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Baby, Take a Bow: A Grace Street Mystery (Grace Street Mysteries #5)
Par Jane Tesh. 2017
"…readers seeking a cozy, feel-good mystery will enjoy this outing to Grace Street. The delightful characters navigate their worldly and…
otherworldly challenges with affection and humor, and Tesh maintains a whimsical tone that doesn't detract from the serious subject matter." —Publishers WeeklyCamden's friend Rufus Jackson receives a letter from his ex-wife, Bobbi, and he's surprised to learn he's the father of a baby. When Bobbi is found murdered in her home and her baby stolen, Rufus becomes suspect number one. PI David Randall immediately takes the case.But Randall is almost sidetracked from the case by a series of what appears to be never-ending favors. When he takes his friend Cam to the Carlyle House to sing for a concert, Cam encounters Delores Carlyle, a troubled spirit trapped inside a huge mirror, who wants to see her daughter, Beverly, one last time. Beverly Carlyle will come to the house on one condition: that Randall find a home for her surly teenage son, Kit, and a band for her obnoxious daughter, Frieda. Kit is welcome at 302 Grace, but to secure a spot for Frieda, Randall has to get a local girl group a gig at a local nightclub. The owner agrees, if Cam will pose as a teenager and spy on a rival club. Cam agrees if Randall will take him to Green Valley to answer some questions about his past. And another ghost is haunting the hot dog restaurant, refusing to talk to Cam.In addition to the tangle of deals, Randall has to contend with Rufus being hell-bent on revenge, the return of Cam's telekinesis, and growing concern that if the baby—a girl named Mary Rose, as it turns out—is found, Rufus, might not want to keep her.But where is Mary Rose?When the Moon Hatched: A Novel (The Moonfall Series #1)
Par Sarah A. Parker. 2024
THE OVERNIGHT VIRAL SENSATION AND NATIONAL BESTSELLER"A wild ride that thrills as much as it enchants . . . This…
remarkable book is an instant classic.” — Thea Guanzon, New York Times bestselling author of The Hurricane WarsThe bestselling phenomenon, When the Moon Hatched, is a fast-paced fantasy romance featuring an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages.The Creators did not expect their beloved dragons to sail skyward upon their end. To curl into balls just beyond gravity’s grip, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons. They certainly did not expect them to FALL.As an assassin for the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to complete orders and never get caught. When a rival bounty hunter turns her world upside down, blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself imprisoned by the Guild of Nobles—a group of powerful fae who turn her into a political statement.Crushed by the loss of his great love, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to quell the never-ebbing ache in his chest, a clue lures him into the capitol’s high-security prison where he stumbles upon the imprisoned Raeve …Echoes of the past race between them.There’s more to their story than meets the eye, but some truths are too poisonous to swallow.“When The Moon Hatched breathes new, beautiful life into the genre, as Sarah A. Parker weaves lyrical prose with undeniable chemistry. I laughed, I cried, I got everything out of this. It’s an absolutely stunning fantasy world that everyone should sink their teeth into.” — Raven Kennedy, internationally bestselling author of The Plated Prisoner seriesSmoke and Shadows (Smoke #1)
Par Tanya Huff. 2004
Tanya Huff, bestselling author of the Blood Price books, starts a new series where a street kid-turned-production assistant must juggle…
his vampire ex, a crush on a hot straight actor, and the potential end of the world…Working on a direct-to-syndication show about a vampire detective doesn’t much compare to Tony Foster’s past as an actual vampire’s lover. True, he’s still wrangling beautiful people with big egos and the power to crush him, but there are far fewer demons, and TV blood is just corn syrup.When shadows on set start moving independent of the people they’re supposed to be attached to, though, Tony can’t dismiss it as a trick of the light. Especially when he finds the beauty of the week dead in a locked dressing room. Before long, he’s discovered the head of the special effects department is an actual wizard, and brought in his ex, the vampire Henry Fitzroy, to help defend against an attack so terrifying survival seems unlikely. Tony will have to assist his butt off to give them anything like a chance. But being thrust into a spotlight doesn’t make him a hero…White Hot: A Hidden Legacy Novel (Hidden Legacy #2)
Par Ilona Andrews. 2017
The Hidden Legacy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews continues as Nevada and Rogan navigate a…
world where magic is the norm…and their relationship burns hotNevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she's used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family's detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor "Mad" Rogan.Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice…Death by Dragonfly (Grace Street Mysteries #6)
