Bearing Witness

Rachel Gold, a St. Louis attorney, doesn't think much of her client's chances for succeeding in an age-discrimination suit against one of the city's biggest engineering firms. Only her mother's plea that she represent Ruth Alpert convinces Rachel to take on what looks like a sure loser, until Ruth mentions her suspicions that her former employer has been involved in rigging bids for government contracts with five other regional construction-related companies. Tracking the bidding process is a tedious job, more suited for a powerful law firm with plenty of resources than for Rachel's more modest practice. But with the help of a law school professor who's an old friend and his eager minions of young students, Rachel soon uncovers a conspiracy that's more than an illegal bidding scam and much older than she is.

Before World War II, Nazis channeled looted gold to anti-Semitic sympathizers in the American Midwest, some of whom are still alive and are closely connected to a contemporary group of Aryan nation skinheads led by a charismatic preacher known as the Spider. Rachel's age-discrimination case quickly morphs into a much deadlier enterprise. The bodies pile up as her key witnesses are murdered and the defendant and his allies move to locate and destroy the 50-year-old evidence that could ruin them. With a fascinating historical background and a likable heroine, this taut little thriller, the sixth in the Rachel Gold series, sheds new light on an obscure era in the American heartland. --Jane Adams


Genre: Mystery