Half of Lily White is a murder mystery, drawing on our era's fascination with the legal arena to embellish its basic whodunit question. Lee White's difficulties in seeing justice done lie only partially in putting evidence together to see which pattern fits her case better. Her other struggle is to persuade authorities to reverse themselves and the legal steps they have set in motion, in view of new evidence.

This focus reflects the high-profile criminal cases that have drawn much public attention in the 1990s. After a series of spectacular cases, including the two highly publicized O. J. Simpson trials, legal coverage and commentary have become an integral part of television news and other programming. There is even a nightly panel (Burden of Proof) in which attorneys comment on current cases.

The law was a very "hot" career field in the 1970s, the decade when Lee...