SECOND CHAIR

A Stan Turner Mystery 

  by William Manchee

Trade Paperback, June 2000 ISBN#0-9666366-9-4 $14.95

Drop into the home of Dallas attorney, Stan Turner, and his wife Rebekah for a Christmas Party. The house is packed with clients and friends eating, drinking and having a great time. But then the lights go out and Stan’s CPA, Bobby Wiggins, is found dead. To make matters worse Bobby’s wife blames her hubby’s demise on Stan and Rebekah and files suit to collect two million dollars.

Then Stan takes on the defense of a young college student, Sarah Winters, accused of murdering her own baby. Stan knows this is way out of his league so he convinces his old criminal law professor, Harry Hertel, to be second chair. Much to his dismay, however, midway into the trial Harry disappears.

Bad goes to worse as Stan is stalked by a religious fanatic who calls himself Doomsayer. Then he narrowly escapes an attempt on his life and suddenly is the main attraction in a media frenzy. Despite all these distractions, Stan never loses sight of his goal to find out the truth about Sarah’s baby. And when the truth is finally revealed it’s not at all what he or anyone else expects.

Second Chair will quickly engage and intrigue you all the way from its ominous beginning to its startling conclusion

Dallas lawyer Stan Turner attracts his usual share of trouble and more in William Manchee’s Second Chair, the third in a series. Turner must fend off a lawsuit from his CPA’s widow, who blames him and his wife for her husband’s death, as well as defend a college student accused of murdering her newborn child. Appealing characters and lively dialogue, especially in the courtroom, make this an easy, entertaining read. Top, (toppub@hotmail.com), $14.95 paper 360p, ISBN#0-9666366-9-4.

Second Chair by William Manchee

William Manchee, full-time attorney, part-time mystery writer, has written another addition to the Stan Turner Mysteries series.

"Second Chair" is the third volume.

Like "Undaunted" and "Brash Endeavor," "Second Chair" takes the reader for the ride of their life. Manchee's command of the justice system, added to his experiences in court and with clients, makes for a good read.

Stan Turner once again finds himself in financial trouble when he takes on the case of a young college student accused of murdering her newborn infant girl.

Turner, never trying a murder case before, enlists the aid of his criminal law professor, Harry Hertel, to play the role of second chair.

The story plays out from Sherman, Texas, to Dallas all the while set with subplots including the death of a client at Turner's annual Christmas party, a religious fanatic named Doomsayer and abortion protesters on the courthouse lawn during the murder trial.

Turner and the other characters make Manchee's latest book a good choice for a rainy day when there's nothing else to do as it's one of those books that's hard to put down.

Manchee, who didn't start writing until his children were grown, started penning books in 1995 as an escape from his stressful Dallas law practice.

He admits writing is his true passion in life.

He has written eight novels, five which have been published, between 1995 and 1997.

Manchee's Stan Turner series is based on his experiences as a Dallas attorney in the 70s and 80s.

Although he plans to continue the series, he also will write stand alone books. Manchee has plans to publish at least a book a year for the rest of his life.

The book is published by Top Productions, a publishing company headed up by Manchee.

a review from the

Richardson News

Thursday, August 3, 2000   by Betty Bettacchi Section B,  Lifestyles

Sarah Winters, A Sherman college student, is accused of murdering her own baby. Her current boyfriend, Greg, who is not the baby’s father, lives in Richardson. The night of the murder, Greg was studying in the UTD library.

No, this isn’t a case for Ken Yarbrough, Richardson’s chief of police. It’s a case for Stan Turner, author William Manchee’s fictional sleuthing lawyer.

Second Chair is the third book in the Stan Turner mystery series. Manchee wrote Twice Tempted, a legal thriller, before hitting on his most successful formula.

Manchee will sign copies of Second Chair at 1 p. m. at Barnes and Noble, Richardson Square Mall.

The Plano writer is a North Dallas Lawyer who picked up the pen as a way to deal with the stress of the legal profession.

"When I’m writing, I’m in another world. I can totally forget about my law practice," he said during a recent interview. "My children are grown up now and out of the house. When they lived at home, I would go fishing with them to relax. Once they left, I began to write.

"I had some ideas floating around in my head since college. I’m a big movie fan, I like to see every kind of movie," he said. So, one afternoon he played hooky to see The Shawshank Redemption, Stephen King’s gritty but ultimately triumphant prison movie. The film inspired Manchee to finally put his ideas down on paper.

"At the time, I happened to have a couple of clients who wrote books, and I asked them for information. Then, I read books on creative writing, he said. "When I first began writing, I didn’t tell anybody. I wanted to be sure I could complete a book first."

Manchee’s first Stan Turner Mystery was Undaunted, written in 1997. That book focused on Stan Turner as a teen through his discharge from the Marine Corps. Brash Endeavor, next in the series, saw Turner graduating from law school and beginning his career and family.

In the latest novel, Turner has settled into a domestic life and a law practice. Turner is a civil attorney who is persuaded to take a criminal case, the case of the girl accused of murdering her newborn.

Manchee’s story is a page turner. He manages to keep the reader’s interest with a serpentine plot and realistic dialogue.

"Even though I write fiction, I believe there should be realistic aspects to it. That’s why I like to use settings readers can relate to. Almost all of the incidents in my books are things I have experienced in some way," he said.

For instance, while in college, he worked as a bank messenger. Late one night, making a delivery, he noticed the vault had been left open. It contained more than $6 million.

"I didn’t attempt to close it, because I didn’t know if my touching it would set off an alarm, so I just left. I later found out that the alarm was not activated until after the vault was closed.