Par Jane Tesh. 2018
"The mystery plot is convincing and motives abound, but the vivid characters are the main draw, in particular the wryly…
observant Randall, who narrates the story with verve. Fans of cozies with a paranormal twist will be rewarded." —Publishers WeeklyFlamboyant actor Leo Pierson's Art Nouveau treasures have been stolen, including a one-of-a-kind Lalique glass dragonfly he claims is cursed. David Randall, 302 Grace Street's private eye, agrees to recover the valuables before he realizes murder has raised its ugly head in the Parkland art community. Samuel Gallant of the museum board is missing, until Randall and his landlord/consultant Camden find Gallant's body stuffed in a museum closet. When another board member suffers a fatal accident and the art critic for the Parkland Herald is attacked, Randall suspects the stolen dragonfly is indeed cursed. He investigates Richard Mason, curator of the Little Gallery, whose artwork consists of ugly mechanical sculptures, and Nancy Piper, finance manager at the Parkland Art Museum.Meanwhile, Camden struggles against psychic visions he's had since birth, taking pills to limit sudden intense visions. His wife, Ellin, fends off Matt Grabber, a television celebrity healer threatening to take over her Psychic Service Network and using his two large pythons to emphasize his bid. The pythons take a liking to Camden, upping his stress level, while he takes more pills hoping his visions—and the snakes—disappear. Kit, a new tenant at Grace Street, is a young rock star who is also psychic. As Camden becomes more addicted, Kit becomes an early warning system, alerting Randall to the next attack.Randall works to solve the murders, find the jeweled collection, help Cam, deter Grabber and his pythons, romance the young lovely Kary, and avoid stray curses. A spirit on the Other Side surprisingly requests his help, a spirit with ties to the stolen pieces of Art Nouveau.Baby, Take a Bow: A Grace Street Mystery (Grace Street Mysteries #5)
Par Jane Tesh. 2017
"…readers seeking a cozy, feel-good mystery will enjoy this outing to Grace Street. The delightful characters navigate their worldly and…
otherworldly challenges with affection and humor, and Tesh maintains a whimsical tone that doesn't detract from the serious subject matter." —Publishers WeeklyCamden's friend Rufus Jackson receives a letter from his ex-wife, Bobbi, and he's surprised to learn he's the father of a baby. When Bobbi is found murdered in her home and her baby stolen, Rufus becomes suspect number one. PI David Randall immediately takes the case.But Randall is almost sidetracked from the case by a series of what appears to be never-ending favors. When he takes his friend Cam to the Carlyle House to sing for a concert, Cam encounters Delores Carlyle, a troubled spirit trapped inside a huge mirror, who wants to see her daughter, Beverly, one last time. Beverly Carlyle will come to the house on one condition: that Randall find a home for her surly teenage son, Kit, and a band for her obnoxious daughter, Frieda. Kit is welcome at 302 Grace, but to secure a spot for Frieda, Randall has to get a local girl group a gig at a local nightclub. The owner agrees, if Cam will pose as a teenager and spy on a rival club. Cam agrees if Randall will take him to Green Valley to answer some questions about his past. And another ghost is haunting the hot dog restaurant, refusing to talk to Cam.In addition to the tangle of deals, Randall has to contend with Rufus being hell-bent on revenge, the return of Cam's telekinesis, and growing concern that if the baby—a girl named Mary Rose, as it turns out—is found, Rufus, might not want to keep her.But where is Mary Rose?No Way to Die (Cal Claxton Mysteries #7)
Par Warren C Easley. 2019
The third English language case for Mexico City independent detective Hector Belascoaran Shayne, No Happy Ending, is Paco Ignacio Taibo…
II at his subversive, darkly comic best. First, Hector discovers the body of a dead actor, dressed like a Roman in full breastplate and regalia, propped up on the toilet in his office. Shortly thereafter, he receives a threatening letter and a snapshot of another murdered corpse. As Hector investigates the killings, he discovers that both share a connection to a dead stuntman named Zorak who apparently perished while training a government-backed paramilitary group. Once again, the one-eyed anarchist detective finds himself up against the very institutions which persecute the downtrodden and oppress the masses. In typical Taibo fashion, Hector appears destined to lose: the ending to this remarkable absurdist tale shows his bullet-ridden body lying face down in the gutter during a rainstorm.Electra: A Delphic Woman Novel (Delphic Women Series #3)
Par Kerry Greenwood. 1997
It is 28 CE, the time of the feast of Tabernacles. A servant girl is found in the baths of…
