ROBAK'S WITCH

Still smarting from the bullet he took in his gut at the end of his last trial, Indiana lawyer Don Robak's holding on till the first of the year, when he'll ascend to the circuit bench. Meantime, though, he's still vulnerable to a plea from his old law school buddy Kevin Smalley to join him in cozy Madisonville in the defense of alleged witch Bertha Jones, facing death for poisoning her teenaged niece and nephew. It's obvious from the beginning that the killings have something to do with the hysterical condemnations of Rev. Hoskin Allwell, and scarcely less obvious that the late Mary Petrakis and James Smitham were more Romeo and Juliet than Hansel and Gretel. While you're waiting for the less obvious stuff, Robak winds up the case and assumes that judgeship. A lesser effort concocted from familiar ingredients by veteran Hensley (Grim City, 1994, etc.). Even the writing is plodding.