with The Help Of His Irrepressible Hero, John Francis Cuddy, Jeremiah Healy Never Fails To Deliver Scintillating, Perfectly Pitched Mystery Masterpieces In What The New York Times Book Review Calls A Superior Series. Now The Shamus Award-winning Author Looks Ready To Join The Honors Class Of Private-eye Writers That Includes Robert B. Parker (usa Today), As He Introduces Us To The Only Good Lawyer.
an Attorney Friend Of Boston P.l. John Cuddy Has Called In A Favor, Looking Into The Case Of Alan Spaeth. Spaeth Is One Sorry Piece Of Work -- A Down-and-out Divorce Squeeze, A Racist, A Misogynist, And From All Appearances, A Cold-blooded Killer. Frankly Wishing The Whole Mess Would Disappear, Cuddy Can't Let It. It Pains Him, But He's Convinced Of Spaeth's Innocence, And He Isn't The Kind Of P.l. Who Can Watch Even A Guy Like Spaeth Fry For Someone Else's Crime.
as Much As Cuddy Is Repulsed By The Accused, He's Intrigued By The Victim, Woodrow Wilson Gant, The African-american Lawyer Who Had Been Representing Spaeth's Wife In A Very Nasty Divorce. But Before Cuddy's Investigation Is Done, There Will Be Plenty Of Nastiness To Go Around. On The Surface, Gant Led A Charmed And Successful Life As A Rising Star In The Glittering Firmament Of Massachusetts Law. But Three Quick Bullets At A Deserted Roadside Knocked Gant Out Of The Boston Skyline For Good, And Now Cuddy's Discovered The Attorney Was Also A Man Of Strange Desires And Deep Secrets, Secrets That Could Prove Lethal To The Touch....
ricocheting From Gant's Law Offices, Cuddy Picks Up The Trail Of A Woman Who Fled The Scene Of The Murder. Rousted By A Couple Of Loan Sharks And Conned By Gant's Avaricious Brother, Cuddy Stumbles On A More Personal Question. The Mere Mention Of Gant's Name Puts A Cold, Hard Kink In His Relationship With Assistant D.a. Nancy Meagher, And Cuddy's Losing Sleep Wondering Why.
greed. Revenge. Jealousy. There Is Any Number Of Motives For Murder, And Cuddy Can Take His Pick As He Investigates The High-profile Homicide Of Woodrow Wilson Gant, Exploring The Raw Passion -- And Touching Every Nerve -- Of The Edge.

in The 12th John Francis Cuddy Mystery (after 1996's Invasion Of Privacy), Healy Again Pungently Conjures The People And Geography Of Working-class Boston While Delivering A Portrait Of The Hero As A Man Of Principle And A Meticulously Detailed Description Of The Workwarts, Boredom And Allof Being A Pi. But The Overall Impact Of This Tale Is Seriously Compromised By An Unconvincing Resolution. Asked By An Attorney Friend To Take On A Particularly Repellent Client, A Loutish Racist Charged With Killing His Wife's African American Divorce Lawyer, The Reluctant Cuddy Finds Himself Gradually Believing That Alan Spaeth Is Being Framed. Searching For Other Suspects In The Fatal Roadside Shooting Of Woodrow Wilson Gant, Cuddy Comes Up With A Debt-ridden Brother, A Dangerous Pair Of Amerasian Gangsters And Various Partners In Gant's Firm With Devious Private Agendas. Along The Way, Cuddy Is Badly Beaten And Seriously Shot. His Involvement In The Case Brings About A Rupture In His Love Life With A Female Prosecutor, And He Manages To Find Time For A Trademark Graveside Chat With His Late Wife. But The Plot Doesn't Do The Ambience Justice, Marking Healy's Latest As A Rare Disappointment. (mar.)

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