'Settlement Trilogy: The Trial of Mary Lou'

by Ron Carter

One warm June day back in 1931, Mary Lou Hubbard took the worn family Winchester .30-30 from the peg on the wall of her family's cabin in Settlement, Idaho. Her sights rested on the form of Corvis Lumley rowing his way across the Snake River. He was intent on making trouble, and Mary Lou knew it. Although she loaded only enough ammunition to sink Lumley's boat and humiliate him as he sunk 20 yards from shore, he wasn't going to let her get away with it. Lumley claimed attempted murder, and so began the trial of Mary Lou Hubbard-a trial that brought together the unlikely combination of a Harvard graduate, an eighty-nine-year-old defense counselor, and a grizzled old clerk who wore the judge's black robes because the judge refused to.

Genres: Fiction

123 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1996

About the author

Ron Carter (1932-2008) was born in Salt Lake City and reared in Twin Falls, Idaho. He served received a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from Brigham Young University. He received a juris doctor degree in 1962 after attending the law schools at George Washington University and the University of Utah. Recently he has been a research and writing director for the Superior Court system of Los Angeles County, California. He published his first work in 1988.

Ron is married to LaRae Dunn Carter of Boise, Idaho, and they are the parents of nine children. The family resides in Park City, Utah.

Reviews

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, what a crack-up! The trial is as down to earth as most of the characters are. I cannot help to think that more trials should be closer to this one in many ways. Justice may be blind, but too many times that blindness leads to atrocities of a different nature. However, I can also recognize that it keeps many atrocities from happening too. Many more than is realized I am sure. At any rate, it is fun to think how justice can be served well by people who see live in a simple manner.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute frontier story full of endearing characters. Predictable but humorous all the same. It made me smile and at times laugh out loud.

Caution: there are some ethnic and cultural characatures of two Native Americans and a Chinese man. They add to the character of the book but those who are sensitive should leave this one alone.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

We listened to this as a family in the car. The beginning was a little confusing when it talked about the gold rush and the conflicts between Idaho and Montana etc but when it got to the trial and everything we were all laughing and enjoying it so much! It was hilarious! We look forward to continuing the series on our next trip as a family.

[Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so ironically funny! Tongue in cheek all the way. Grit your teeth if they take more than a few liberties with making fun of the legal process. (The audio version voices are right out of Beverly Hillbillies.)

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun, fast-read. I enjoyed it so much I purchased a copy for my dad for a gift. This book is about good people who use common sense to make things happen.

[Wendy Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect read for an afternoon when I was feeling a bit down. I laughed til I cried. What delightful fun!

[Shannon Tonks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fun read! There were times I laughed out loud! Totally recommend it.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a silly fun short story with laugh out loud moments. Light and fun read that makes you long for simpler times.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, silly, sweet short book for all ages. Book 1 of the settlement series.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun delightful story.

[Haley Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and so short! I’d totally read this one a second time

[Alma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, light read, a bit like the sherbet bite between heavy courses in a formal dinner. The plot is simple, and the characters are outlandish and comical. Mary Lou, the defendant is sweet and dewy-eyed. Her accuser, Lumley, is appropriately mean and snake-like. Clyde and Abner, with no prior experience, are charged with conducting the trial. Hugh, the proper Boston lawyer, is to be the prosecutor. He is at first baffled by the way a “speedy trial” will proceed in the “wild American West.” But, as the reader smiles through the trial, the thought comes that more trials should follow this same no-nonsense format. My only problem with the story is this question: How does one shoot, from 80 yards away, six closely spaced bullets through the floorboards of a rowboat in the water?

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way funny little story of the old frontier. Mary Lou is a very good shooter and only 17 she shoots at a mean man, from another State who comes and bothers her family. He goes to the sherrif and they have to have a trial of course they don't have anything where she lives, no sherrif, no Judge, nothing so they make do with what they know and have, which isn't much. It's a hillarious little crazy story! 3 1/2 Stars :)

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this little book. It's set around 1880 so the language is from that time. It's a very fast read but the story progressed nicely. I found it a little hard to keep track of the characters at first since several are introduced. But all in all, it was a pleasant change of pace from what I had been reading.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hilarious. Such a funny folktale. I loved imagining the little town and the hill-billy people. I think I'm curious enough to go on and read the other two books of this trilogy. It's only 95 pages, so anyone who's got a few minutes to soak in the sun with a good book will love this.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so funny! Really, laugh-out-loud funny! I loved the story and the characters and the way the author made the situations so comical. Accurately dubbed "Hysterical Fiction" by Bookcraft. Loved it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a good smiling when you're done reading book. Set in the 1930s in the mountains of Idaho, Mary Lou shoots holes in Corvin Lumley's rowboat and he takes her to court on attempted murder charges. Delightful trial run along the lines all trials should have.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was delightful. It was about a very small settlement where a "crime" took place and the the locals are forced to have a trial. Their understanding of a trial is hysterical and fresh. It was very short, very simple and so much fun.

[Dayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fun read that shows people aren't alway as simple as they may appear, and life isn't always as complex as it seems.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had really fun characters and I loved the descriptions of the back country life, but the story line was seriously lacking.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very funny story and a quick read.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, quick read. I really enjoyed the homey feel and the droll humor.

[Millie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this is the book I read. Very fun, and funny. Very short, also. I'll have to read the other 2 in the trilogy. Makes you wonder...

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, funny, charming, endearing characters, loved it!! I was interupting Anthony's reading every two minutes to read him some funny line.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it. I'm reading it for the third time.

[Lee Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of this trilogy. So funny!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Funny Easy Read. You will love the fun, random characters and their easy way of life.