mystery/legal thriller/fiction
State's Witness
by Woody Hanstein
Audenreed Press
A Division of Biddle Publishing Company
When 14-year-old Amy Hart disappeared ten
years ago, the only thing left behind were a blood-soaked sweater and the
haunting sense that nothing in the peaceful little town of Piedmont would ever
be quite the same. Now one of Attorney Pete Morris's best friends has been
arrested for her murder, and Morris suddenly must come to grips with a tragic
crime that was long on suspects but short on evidence.
ISBN: 1-879418-57-6
©2002
$12.00 US
Softcover 267 Pages
To order this book...
Excerpt
Vince's tie had a Princeton school crest on it and his tweed sportcoat
looked like the kind a guy making two hundred dollars an hour would wear.
"Thanks for coming," he said. "I know it's a
drive."
"So how's it look?"
He smiled, but not in a way that filled me with enthusiasm. Then he
folded his hands on top of the lone thin file in the middle of his desk. I
could read my name on the file's label, and I didn't like the way that
made me feel.
REVIEWS
The critics loved Woody Hanstein's Not Proven:
"Uncompromisingly honest... This is a story that does not flinch, not
ever."
—Lewiston Sun Journal
"...a plain and simple story, artfully woven. (Hanstein's) writing is
delightfully simple and spare."
—Bangor Daily News
Then they raved about Cold Snap even more:
"...Hanstein is now well on his way to becoming the
Downeast John Grisham."
—The Main Times
"...even stronger than his first, full of memorable
descriptive detail, engaging characters and a lively plot that unfolds in a
rural Maine the author knows so well."
—Maine in Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Woody Hanstein, also known as Walter Hanstein III, is a well-known trial lawyer and has been involved in a number of high-profile criminal and civil trials in recent years. He has also argued a dozen cases in Maine Supreme Court.
Three times, he has represented defendants who were found innocent by reason of insanity in prominent murder trials. Most notable was Mark Bechard, who in 1996 was accused of brutally killing two nuns and wounding two others at Servants of the Blessed Sacrament convent in Waterville.
In the aftermath of those acquittals, Woody Hanstein strongly criticized the state's Forensic Service and played a role in changing the system, making it easier for Maine's most mentally ill citizens to obtain fairer trials.
He also describes himself as a crusader for citizens' legal rights in the so-called war on drugs in Maine, and he is trying to challenge one of those laws before the U.S. Supreme Court.