DEADLY DOES IT

A movie star turned lawyer and her bellicose assistant use their hard-won sobriety to keep the bad guys from hurting the good guys.

It’s not clear whether Julia Mann and Natasha Mason, both dedicated members of Alcoholics Anonymous, first encountered each other at a meeting. However they met, though, it’s clear the elegant, sophisticated Julia has a soft spot for scrappy Mason (as she prefers to be called). Why else would she offer to keep the mouthy 20-something employed as her assistant, much less offer to pay for Mason to finish her bachelor’s degree and then earn her private eye’s license? Why would she put up with Mason’s chronic acts of defiance, like allowing her forbidden cat to infest Julia’s pristine Los Angeles home with fleas? And why would she agree to investigate the threatening letters received by Mason’s AA sponsor, Alexa, even when the investigation turns deadly? Julia resolves to pursue justice at the risk of disrupting her carefully managed household, which includes not only Mason, but Will Maier, Julia’s legal assistant; Archie Jacobson, her agent; Claudia, her housekeeper; and private eye Teddy Kettleman, Claudia’s boyfriend. Mason and Teddy must go back into Alexa’s sad, drug-infused past in gritty, powerfully evoked detail to figure out who hates her enough to pursue her so relentlessly. Yes, the investigation’s a little overlong, and the solution to the puzzle a little too broadly foreshadowed. But the banter among Julia, Mason, Will, Archie, Claudia, and Teddy is pure gold, worthy of Shakespeare’s mechanicals.

When justice is finally served, you’ll want to cheer.