While Justice Sleeps

Synopsis: Supreme Court Associate Justice Howard Wynn is a cranky misanthrope, possibly paranoid, and suffering from the fictional degenerative brain disease called Boursin’s Syndrome. He has a personal nurse who has been blackmailed into spying on him. He has designed an elaborate set of chess-related clues to his investigation of a case pending before the court, sequestering them for his law clerk Avery Keene to decode. He lapses into a coma induced by what may be a suicide attempt, whereupon the nurse, contrary to instructions from her unknown blackmailer, saves Wynn’s life by calling 911. Phew. That’s all in the first 20 pages or so. Murder and mayhem ensue. What happens to the Supreme Court when a justice is completely disabled but not dead? Hmmmmm.

Review: I am challenged in the synopsis of this novel—lots of busy narrative threads, and plot driven to the extreme! Avery Keene is a self sufficient loner with a crack addicted mother who is not shy about shaking her daughter down for cash. I found that Avery was not a fully believable character. She reacts to alarming events in ways that are implausible, both logically and emotionally. Some of the minor characters are quite cliche, such as Justice Wynn’s unloving second trophy wife. However, it is a page turner! And I applaud the author’s ability to bring numerous plot threads together in the end. This scores points for sheer entertainment, but it helps if you can just go along for the ride rather than try to have it all make sense.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: As a nod to our setting of the Supreme Court, we have a take on chicken supreme. I assumed that this referred to a specific sauce, but it seems the French term “chicken supreme” really just refers to boneless skin-on chicken breast. Who knew? You will likely have to ask the butcher for this, as boneless chicken breast is always skinless in my grocery store, or you can de-bone a breast yourself.

Ingredients:

4 skin on boneless chicken breasts

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 lemon, cut in 4 pieces

3 large sprigs of fresh thyme

1 cup sliced shallots

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/4 cup vermouth or white wine

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons cold butter

2 tablespoons minced parsley

1) Salt and pepper the chicken breasts

2) add oil to braising pan and sear chicken skin side down until the skin is nice and crispy.

3) Flip the chicken, add lemon wedges and thyme, cover and place in 325 degree oven for 10-20 minutes, until the temperature reaches 155 degrees. Do not overcook.

4) Remove chicken to a plate.

5) Put the pan back on the stove, heat some olive oil and add shallots and garlic, sauce until the shallots start to brown slightly.

6) Add vermouth, cook for about a minute

7). Add chicken broth and reduce for about 5 minutes

8) Add cream and reduce for another five minutes.

9) Off heat, stir in the cold butter.

10) Stir in the parsley and serve with the sliced chicken breast.