THIS CASE IS GONNA KILL ME

A New York lady lawyer battles sexism and arrogance in a world ruled—gently, invisibly, but insistently—by vampires, werewolves and elves, who collectively emerged from the shadows less than half a century ago.

Linnet Ellery, the daughter of an old-money Colonial family and fresh out of law school, finds a job at a powerful New York “White-Fang” law firm—all the partners are vampires, along with most of the senior associates. Despite her credentials, she only got the job thanks to her connections with a high-ranking vampire family. Office politics, Linnet finds, are exceptionally vicious in a world where humans can succeed only by becoming allies or slaves of the powerful near-immortals. Her first assignment seems to be a hopeless case, a wretched affair that’s been dragging on for years and involves the disputed inheritance of a billion-dollar security firm currently owned by werewolves. And, ominously, the first words uttered by Chip Westin, the well-meaning lawyer who’s been struggling ineffectually with the case single-handedly, are those of the title. Then one evening, when she’s working late with Chip, a werewolf shows up and kills Chip; only by a series of apparent lucky breaks does Linnet survive and kill the brute. Evidently, her diligent research has turned up something that the werewolf parties to the case would rather not have revealed. And there are other venues in which Linnet uses her brains and subtlety to achieve victory. Is she just fortunate—or extremely talented in ways she doesn’t herself fully understand?

A refreshing new take on an old idea, with a strong, intelligent and independent protagonist: a highly promising debut.