the palace of King Herod Antipas, her throat cut. Jerusalem is buzzing over the brutal death of a prophet, John, known familiarly as the Baptizer, and Prefect Pontius Pilate wants no more trouble. So he coerces Gamaliel, the chief rabbi and head of the Sanhedrin, into investigating the girl's death. Gamaliel is a Talmudic scholar, not a sleuth. But as he learns more of the dead girl's background and that of some key suspects, he begins to fit the evidence together. The entwined histories of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Herod the Great, Anthony, and Augustus Caesar suddenly gain relevance to affairs in Jerusalem. And all the while, an itinerant rabbi from Nazareth with his ragged band of enthusiasts and his habit of annoying Caiaphas, the High Priest, moves enigmatically in the background....Immoral Certainty: No Lesser Plea, Depraved Indifference, And Immoral Certainty (Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi #3)
Par Robert K. Tanenbaum. 1991
From a New York Times–bestselling master with over one million copies in print: Prosecutor Butch Karp hunts a psychopath targeting…
the innocent. He is the Bogeyman: a remorseless monster stalking the streets of New York in search of fresh victims—his chosen prey being children. The killings are ghastly enough to shock lawyer Butch Karp, who thought he&’d already seen the absolute worst of humanity in his work. So when a child abuse case and a homicide case seem to be connected, Karp and his colleague Marlene Ciampi find themselves delving into the darkest corners of New York&’s underworld. Their chosen prey? A cold-blooded predator whose twisted work has only just begun—and whose true motives will force Karp to decide how far he is truly willing to go to stop the horror. Known to his fans as &“one hell of a writer,&” (New York Post) Robert K. Tanenbaum lends truthful, gritty authenticity to his legal thrillers as one of the most successful prosecuting attorneys in America, having convicted hundreds of violent criminals. This is one of the most intense and haunting of the popular series that includes Infamy, Tragic, and No Lesser Plea. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Robert K. Tanenbaum including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.Bad Trust (Attorney Rachel Gold Mysteries #11)
Par Michael A. Kahn. 2020
Next book in the Attorney Rachel Gold Mystery SeriesIn this fascinating and fast-paced legal thriller, attorney Rachel Gold learns that…
family doesn't always come first…An emotionally propulsive legal thriller, Bad Trust is:Perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Linda FairsteinFor readers who enjoy courtroom dramas and St. Louis based mysteriesAn ugly trust fund dispute among siblings turns deadly when Isaiah, CEO of the family firm he stole from their father, is murdered in his office. Jewish lawyer Rachel Gold, hired to bring suit against Isaiah on behalf of his sisters, must now defend one against the charge of fratricide. But playing at detective for her legal case means getting entrenched in the complex dynamics of the Jewish family.As Rachel and her team seek essential evidence, the widowed Rachel struggles with family issues of her own, including relationships with her young son Sam and her boyfriend Abe. The jury is still out on whether or not Rachel can create the work-life balance she is seeking.Bad Trust, the newest addition to these riveting lawyer mysteries, is the perfect pick for fans of Lisa Scottoline and Sara Paretsky.Strangers: A Faye Longchamp Mystery (large Print 16pt) (Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mysteries #6)
Par Mary Anna Evans. 2010
"This contemporary mystery is drenched with Florida history and with gothic elements that should appeal to a broad range of…
readers." —BooklistFaye Longchamp and husband Joe Wolf Mantooth have founded an archaeological consulting firm—just in time for the economy to tank. But a meeting with a couple who run an elegant B&B in a historic home in St. Augustine, Florida, lands the firm's first big project. Within a day of their arrival at Dunkirk Manor, a lovely young employee disappears, leaving behind a sinister smear of blood in her car, a collection of priceless artifacts, and a note asking for Faye's help. Two days later, the missing woman's boyfriend is found floating in the Matanzas River, his throat slashed. The detective in charge of the case believes that the artifacts are key to the crime and hires Faye to track down their origin.The artifacts Faye and Joe excavate at their work site date from every era of St. Augustine history, and the discovery of a buried cache of children's toys from the 1920s hits eight-months-pregnant Faye particularly hard. Dunkirk Manor seems haunted in a way that Faye can't explain.Then a stunning discovery is made: the diary of a priest who left Spain in 1565 and was present at the city's birth. Faye is driven to translate the manuscript. In what could be an unfolding tale by the Brothers Grimm, Faye and Joe uncover some terrible secrets....Nobody's Sweetheart Now: The First Lady Adelaide Mystery (Lady Adelaide Mysteries #1)
Par Maggie Robinson. 2018
