Writ of Execution - Softcover

O Shaughnessy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749933259 ISBN 13: 9780749933258

Publisher: Piatkus Hb/Tpb, 2002

Synopsis

April in the Sierra, the ski season is almost over and it is the perfect weather for gamblers. Nina Reilly, the sole practitioner at Lake Tahoe and developing a reputation as an erratically brilliant local lawyer, hears their stories all day long: stories about their wins, their divorces, the bankruptcies, the purse-snatchings, the week-long binges and the overdoses. It is not a pretty picture. Then one gambler gets murdered, and suspicion falls on the winner of the biggest jackpot in Tahoe's history, Nina's new client - and a girl who won't tell anyone her name...

About this title

Review

Nina Reilly's new client ought to be dancing in the streets. She's just won the biggest slot machine jackpot in Lake Tahoe history. But if Jessie Potter claims it, she's putting herself and her little boy in harm's way. Someone's out to get the young woman, and the only one who seems to be on her side is Kenny Leung, an awkward but likable techno-wizard who's about to go bankrupt. Nina comes up with a plan to help Jessie collect her jackpot without revealing her identity to the powerful man who believes she killed his son. But her client's pursuer is already on the sniff. Though he was unable to convince the police to charge her with homicide, he and his sleazy lawyer counter Nina's maneuver by filing a writ of execution that will deprive Jessie of her rightful winnings. And just to thicken the plot, there's someone else threatening Jessie--a very angry man who believes she stole the jackpot that should have been his. He will kill anyone who stands in the way of his claim.

Nina may be a crafty lawyer, but she's not quite as deft in juggling her personal and professional lives. Paul van Wagoner, her investigator, isn't happy with their romantic relationship, and Nina herself, still mourning the death of her husband, is reluctant to commit to more than a casual romance. Perri O'Shaughnessy doesn't devote a lot of ink to her heroine's emotional concerns, but she's good at plotting, excellent on the legal maneuvering, and handles her secondary characters well, particularly Leung, whose computer expertise illuminates the technical aspects of slot machine gaming. This is a series that keeps getting better. O'Shaughnessy fans who've stuck with Nina since her somewhat plodding earlier adventures will be glad they stayed the course. --Jane Adams

From the Inside Flap

Critics call Perri O'Shaughnessy's legal thrillers "terrific...will keep you turning the pages into the night" ("USA Today) and "gripping" ("San Francisco Chronicle Book Review).
Now the "New York Times bestselling author ratchets up the suspense yet again...with an electrifying novel that plunges Lake Tahoe attorney Nina Reilly into a shadowy world of high-stakes money and cold-blooded murder. . . .
An attorney and single mother, Nina Reilly sees other people's ups and downs as clearly as she sees her own. But she's never seen anything like the fierce, terrified young woman who comes to her in the middle of the night, trailing a computer geek who was a stranger a few hours before. Their problem: they just won seven million dollars at the slot machines. Within hours, her client's good fortune has plunged Nina into a battle that will be waged in court and on the streets. The young woman's past--and the mysterious death of her husband in Hawaii--has triggered a powerful man's crusade of revenge. But a moment of chance and enough money to save two troubled lives has done something worse: it's brought a killer into their midst. . .

Edition details

• Publisher: Piatkus Hb/Tpb
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0749933259
• ISBN 13: 9780749933258
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416