Having just passed the bar a few days earlier newly
minted lawyer Leo Maxwell expected a routine lunch with his brother Teddy
Maxwell. It was 1999 and Teddy was deep in trial and locked into the case. When
in trial he always ate at Coruna. That habit meant the shooter knew exactly where
Teddy would be when court was in recess and could easily plan the attack. The
shooter walked in and briefly stood behind Leo before firing one shot over his
shoulder and fired one round directly into Teddy’s head putting him on the
floor in a pool of blood and damn near dead.
Miraculously, Teddy didn’t die and survives the
shooting to lie in a hospital bed deep in a coma. As Leo is forced to face some very unpleasant
truths about Teddy’s medical condition and his quality of life should he
survive. There are more unpleasant truths in store. Teddy vigorously defended
his clients against the police and courts in San Francisco and that means there
are those who shed no tears over the attempted murder of Teddy Maxwell. Teddy
was flamboyant and successful in his defense work and clearly he pushed things close
to the edge on various matters. As far as Leo knows Teddy was not dirty, but
now there are allegations of perjury, fraud, missing client money, and more.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg in this book
full of twists, backstory, and complex dysfunctional relationships. While Leo
works to find the shooter and can’t decide whether he should pray for his
brother to survive or not, things get murkier and murkier page after page in Bear Is Broken: A Leo Maxwell Mystery.
A debut mystery for a projected new series that
should be a very good one if this opening book sets the standard. Complex characters,
plenty of intrigue, and many twists keeps the reader locked in throughout this
compelling debut novel. Those readers who prefer simple characters they can like,
simple plots, and light secondary storylines will want to look elsewhere as this
often dark book is not for them.
Bear Is Broken: A Leo Maxwell Mystery
Lachlan
Smith
The
Mysterious Press (Grove/Atlantic)
2013
ISBN
#978-0-8021-2079-3
Hardback
(also available in audio and e-book)
260
Pages
$24.00
Material supplied by the good people of the Plano Texas
Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
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2 comments:
A good review of what appears to be a very interesting mystery.
Thank you, Jacqueline. It is dark, almost noirish, and very good. For lighter fare and also very good, I review the new Ceepak series mystery, FREE FALL tomorrow.
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