Reading Recommendations:

Police and Thieves, James, Patrick Hunt

Dan Bridger is a professional thief. A cold, efficient man who works alone and tries to live an uncomplicated life. But things get complicated when he gets a call from a woman in Seattle who tells him his brother has been murdered. His younger brother, Seth. The "good" brother who always kept his nose clean.

Bridger flies to Seattle to learn about the brother he hasn't seen for several years. He finds out that Seth was a probation and parole officer, shot to death in a parking lot. The local police dismiss it as another gang killing. But things don't add up. Why was Seth's wallet taken, but not his gun? Where is the notebook he always kept?

Bridger doesn't get much respect from the Seattle police. To them, he's just a criminal. Soon he realizes he's going to have to get the answers himself. And soon he'll realize just how blurred the line is between police and thieves.

Crime fiction at its best! Yes, it's good!

Bonnie, a novel, Iris Johansen

When Eve Duncan gave birth to her daughter, she experienced a love she never knew existed. Nothing would stand in the way of giving Bonnie a wonderful life, until the unthinkable happened and the seven year old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in the throes of a nightmare from which there was no escape. But a new Eve emerged: a woman who would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. Now with the help of her beloved Joe Quina and CIS agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie's father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle. And that Bonnie's disappearance was not as random as everyone has always believed.

The Litigators, a novel, John Grisham

The partners at Finley and Figg, all two of them, often refer to themselves as "a boutique law firm." Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who've been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs with occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty-plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow officrs in Southwest Chicago.

And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned out attorney, walks away from his fast rack career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he's suddenly unemployed, any job, even one with Finlay and Figg, looks okay to him.

With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law.

The Litigators is a tremendously entertaining romp filled with the kind of courtroom tragedies, theatrics, and suspense that have made John Grisham America's favorite storyteller.

See you at Rylander!