"Unbelievably, it happened a second time while I worked there. That experience showed up in Twice Tempted, a legal thriller, which was my first novel.

"The inspiration for Second Chair came about because my daughter, at one time, thought she was going to have to be a witness in a murder trial. I sat through the trial with her. That planted the seed for the novel."

Manchee’s fictional lawyer always wins the war, but he does lose battles, which makes him a believable character. In Undaunted, the hero ends up on trial for murdering his drill sergeant. In Brash Endeavor, Turner’s wife ends up on trial for murder.

In the latest novel, Turner manages to get himself into a few skirmishes once again.

"I really love writing. I guess you could say I’m an organic type of writer. The story evolves daily, even though I know ahead of time who the characters will be and how the story will be resolved," he said.

Manchee’s discipline is to write at his computer three to four hours per night and on weekends.

"Once I get into a story, I find it hard to tear myself away. There will be more Stan Turner mysteries, but I plan to write other types of fiction.

on, as well. I hope to write a book a year for the rest of my life, the ambitious author said.

Betty Bettacchi teaches literature at Collin County Community College and writes about authors and books for the Richardson News.

a review from 

MY SHELF. COM

Second Chair is the 3rd installment of Stan Turner, The 1st was UNDAUNTED and the 2nd was BRASH ENDEAVOR. Dallas Attorney Stan Turner and his wife Rebekah are having a Christmas party with family, friends, and clients as their guests. During the party the lights go out. As Stan gets the fuse changed and the lights come back on, he hears a scream. Stan rushes to where he heard the scream come from and sees his friend and CPA Bobby Wiggins lying in the flowerbed face up. The cause of death is massive coronary caused by the fall on the ice. Marleen Wiggins decides to sue Stan for 2 million dollars because of negligence in not sanding the sidewalk. This is only one of the cases that Stan is working on. Stan is asked to defend a young woman named Sarah Winters for killing her child, which she claims to remember nothing about.  Before the trial even gets started, Stan and his family start getting threats through the mail, the letters are cut out of magazines so they can not be traced, the first one said:

 "YE DEFENDERS OF THE DEVIL BEWARE! DEATH WILL BE YOUR ONLY REWARD. REPENT BEFORE YOU FACE ETERNAL DAMNATION. TIME IS SHORT UNTIL THE LIVING WILL AVENGE THE DEAD." Signed DOOMSLAYER. 

After a court appearance, Stan's beautiful corvette has all of its tires slashed and windows broken out and a message scratched on his hood saying;

  " YE SHALL NOT ESCAPE THE VENGEANCE OF THE LORD. -- DOOMSLAYER.

 Even after all of that, Stan decides to keep on defending Sarah because he believes in her innocence. After the trial starts, Stan is all most run down in the parking garage, his dog is also killed in their back yard, and his trial note book is stolen out of his office the night before a court appearance and he must recreate the note book in 8 hours before court reconvenes.

Stan Turner is a very pleasant guy and the kind of lawyer that we would all love to have in our corner. All of the characters are believable and fit into the plot. William Manchee has done it again with  " Second Chair ". I have not had the pleasure of reading the first two Stan Turner Mysteries, " Undaunted " and " Brash Endeavor " but you can bet that I will be adding them both to my private collection of books. I have had the honor of reading  " Death Pact " to review, and I will say that it is the best book that I have ever read so far; " Second Chair " is a close second to  " Death Pact. " William Manchee can spin a tale that totally keeps you holding on and wanting more. You can bet that I will read anything that this talented author puts out. 

Kudos to William Manchee for a 5 star read again! --Pam Stone, My Shelf.com 9/00

My favorite kind of mystery! Lots of action, keep you turning the page intrigue, skillful weaving of more than one theme and no ‘obligatory’ sex scene plunked into the mix in the mistaken belief that ‘obligatory’ sex will perhaps make up for poor story and will sell books anyway.

Dallas Texas Attorney Manchee puts his knowledge of the legal scene to good use in this well written tale. Little does Stan Turner, attorney, and his wife Rebekah realize when they invite friends and business associates to a holiday party that death, lawsuits and an ice storm will result that night. In the wake of the holiday party mishaps Stan Turner accepts a nearly
impossible client to defend against a horrifying murder even as he finds his own life turned topsy turvy. Writer Manchee cleverly plaits the various strands of the story and brings them all to a satisfying conclusion. 

Fuse the fast paced excitement of Les Roberts’ Pepper Pike with a hearty slosh of good old time Ellery Queen intrigue for a notion of what writer Manchee’s SECOND CHAIR is all about. This fifth mystery by author Manchee is a highly entertaining read.

The consternation felt by Stan Turner is obvious as he faces an apparent madman, defends his client and gets himself into hot water with the judge sitting the case. The interwoven issues Turner must deal with as he struggles to discover the truth behind his client’s problem, and his own, are ingeniously wrought in this exhilarating thriller. Author Manchee has an awareness of the legal scene many do not have. He puts that understanding to excellent use to present a narrative so gripping that you will not want to put the book down until you have reached the last page. Manchee’s characters are imaginative and well thought out. From the enigmatic fellow lawyer to the patient Rebekah each is singular and wholly plausible.

SECOND CHAIR offers the reader a fast paced, action packed thriller and makes me sorry I have only now discovered this particular series. I am now most anxious to read the first two of Manchee’s Stan Turner mysteries.

 SECOND CHAIR is an entertaining yarn that will grab you from the opening line and will carry you right on to the last page. Highly perspicacious and highly recommended.