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DEATH OF A WANNABEE
by Lawrence Friedman
QP Books, August 2011
221 pages
$15.99
ISBN: 1610270959


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

If you look at most lawyers featured in crime fiction, you'll find that the majority of them are prosecutors or defense attorneys. Frank May is a lawyer of a different stripe. His practice deals with the "dull" side of the business—writing wills, developing business documents and the like. His latest client, Barney Bell, is a second rate actor whose aunt has left him some money. Barney wants Frank to write his will. Shortly thereafter, Bell's wife, Blanche Baleine, comes to Frank for the same reason. What Frank doesn't know is that their marriage is coming apart at the seams. When Blanche is killed, Barney is the prime suspect.

Frank immediately recommends a talented defense attorney, but Barney trusts Frank and relies on him to take care of odds and ends around his case. Before he knows it, Frank is deep into investigating what happened. He is certainly aware that he is not the best person to do this work, but he has a lot of sympathy for Barney and finds it hard to turn him down.

DEATH OF A WANNABE is actually a locked-room mystery. It was enjoyable to see someone so far out of his comfort zone approaching the problem, both with doubt and humor. However, at times the narrative is somewhat repetitive in its statement of the situation. Frank doesn't have professional help such as a forensics team to help him out, and it's interesting to see a crime solved without relying on all the latest gizmos and technological techniques. That approach made WANNABE unique and different from the standard legal thriller.

§ Formerly a training development manager for a large company, Maddy is now retired and continues to enable the addiction of crime fiction fans as owner of the online discussion group, 4 Mystery Addicts(4MA), while avidly reading in every possible free moment herself.

Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, August 2011

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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