George V. Higgins usually writes about criminal types, but his novels cannot be considered mysteries as such, nor are they strictly sociological studies. His beloved turf is Boston and its environs, but he writes about that city with a baleful eye that must surely cause the Brahmins to blush. His dialogue is a composite of Damon Runyon, Harold Pinter and David Mamet, but he has made it uniquely his own and it propels his novels at a furious pace. George V. Higgins writes very good books. "Kennedy for the Defense" is one of his best….

[Higgins] may, at times, rely too heavily upon his obvious skill for writing dialogue. Often he will cut away from a scene in progress and pick it up later with two people talking about what happened, stealing from us the excitement of being present while the scene unfolds onstage. The talk is always...