From Amazon.com
Can this marriage be saved? Oregon's take-no-prisoners defense attorney Barbara Holloway wed geologist John Mureau in her last book, and already things are looking bad. The problem isn't Barbara's lack of cooking skills: her father, Frank, has enough of those to spare and will whip up a gourmet meal for everyone in sight at the slightest pretext. Nor is it the crush of living and office space--renting two adjoining apartments in a new building in Eugene takes care of that. What really bothers John is the constant danger that Barbara's work conjures up for her, for her family, and now for his children, if they should be around when a case explodes.
Barbara Holloway is using every slick legal arrow in her quiver to make sure that her client, Maggie Folsum, gets to keep a large lump of cash that her career criminal husband left behind when he trashed Maggie's bed and breakfast and then was found beaten to death. The danger to Holloway begins when Maggie's brother-in-law is charged with the murder, even though the most obvious candidate is the crime boss who employed (and was double-crossed by) the late husband. Will Barbara fight off the IRS in time to defend the innocent brother-in-law? Will the mysterious mobster (powerful enough to make witnesses perjure themselves) actually give up his minions if pressed hard enough? Will John and Barbara stay together in those two terrific apartments, and will her white sauce ever work? Unlike most writers of legal thrillers, Wilhelm cares as much about her characters as she does about her courtrooms--which is why her books (including The Best Defense, For the Defense, The Good Children, and Justice for Some) are such genuine pleasures. --Dick Adler
From Publishers Weekly
"Evil infects some people... it gets into the system and stays like a virus that is never killed," seasoned criminal lawyer Barbara Holloway reflects, in the fourth thriller by Wilhelm (The Good Children) to feature the Eugene-based attorney. Maggie Folsum's abusive ex-husband, Mitch, has come tearing back into her life, threatening Maggie and ransacking the inn she operates. The dirt that Holloway's investigation turns up on Mitch piles higher and higher?until he's six feet under it and his good-guy brother Ray stands wrongfully accused of his murder. Holloway agrees to defend Ray, hoping to secure long-in-arrears child support from Mitch's stash of dirty money. She's up against a corrupt organization run by a man named Palmer, whose cleverness and casual violence are frightening, but she believes that she can outwit them. After Ray's trial, and as the tension mounts, Wilhelm employs an overused device for the disappointing denouement: Palmer's arrogance undermines his ingenuity. The nuances of courtroom procedure are compellingly presented, however, including a sophisticated look at the complex psychology of a jury.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
