Parnell Hall is one of those mid-list authors who has churned out a book annually over the past three decades, making a decent living at it, without hitting any home runs. His mystery series include Private Eye Stanley Hastings and, more recently, The Puzzle Lady (currently enjoying a steady run at St Martins Press’ Minotaur Books). Like many authors, though a number of his recent books remain in print, most older ones have fallen by the wayside. None of the older titles included sale of electronic rights and Hall has seized on the opportunity to bring out his entire ouevre as ebooks, first for Kindle and now as Nook books as well. This also provided the opportunity to restore to print his first series, the adventures of Steve Winslow, struggling criminal lawyer, who is modelled somewhat on Perry Mason and Paul Drake. The first title,
The Baxter Trust, was published in 1988.
Sheila Benton is a multimillionaire heiress to the Baxter fortune but there's a hitch: she doesn't get the money till she's 35 and, at 24, she's dead broke, living in New York city. She's got a very hot Wall Street broker as a "pretty boy" boyfriend, Johnny Dutton ... but then he's still married. Her uncle Max is sole executor of the Baxter trust and doles out just enough for Sheila to make the rent on a very basic apartment. It gets a little more complicated because she also has a fondness for cocaine, something Johnny can supply. So when Johnny takes a flight to Reno, Nevada one morning to begin divorce proceedings against his wife, Sheila is without her drug supply. Worse, in her mailbox that morning, a blackmail note appears and, though she visits the police, they seemed inclined to dismiss her. Distraught, she turns to Uncle Max for some spare cash (for a fresh hit of cocaine but Max doesn't know that) and, while she's out getting her score, a dead body is left on her apartment floor. Frantic, she mails herself the cocaine, disposes of other incriminating bits around the apartment and then leaves for a payphone to report the body to the police. When the police arrive there seems no doubt Sheila is guilty: the corpse has her kitchen carving knife in its back with only her finger prints on it. What to do? She looks through the yellow pages and finds "Steve Winslow, criminal laywer" and offers him the job. Having been out of work for a year (he doesn't tell her that), and driving a cab nights to make ends meet (he definitely doesn't tell her that!), he rushes to her aid looking decidedly more hippy than legal beagle. Oh, and he doesn't own a suit. Will she trust him to take the case? Can he prove she's not guilty?
This was a fun, breezy read that will lead me to read others in the series. Light-hearted, no gore, and with believable characters and a reasonablu entertaining mystery to unravel, it's hard not to smile at the antics -- like the court room scenes (this is the first time Winslow has actually been in court) or his ability to bluff his opponents out of the court room. It's not flawless, but it's also a first novel and hits the spot with delight to spare.
Available for
Kindle and
Nook for about $1. (The other four titles in the series at $2.99.)