The 1947 Hitchcock film starring Gregory Peck and the largely unknown Alida Valli was adapted from this book. The film version which was certainly badly flawed,is better known however than the book.
A beautiful woman stands accused of murdering her blind,war-hero husband,Colonel Paradine. Sir Anthony Keene,a famous lawyer takes on the task of defending her. Keene is a complex character who carefully keeps his home life and his work life separate. He is happily married to the lovely Gay and everything seems perfect until he becomes so deeply involved in the case that things begin to unravel. The fascinating Mrs Paradine becomes more to him than merely a client and it becomes an obsession with Keene to prevent her from being found guilty of the murder and hanging. A further complication is that the judge chosen to try the case is Lord Horfield,a man with his own twisted agenda. he hates Keene and has a twisted passion for his wife.In addition he delights in donning the 'black cap' and sentencing women in particular to death.
Although rather long-winded ( we only get to Court by well past page 300) I found this a compelling read and apart from a couple of small quibbles, it made a very good impression on me. The Court finds for The Parradine Case. ( )