MOTION TO SUPPRESS

Legal suspense thriller from first-time sister-writing team O'Shaughnessy draws to an inside straight in the demiworld of Tahoe gambling. Nina Reilly has lost nearly everything—her job, her husband- -and seems on the verge of losing her self-respect as well. Once she and her young son relocate to the Lake Tahoe area to stay with her brother, things begin to look even worse. Nina can't establish herself as an attorney without courting the displeasure of well- placed ``all-men'' firms. Worse, she can't attract clients without the help of her secretary, a woman who once worked for the competition. One client, Misty, a bimbo/waitress of the first order, hires Nina to oversee divorce proceedings from her abusive husband Anthony. But Anthony is nowhere to be found. Until, that is, his body is located at the bottom of the lake. As Nina tries to pin down the real culprit with the aid of Paul, her private investigator, she makes several strategic errors that incriminate Misty even further. It's on Misty's questionable suppressed memory of the murder night and her childhood that the plot hinges—a little creakily. A valuable defense witness comes to a brutal, unbelievable end. Nina herself is nearly killed. Amazing coincidences stack up, even vital information easily surfaces—from the Philippines! Meanwhile, Nina is a Marcia Clark clone, and she's not the only element in this thriller to remind readers of recent and/or current high-profile crimes—giving O'Shaughnessy the problem of seemingly being compelled to delineate court procedures instead of carrying the story on through action scenes. Even so, a highly artificial courtroom sequence does end with a twist that's truly surprising. Characterizations are skimpy, and the plot could use a diet, but the talented sisters O'Shaughnessy are newcomers to watch. (Author tour)