Murder Book

Season 17, Episode 16, Aired

Episode Summary

EDIT
go
Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy
8.7
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
44 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate Now!
After publisher Serena Darby is found murdered in her apartment, suspicion turns to J.P. Lange, a former professional baseball player acquitted of his wife's murder who had written a book hypothesising how he would have committed the murder. Green and Cassady follow the trail of evidence from Lange to Gerald Stockwell, a former ghostwriter on the book, but Stockwell tries to clear himself by offering McCoy and Rubirosa proof that one of the jurors in Lange's trial was paid off to force an acquittal.moreless
WRITE A REVIEW

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Watch Online

Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy

Fan Episode Reviews (1)

See All

  • Too much of an O.J. knockoff, and the results were predictable. Not sure if the "rule of law" was followed throughout this episode.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By Grawolph, Mar 16, 2007
    Even though the episode had the usual plot twists that L&O is so good at, it lacked originality. It was so obviously an O.J. knockoff that most everything was expected. I'm not that practiced at law, but it seems if there was jury tampering, in this case a bribe to one of the original jurors and it could be proven (which was admitted to), then the original acquittal would have been thrown out and the defendant not only retried for his wife's original murder, but the new murder as well.

    Regardless of this, it was a decent episode even if you knew what the outcome was going to be. They made the defendant to unlikeable not to be found guilty. I am still a big L&O fan.moreless
WRITE A REVIEW
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

FILTER BY TYPE

  • TRIVIA (0)

    ADD TRIVIA

  • QUOTES (9)

    ADD QUOTES

    • (Last lines.) Arthur Branch: It seems like you're taking this victory a tad personally. Jack McCoy: Damn right I am! Connie Rubirosa: So what do you think? Did the jury convict Lange for the right murder? Jack McCoy: That we'll probably never know. Arthur Branch: Until one of them writes a book about it.

    • Arthur Branch: Bribery, blackmail and a patsy. This guy Lange is a tabloid's dream.

    • Arthur Branch: It doesn't take tampering to get the wrong verdict out of a jury.

    • J.P. Lange: I didn't kill her. Ed Green: You've been using that line for four years, since you murdered your wife.

    • (J.P. Lange is rumored to have bribed a juror in his murder trial.) Arthur Branch: Could there be anything to this bribery claim? Jack McCoy: I'd like to think I didn't lose the trial completely on my own.

    • Gerald Stockwell: I didn't do anything! Ed Green: (mocking) 'I didn't do anything!' They always say that when they run.

    • Nina Cassady: This isn't hypothetical like your book, J.P. I saw you working that heavy bag. Tell me, how'd Serena like your right hook?

    • Don Lampard: That book was blood money. My daughter's blood.

    • J.P. Lange: What do you think, I went looking for this aggravation? Nina Cassady: I think you went looking for cash.

  • NOTES (2)

    ADD NOTES

  • ALLUSIONS (1)

    ADD ALLUSIONS

    • This episode appears to be ripped from the headlines of the O.J. Simpson trial. Simpson was arrested and charged with the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a friend of hers, Ronald Goldman. Although the criminal court found him not guilty in 1995, a civil trial found him liable for the wrongful deaths of both Goldman and Brown in 1998. Simpson attempted to release the book If I Did It, a fictionalized first-person account of the murders had he actually done them, in 2006, but it was recalled before ever being published. Even the full name of the primary antagonist (James Paul Lange) hearkens back to O.J. Simpson (O.J. stands for Orenthal James). In 2007, Goldman's family purchased the rights to rename and publish the book after a bankruptcy court ruled that Simpson's daughter perpetrated a fraud when she created her shell corporation.

Law & Order Forums


Add a Topic See All
Last Activity
Replies

Watch Law & Order Full Episodes

See All

Related Shows

Season 17 Episodes

See All
Ep 22
The Family Hour
Ep 21
Over Here
Ep 20
Captive
Ep 19
Fallout
Ep 18
Bling
Ep 17
Good Faith
Ep 16
Murder Book
Ep 15
Melting Pot
Ep 14
Church
Ep 13
Talking Points
Ep 12
Charity Case
Ep 11
Remains of the Day
Ep 10
Corner Office
Ep 9
Deadlock
Ep 8
Release
Ep 7
In Vino Veritas
Ep 6
Profiteer
Ep 5
Public Service Homicide
Ep 4
Fear America
Ep 3
Home Sweet
Ep 2
Avatar
Ep 1
Fame

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
TV.com Properties | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use