus equivalent of a sixth-grade bully beating up a kindergartner. It does not matter if Avery Knowland is arrogant or ignorant or even if he is a racist. My job is to teach him, not to embarrass him. I am not doing my job.

My rampant demons have chased me even into my classroom."

Carter has written an engaging novel that offers a fresh version of the average lawyer mystery. His in-depth look at the intricacies of affluent East Coast black society is fascinating. Publisher's Weekly termed "The Emperor of Ocean Park" a "first-rate legal thriller," and the novel peaked at number 3 on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Like the narrator in last month's selection, Carrie Bell, Talcott Garland should provoke interesting and diverse reactions from readers. Does he fit the conventional "hero" mold? Are readers put off by his conservatism? Is he a likeable narrator?

To contact staff writer Regina C. Davis, use e-mail or call 348-7936.