Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Final Paradox: the second in the Osgoode Trilogy

Author: Mary E. Martin

ISBN: 0595407609

Mary E. Martin’s second Osgood Trilogy, Final Paradox revolves around Harry Jenkins, the honest and sincere family solicitor, who once more seems to attract some unusual clients.  

The novel begins when Jenkins pays a visit to an elderly client, Norma Dinnick to discuss her will. Norma seems to be very confused when Harry enters her apartment and she complains to him about imaginary tenants living above her who listen in on her phone conversations. Harry is quite perturbed, as he knows that Norma had only one remaining tenant in her apartment. Apparently, the previous year Norma did so well on her investments that she decided to close the other five suites of the apartment.

Norma asks Harry if Archie Brinks, who we later learn was her late husband’s business partner, is the cause of all her troubles. According to Norma, Archie is trying to drive her mad so she won’t be able to change her will. Harry informs Norma that Archie called him to tell him not to come.  Archie claimed that Norma didn’t want a new will and that furthermore she didn’t have the capacity to make a new one.

Norma is infuriated and she spews out: “Of course! That greedy lout will suck me dry. He even wants the shares my Arthur left me.”  Harry is taken aback with Norma’s mention of shares and he asks her which shares, as he doesn’t recall listing in the inventory of Arthur’s estate any share certificates.

As the story unfolds, things start to get really bizarre. We learn that the lost shares are the Elixicorp Shares and there is a great deal of funny business going on pertaining to these shares. It seems everyone is after these shares, particularly an underworld figure, George Pappas, who will stop at nothing to track down the shares. We also discover that Arthur Dinnick, Archie Brinks, George Pappas and another person, David Parrish (who was Norma’s lover) were involved in a fraudulent scheme where they duped some of Toronto’s elite to invest in a phony wonder drug.  As a result, they were successful in raising five million dollars that Arthur managed to abscond with and hide in an account in Europe under the code name of Elixicorp Holdings. To access the funds, it was necessary to produce the original share certificate that would indicate the account number on its reverse side. 

Martin’s characters spend most of the novel being led around by the plot and are either murdered, commit suicide or wind up in a hospital for the mentally ill. As for Norma Dinnick, she may seem to be a trifle “whacky,” however, as we discover there was a method in her madness.

Martin is not lacking in imagination, however, one shortcoming of the novel is its lack of focus on the principal plot-the search for the missing shares. There is too much pumping in of side issues such as Harry’s relationships with his father and girlfriend that considerably slows down the forward momentum of the story. Nonetheless, if Martin is trying to tell us that things are not always as they seem and that we should be aware of sweet little old ladies, she has succeeded.

Click Here to Read Norm's Interview With Mary Martin

Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Final Paradox: the second in the Osgoode Trilogy

The above review was contributed by: The Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com, Norm Goldman, B.A. LL.L, Retired Title Attorney: Norm is also a travel writer and together with his artist wife, Lily, the couple meld Norm's words with Lily's art. To check out their travel site click on Sketchandtravel.com   Click here to view Norm’s Reviews & Interviews.

  Click Here To Read Norm's Interview With Mary Martin

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