In a medieval French courtroom, animals are put on trial for “crimes” against mankind and must rely on preposterous legal diatribes by a court-appointed lawyer to defend them—great for fans of Umberto Eco, Edward Carey, and Amor Towles. Think Willard meets The Name of the Rose. Based on actual court records, Spotte captures the wit and bluster of the era, where courtrooms were packed with cheering and heckling spectators in ever-more opaque, convoluted, and dilatory trials.