Higgins produces a novel just about every year whether he's got a great idea for one or not. This is one of the ``not'' years— a thin reappearance by Boston lawyer Jerry Kennedy (Kennedy for the Defense, Penance for Jerry Kennedy)—but Higgins writes so brilliantly, so juicily, that connoisseurs of ironic anecdotes and flamboyant talk won't be complaining. Kennedy, with his criminal-law business way down and his boozing way up, can't say no when asked (for $100,000 upfront) to take the case of William F. Ryan, the state's Commissioner of the Dept. of Public Works—who's being prosecuted for bribery. A lost cause? So it seems. Old Billy, a veteran ``highwayman, brigand and general grasper,'' certainly did arrange for a four-lane state road to be built through a tiny, swampy backwater town—after making sure that all the surrounding land had been bought up by assorted pals and cronies. And a former state legislator is ready to testify that Billy let him in on the deal early on. But Kennedy plunges in and does his level best—looking for holes in the prosecutor's case, hunting for people who'll sing of Billy's occasional good deeds, and fighting off Billy's meddling offspring (one judge, one general, one unstable politician). The plot here is hardly more than an anecdote—with a flicker or two of courtroom drama, minimal suspense, and an only so-so twist at the end. As Higgins fans might expect, however, the proceedings are nicely filled out with: sardonic lectures on legal strategy and the differences between TV-law and real life; recollections of intriguingly sordid past cases, including Kennedy's own painful divorce from his highly adulterous wife; and grand, rambling conversations (or monologues) on everything from family and friendship to religion, politics, and money. So, though short on Victories-like shape and substance, this is shaggily entertaining—and another distinct, if minor, confirmation of Higgins's unique command of rueful language and rude incident.
Pub Date: Sept. 10, 1992
ISBN: 0-8050-1677-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Even when she’s in pantyhose, Hannah’s grit and quick thinking once more save the day.
All of Lake Eden is agog when the police chief’s secretary takes a tumble from the penthouse of a condo complex.
Fabulously wealthy Roger Dalworth has pulled out all the stops for the grand reopening of the Albion Hotel, his new luxury condo project. A caterer from Minneapolis! Red Velvet Surprise Cupcakes from The Cookie Jar for dessert! The evening is so grand that The Cookie Jar’s owner, Hannah Swensen (Cinnamon Roll Murder, 2012, etc.), in eye makeup and pantyhose, decides to tour the Albion’s posh penthouse, complete with its outdoor garden. Hannah is luckier than Barbara Donnelly, whose own tour of the penthouse ends in a headfirst plunge to the parking lot. Barbara survives, much addled, leaving amateur sleuth Hannah to decode her ramblings about her brother (Barbara is an only child) and a furry white monster that lurks in her hospital room. Hannah soon has her own worries. She finds Dr. Bev Thorndike, her former rival for local dentist Norman Rhodes’ affections, in her red Maserati at the bottom of Miller’s Pond. Even though Dr. Bev has recently become engaged to Roger, her death puts Hannah very much on Detective Mike Kingston’s radar screen. Can Hannah find the real culprit before Mike ends the discussion of whether he or Norman will be the one to wrestle her to the altar by putting her in the slammer instead?
Even when she’s in pantyhose, Hannah’s grit and quick thinking once more save the day.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7582-8034-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Her zany cast will have readers wondering whether DiRico’s series debut is set in Belle View or Bellevue.
Murder crashes the party.
Mia Carina would like nothing better than to see her dad, Ravello, a made man in Donny Boldano’s mob, go straight. When she hears he’s won the Belle View Banquet Manor from hard-luck gambler Andre Bouras in a poker game, she rushes back from Palm Beach to help him run the place, hoping it will provide her dad with enough legitimate income to allow him to cut his ties with the underworld. Despite its dated décor and bone-shaking proximity to LaGuardia Airport, the catering hall has panoramic views out its windows that make it a worthy rival to the overpriced event venues in Manhattan—which Mia’s outer-borough friends drive her nuts by calling “the city.” (“Queens is the city” is her perennial retort.) And she proves her borough cred by moving in with her nonna in Astoria. But running a catering hall involves more than dealing with bridezillas like Alice Paluski, who’s determined to make her wedding bigger and better than her twin sister’s, or with momzillas like Barbara Grazio, Alice’s prospective mother-in-law, who’s determined to make the groom’s side of the wedding outshine the bride’s. She has to wrangle an ever changing cast of chefs, sous-chefs, waitstaff, decorators, DJs, and the occasional stripper, who all bring a host of quirks and baggage to the banquet table. She also has to deal with more than one corpse. It takes all of Mia’s considerable ingenuity to keep Ravello’s first legit enterprise from becoming a ticket right back to the slammer.
Her zany cast will have readers wondering whether DiRico’s series debut is set in Belle View or Bellevue.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2534-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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