Penned by sisters Pamela and Mary O'Shaughnessy, this eighth novel to feature South Lake Tahoe attorney Nina Reilly puts the lawyer in the defendant's chair. Ever since she was a little girl, Nina has believed that rules are what people use to make sense of the world and that law is a way of enforcing the rules to keep the world sane. But when her truck is stolen, along with her three most sensitive case files, her sane world turns topsy-turvy. In the wrong hands, those files could compromise a client's chance at fair visitation rights, affect a second client's insurance claim and put two girls at risk from the murderer whose crime they witnessed. Suddenly, Nina finds herself facing possible disbarment as she's brought up on disciplinary charges before the California State Bar Court. Current boyfriend Paul and ex-husband Jack try to help Nina figure out who stole the files and, more importantly, who is trying to destroy her life. The initial setup of Nina's predicament is taut as a wire, but the story bogs down in court, where much of the testimony, while realistic, is filler: a space-occupying rehash of what the reader already knows. As for the climax, it's so hokey that the dialogue reads like an old Batman episode. Chances are, though, since this is just a first offense, series fans will release this effort on its own recognizance in the hopes that the next case will be a winner. Agent, Nancy Yost. (Aug. 6) Forecast: Hokey or no, readers will enjoy the role reversal here. Expect the usual Shaughnessy sales bolstered by major ad/promo and an author tour. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Nina Reilly seems to have hit her stride: her solo legal practice in Lake Tahoe is booming, her son is growing happily, and her love life is blooming, thanks to her investigator Paul von Wagoner. When she wakes up one morning to find her SUV stolen, her life changes instantly, not because of the lost car itself but because her briefcase, containing three of her current files, was in the backseat. Each of those files contains potentially disastrous information should they land in the wrong hands. She lost her main set of car keys the day before, she remembers, but had they really been lost? Could someone have stolen them in an effort to steal the files? One of the cases involves a Hmong family about to collect an insurance settlement from the fire that burned down their store. Perhaps the family's mysterious representative is behind the theft. Then there's the smarmy opposing attorney in a divorce case Nina is handling. The third case involves a pair of sisters who witnessed a murder but fear for their lives if they go to the authorities. Nina worries for her clients but also has concerns for herself when she is brought up on charges of incompetence by the state bar. Nina hires her ex-husband, which provides for amusing banter among him, Nina, and Paul. O'Shaughnessy furnishes believable characters and well-drawn courtroom scenes, but what really gives this legal thriller its appeal is the genuinely unusual premise. --Mary Frances Wilkens

Now that she's survived divorce, betrayal, romantic disappointment, and heaven knows how many attempts on her life, what's the worst that can happen to Lake Tahoe attorney Nina Reilly? The threat of disbarment, of course. Considering the magnitude of the threat, the story starts off casually, when Nina (Writ of Execution, 2001, etc.) mislays her keys to her Bronco, uses a spare key to get home, and then awakens the next morning to find her truck gone, along with a briefcase containing three case folders she'd locked inside. One folder concerns Kevin Cruz's bitterly fought custody battle with his wife Lisa, another Kao Vang's arson-settlement claim against Heritage Insurance, and the third the statements of Brandy Taylor and her sister Angel Guillaume about a campground murder they'd all but witnessed. All the files are confidential; two of them contain information Nina's courtroom opponents would love to get their hands on; and the information in one of them could endanger her clients' lives. When Officer Jean Scholl, who's got no love to spare for Nina, locates the Bronco, the briefcase is still missing, and it doesn't take long for the other shoe to fall. Three shoes, in fact, because the contents of all three folders are swiftly leaked, creating havoc for Nina's one-lawyer practice and a three-count complaint the California Bar will try against her, with only her ex-husband, Jack McIntyre, to defend her and her lover, investigator Paul van Wagoner, to do her legwork. The mystery about who has it in for Nina-skillfully sustained, though revolved up with predictable shrillness-takes a backseat to the cunningly managed hearing, which Nina aptly likens to "a quasi-court practicing quasi-law with quasi-rules of procedure." An idealistic lawyer staggers under the weight of legal and ethical charges you can be certain will never stand up in court. Nina's eighth may be her most irresistible to date.

Attorney Nina Reilly is back, but stolen client files may put her out of business. Luckily, her friendly ex-husband is defending her in court even as her detective boyfriend investigates. Unluckily, the two men are about to spar. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.