"Lovingly rendered...the perfect setting for this rough and rollicking story of adventure and romance."—Publishers Weekly STARRED reviewFor Mark Rohr, a…
decorated Desert Storm vet, the last ten years have been filled with countless misadventures and shady jobs, like his current stint as a bouncer at a nameless whorehouse bar in Thailand. When the beautiful and naïve Robin Antonucci arrives from the States and hires him to help find her brother Shawn, missing since the tsunami, Mark sees the chance to make some easy money: guide her around until she gets bored or until the money runs out and she heads home.But the job sours when they meet the stunning Thai prostitute Pim, who claims to be Shawn's wife. Within hours, two men are dead and Jarin, southern Thailand's most notorious gangster, wants Mark to pay. Getting away with Robin and Pim, plus an old man and a small boy—the only members of Pim's family to survive the tsunami—might prove impossible. With nowhere to hide and no idea where they are heading, the group sets off around the Thai coast, racing through beach resorts and remote villages, just one step ahead of Jarin's men....Moving Targets (Cal Claxton Mysteries #6)
Par Warren C Easley. 2018
"With Moving Targets, Warren Easley delivers another humdinger of a tale featuring the City of Roses. But there's so much…
more to like about this story than just its evocative Portland setting. Cal Claxton is a guy worth rooting for, and the gang who aid him in solving the complex and dangerous mystery involved are a fun bunch to follow. If you're not familiar with these gems out of Oregon, now's the perfect time to give Warren Easely and Cal Claxton a try. You won't be disappointed." —William Kent Krueger, award-winning, bestselling author of Ordinary Grace and the Cork O'Connor seriesWhen a young woman walks into Caffeine Central, Cal Claxton's law office in downtown Portland, he has no idea that agreeing to help her will turn his life upside down. His new client is the adopted daughter—"I'm brown and they're white"—of a Portland power couple famed for their real estate development firm and charitable work.Sculptor Angela Wingate, once a wild child, and her recently widowed mother, Margaret, had grown close after years of estrangement. A grieving Angela is hesitant but nonetheless determined to learn if Margaret's recent death was a hit-and-run while out on her morning jog in her ritzy neighborhood, or something more—like murder. Angela is frustrated at the lagging police investigation and by her growing sense of something sinister at work.As the ever-curious Cal begins to poke the principal players at Wingate Properties and to question Margaret's will, links surface between a lucrative riverfront project and a ruthless Russian ring. With a possible deadly foreign assassin in play, the threat level rises and the body count starts to grow.Decidedly outgunned, Cal enlists his Cuban friend Nando, an enterprising investigator with an on-call hacker, and a bouncer at a strip club who knows the Russian underworld. And Cal gradually develops other allies—a skeptical police captain and a city councilwoman who opposes the massive riverfront project. In a separate battle, he recruits neighbors and officials who may help him kill the reboot of a quarry operation that threatens his beloved farmhouse home in rural Dundee, a loss that would also be tragic for his beloved dog, Archie.Beneath this story run the narratives of several strong women connected to Cal who are learning just how powerful they can be as they change up their lives.Who's Sorry Now?: A Lady Adelaide Mystery (Lady Adelaide Mysteries #2)
Par Maggie Robinson. 2019
Venice, 1745, is an age of reckless pleasures, playful artifice, and baroque excess. An accident has reduced Tito Amato's glorious…
singing voice to a husky croak. But now the male soprano is determined to prove himself as a director. As the Teatro San Marco is losing subscribers to a rival company, the theater's Maestro Torani charges Tito with locating the perfect opera to fill the seats in time for Carnival.Surprisingly, a second-rate composer provides the very thing—an opera so replete with gorgeous melodies the public speculates it was written by the late Antonio Vivaldi. Even more disconcerting are the rumors swirling around Angeletto, a male soprano imported from Naples to sing the lead. Is the singer truly a castrato or a female soprano engaging in a daring but lucrative masquerade?Both matters turn dangerous when Maestro Torani is viciously attacked and killed. And Tito is the prime suspect. His own life as well as the future of Teatro San Marco now depend on his skills as a sleuth....Trophy Widow: A Rachel Gold Novel (Attorney Rachel Gold Mysteries #7)
Par Michael A. Kahn. 2002
Budapest, 1956. In this darkest year in the modern history of Hungary, a national uprising against Soviet occupiers and their…
