Defense for the Devil

Mitch Arno always meant bad news for Folsum, Oregon. When they ran him out of town seventeen years ago, he left behind a wife with two daughters and a family that never wanted to see him again. When he returns, he brings trouble in the form of a lot of suspicious money. As Barbara attempts to counsel Mitch's wife about the money, a second form of trouble arrives, Mitch's corpse.

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