Sycamore Row - spoilers - chapters 21-25

[Ann]

Chapters 21-25 The first posters please provide a synopsis of these five chapters

[BarryP]

21.
Not surprisingly, Jake hires Portia as an intern. (aside: she is the most appealing character I have met so far in this book). Portia meets Lucien, and at best, one could say she was polite. The official inventory of assets was well over 20 million dollars.
Jake gets his first payday, and the first round of depositions are set up with the Judge.

22.
9 lawyers show up for discovery. Seth hated lawyers, but his last minute change almost guaranteed the way this would run. Buckley shows up, gets tossed out by the judge.
The deposition starts with a description of family, and the other lawyers now understand where Portia fits. All were finding the proceedings tedious. Lettie exhaust early, and they are hardly through with her. Jake, meanwhile, was learning by the questioning who his real opponents would be in court. As he thought, the great ones reserved their traps for the jury. A revelation of significance was that Letie drove Seth to his office on the fatal day.
Herschel was deposed as well, and wanted to show how close he was to his father, but this was difficult as so much fiction was involved. Ramona, the daughter was not much better.

23.
Rumblings of settlement start, but the slice for Lettie is disappointingly small in the discussions. Jake reminds the opposition that his instructions were to defend the will at all costs. Those instructions preclude settlement.

24.
Lucien starts digging into records to figure out why Seth would leave everything to Lettie. There are connections in the past, but not enough to tell a story yet. Lucien believes they will lose if they fail to find motive.
Simeon returns home, not happy to find it full of freeloading relatives.
It is Christmas, and Jake gets his daughter a puppy (Sadie). Jake and Carla look at a house, one slightly beyond their means, but perfect for them in so many ways.

25.
An investigator claims he has evidence that another of Lettie’s past employers was coerced into willing her a large sum. Not that there was proof of coercion, but the lawyers sense a bombshell. The lawyers scheme to hide the witness and steal the handwritten will to spring on Lettie during trial testimony. Their hired gun succeeds in stealing the will.
Portia researches her family tree looking for the Seth/Lettie link.

[Carol/Bonadie]

I didn't quite follow the threads of Lettie's ancestry and it's connection (if any) to Seth. I'll read the print copy of the book to review.

I like Portia too. It's one of those plot twists that only happen in fiction, but it makes things more interesting, and it's good that Jake has someone who has influence in Lettie's camp.

I don't envy Jake. It would seem reasonable to go the route of settling, but that isn't what he is being paid to do. I wonder how this will all turn out, money-wise. I'm guessing Lettie wins it all and gives it away. Nobody takes a big windfall and goes off and lives the good life, not in books anyway. Now if it were me....

That twist about Lettie's former employer and the handwritten will is a kicker. I can't wait to see how THAT plays out!

Grisham is one hell of a storyteller. I know we were worried that a mystery wouldn't provide much to discuss, but I think we are doing quite alright with discussion points.

[LizH]

Oh how the plot thickens! Love the additional will, can't wait to see how that plays out, and interesting about the old mansion being up for sale and Jake and his family being perfect for it!

[Ann]

This set of chapters had quite a bit of action with secrets being introduced on both sides. As we root for the judge to make the right decisions and for the jury to hear about them (or not). I found myself hoping that Jake and family will move into the Hocutt House and get to live in a beautiful Victorian mansion again (albeit they may have to invest some sweat equity all over again) and that whatever dirt they think they have managed to dig up about Lettie doesn't come to prove a case to absolve the handwritten will.
I fully support the notion that to win, Jake needs to give a reasonable explanation of why and what Seth Hubbard's wishes actually were by writing and presenting it the way he did.

[Donnajo]

I'm up to chapter 27.
I just knew jake would hire Portia. I'm glad of that.
Lucien well he's sure something else.
I loved the christmas day part with Jake and his family and with his daughter getting the puppy. Would love for them to get that house.
I have things going around in my head about the past. could lettie be a relative of seth, he knew and she didn't. it's very fishy I think.
I was waiting for Simeon to find out that the lawyers he hired were fired I thought for sure there would be a big to do about that when he got home.

[Carol/Bonadie]

I loved the puppy bit too, DJ, that was a nice touch.