reign of terror is underway. Eleven-year-old Evike and her firebrand mother steal deep into battle zones in support of civilian freedom fighters armed only with primitive weapons and desperate courage against the heavy artillery of trained Russian troops. Taken in for interrogation by the secret police, little Evike spins a story to deflect attention from her mother's revolutionary activities. A story that will irrevocably alter a number of lives and reach its tentacles, thirty years later, into the life of Ildiko Palmay.Chicago, 1986. Ildiko, 37, a librarian and ESL teacher, the American-born daughter of Hungarian refugees, is caught in a web of guilt and regret over her mother's mystifying death. Unsettled by her life and her romantic failures, she finds herself suddenly and unexpectedly drawn back to her roots, first to the Hungarian neighborhood of her youth in Chicago—and eventually to the Russian-occupied city of Budapest. Along the way, she meets a magnetic man who may not be what he seems, uncovers a trail of secrets and betrayals that eventually intersect with the tangled knot of the mother-daughter participants in the Revolution—and she discovers the shocking truth about her mother's death.Triptych is the suspenseful unfolding of two parallel stories of mother and daughter relationships forged in the brutalities of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Triptych is about survival, displacement, the corrosive power of secrets, and, ultimately, the healing power of forgiveness.No Witness: A Cal Claxton Mystery (Cal Claxton Mysteries #8)
Par Warren C Easley. 2021
When nothing is as it seems, can the truth survive?Attorney Cal Claxton, now well-established in his Oregon law practice after…
breaking off his career as a high-powered LA prosecutor, just wants to go fishing with his daughter, Claire, and he knows the best place—the coastal area south of Coos Bay. But their vacation takes a dark turn with the discovery of a body in the river.As an investigation is launched into the suspicious death, Cal and Claire find themselves drawn into the life of the local bookshop owner and vocal environmental activist, whose grandson was convicted for murder at age sixteen. She believes he was wrongly accused and convinces Cal to reexamine the case. Together, Cal and Claire dig deep into the secrets and crumbling alliances that form the foundation of this small coastal community, and what they find could spell doom for them both..."A terrific read. Buddy Steel is my kind of Sheriff."—Tom SelleckMISSING PERSONS is the first book in the new Buddy…
Steel mystery series by New York Times bestselling author, Michael Brandman. Even in a town called Freedom, justice has its price…LAPD homicide detective Buddy Steel finds himself detoured from his own life when his ailing father, Sheriff Burton Steel, calls him home to Freedom to take over as deputy. Though relations between father and son have always been strained, and Buddy reluctantly agrees to the arrangement.When he begins investigating the possible disappearance of a famous local televangelist's wife, he is met with outright antagonism. While the highly-secured husband insists that his wife is simply visiting a relative, the housekeeper who reported her missing fears she may have been murdered. And no one, from family members to ministry security and staff to the prosecutor's office seems inclined to help Buddy in his investigation. In fact, many go out of their way to stop him.But the more he pokes and prods, the more he realizes that the Bible-thumping family and their television empire may be an elaborate cover for a less-than-holy enterprise. This is far more than a typical missing person case. But how far up does the corruption reach—and will Buddy pay the ultimate price for refusing to look the other way?MISSING PERSONS is an emotionally propulsive thriller perfect for fans of Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, and Michael Connelly. Because there are dark secrets buried in this small town, and a missing person threatens to unearth them all—with deadly consequences."In this entertaining, sexy debut, Allie is a sharp Stephanie Plum paired up with a hot partner... The original voice,…
humor, and unusual premise will appeal to Janet Evanovich readers." —Library Journal STARRED reviewLonely and broke, Cleveland divorce-survivor Allie Harper believes all her problems would be solved if she could find a nice, smart, hot guy and enough money to get her car fixed.The hot guy arrives first: he's in a crosswalk clutching a bag of groceries while a blonde in a Hummer is leaning hard on her horn, sending the man's groceries and white cane flying. How has this woman missed the fact that the man is blind? From the curb, an outraged Allie jumps to his rescue, rebagging the groceries as well.The money is in the bag. Literally—Thomas Bennington III, for that's who the handsome guy proves to be, has bought a MondoMegaJackpot ticket along with canned tomatoes. Allie takes him home and turns his groceries into dinner for two. Later that night, Tom hears the numbers announced. He's won. And he's less than thrilled. PhD Tom had gambled on the odds of losing (175 million to one) to prove a point to Rune, a kid from the projects he's befriended, that only losers buy