STREET LEGAL
by Bill Kent
Kill all the lawyers? Someone in Philly seems to like the idea.
Bar Sinister, an unofficial house organ for the Philadelphia legal fraternity, has published a roll of dishonor, a list of “Lawyers We Can Do Without.” On it are the rapacious, the fraudulent, the shamelessly self-promoting, the legal criminals. If justice prevailed, they’d all be disbarred. But someone has decided that crimes like theirs call for more draconian measures. Philadelphia Press reporter Andrea Cosicki is on assignment in the vicinity when a so-called accident ends the checkered career of credentialed low-life Charlie Muckler. When four more sharks close their practices the hard way, Shep Ladderback, Andrea’s agoraphobic colleague and mentor as famous for rising above his many fears as she is for her take-no-prisoners attitude, is convinced he knows who’s gone so ferociously proactive. The knowledge causes him considerable inner turmoil. Shep agrees that shyster cleansing will be beneficial in the short run, but after all, the law is the law, and a vigilante is a vigilante, even if he happens to be a friend.
The story is thin, but a colorful cast, a pair of irresistible protagonists and Kent’s ingratiating prose are, as usual, enough to sustain a highly entertaining series (Street Fighter, 2005, etc.).