lottery tickets. Instead, Rune, who'd helped pick the Mondo numbers, will share Tom's jackpot.Allie and Tom grasp two things: one, they're hot for each other, and two, the ticket is a hot target, and now so are they. Every scheming weasel in Cleveland will be after Tom's millions. $550 of them. Yes, once the Mondo ball drops, it's game on with killers and kidnappers as players.Allie and Tom need to get smarter about the threats all around them. On the run from one fancy hotel refuge to another and from one danger moment to the next, with only Allie's feisty landlady, Margo, and a couple of Cleveland cops for back-up, Allie and Tom evolve a strategy. First, turn in the ticket and claim the jackpot. Second, set up accounts to manage the millions. Third, stay alive to the end of the week...if they can.Too Lucky to Live debuts a talented writer in Annie Hogsett and a couple in Allie and Tom, a modern Nick and Nora Charles, who can power a compelling, amusing series with an excellent future.Somebody's Bound to Wind Up Dead series:Too Lucky to Live (Book 1)Murder to the Metal (Book 2)The Devil's Own Game (Book 3)Praise for Annie Hogsett:"Fast pacing, multiple plot twists, and humor, including a Stephanie Plum-like main character, enliven the story and keep the pages turning." —Booklist for Too Lucky to Live"The bittersweet mystery, with the open-ended threat of a villainous mastermind, is reminiscent of P.J. Tracy's early 'Monkeewrench' novels." —Library Journal for Murder to the MetalDue Diligence (Attorney Rachel Gold Mysteries #0)
Par Michael A. Kahn. 1995
The past is never past on the mean streets of Phoenix, especially when the mercury hits a hundred and it's…
only April. Half a century after the unsolved murder of an FBI agent, the missing badge is found on the body of a dead transient. The case seems a perfect fit for David Mapstone, history professor turned Maricopa County deputy sheriff. That is, if he can get past a forced partnership with rival cold-case expert Sgt. Kate Vare and the FBI's strange stonewalling about the details of the agent's killing.To complicate matters, there are the crimes making history today, like the arrest of Russian mafia members in a multimillion-dollar fraud case. David's wife, Lindsey, star of the sheriff's Cybercrimes Bureau, was on the task force that busted the case wide open. But her triumph is short-lived when a hit in Scottsdale leaves three task-force members dead. Lindsey's life in danger, Sheriff Peralta stashes Lindsey and David in a safe house. That doesn't get the good "History Shamus" off the hook, though, as Sheriff Peralta inexplicably demands that David solve the cold caseThe trail will take Mapstone to the most forlorn parts of Phoenix, as well as to San Francisco and picturesque southern Arizona, as he slowly uncovers the bloody secrets surrounding the mysterious FBI badge. He's got the brains and the leads. Now all he and Lindsey have to do is live long enough to bring justice to a fifty-year-old crime.The Dead Hand: A Rachel Gold Mystery (Attorney Rachel Gold Mysteries #10)
Par Michael A. Kahn. 2016
St Louis lawyer Rachel Gold deals with many a family drama, mostly of the dysfunctional variety. Divorce. Paternity. And death.…
Occasionally, all three combine into a "dead hand" trifecta, where the deceased seeks to control the living—and especially his descendants—from beyond the grave.Rachel calls them "zombies." The legal term for such inheritance plans is "the dead hand," the English translation of the Old French term "mortmain." The term refers to the attempt by wealthy individuals to exert perpetual ownership over property (and future generations) through legal documents prepared before they die. But not even the most obsessed tycoon or his skilled attorneys can foresee every future contingency. To quote the old Yiddish maxim, "Man plans, and God laughs." And angry descendants sue.It's so true. Rachel suddenly finds herself representing two women—one a young widow, one an older divorcee—in a pair of nasty zombie cases where the outcome of each hinges upon a clause in a contested estate plan.Client Cyndi Mulligan is the trophy widow of the late Bert Mulligan, a billionaire entrepreneur whose last will and testament left his estate to Cyndi's unborn daughter. The challenge comes from Bert's angry first wife and her angrier only son. Their claim: Cyndi's daughter—born eleven months after Bert's death—cannot possibly be Bert's child.In the other case, Rachel represents Marsha Knight, the first wife of the wealthy founder of a women's lingerie manufacturer. Marsha has been sued by his young widow, who seeks to invalidate Marsha's divorce settlement and, in the process, impoverish her through invocation of the ancient and nearly inscrutable Rule Against Perpetuities.As the trial date approaches in each lawsuit, the threats to Rachel and her two clients begin to escalate. Zombies, as Rachel discovers, are hard to kill. And even worse, they can still kill—and where least expected.The Dead Hand is written with the verve, humor, and legal smarts that are trademark Michael Kahn.