Murder Most Legal

Legal thrillers with a twist

Two kickass lawyers take on a handful of colorful clients—and murder—from San Francisco Bay to the Big Easy.

Tubby Dubonnet is a simple man with a refined palate, a maverick New Orleans lawyer with a penchant for fishing, Old Fashioneds, off-track betting…and fighting evil while passing a good time. Rebecca Schwartz is a nice Jewish girl who just so happens to be a smart, savvy lawyer, with a few too many fantasies … and no qualms about telling it like it is. Tony takes on drugs, the Mob, and his impossible daughters while Rebecca wrestles with murder mystery at the aquarium and the most dangerous serial killer San Francisco’s ever seen. Four refreshing, page-turning legal puzzlers for a deal so reasonable, no one can object!

CROOKED MAN

The FIRST offbeat mystery in the TUBBY DUBONNET series by Anthony- and Edgar-nominated author Tony Dunbar

Tubby Dubonnet’s clients are all renegades from the asylum (aka Orleans Parish). His newest client is Darryl Alvarez, the manager of a local nightclub who's been caught unloading marijuana from a shrimp boat. At their first meeting, Darryl entrusts Tubby with an ordinary-looking blue gym bag. But after Darryl's unfortunate demise, Tubby realizes he must tighten his grasp on the gym bag -- and its million-dollar contents.

TOURIST TRAP

The THIRD book in Edgar-winner Julie Smith's Rebecca Schwartz series.

So what’s a nice Jewish girl doing at an Easter sunrise service? Lawyer Rebecca Schwartz would pick the one with the body nailed to the landmark cross! Coincidence? Not so much. She's there because her boy friend's covering the service for the San Francisco Chronicle. The body's there because someone's making a statement he doesn't want the press to miss.

Next: mass shellfish poisoning at Pier 39. A very different kind of serial killer is operating here—one who seems to have a grudge against the whole city.

CITY OF BEADS

The SECOND deliciously sneaky mystery in Anthony- and Edgar-nominated Tony Dunbar's Tubby Dubonnet series

Tubby Dubonnet is bored. He wants to bill enough hours to pay his alimony and keep his daughter in college, with enough left over for an occasional drink and a good meal, but he longs for something different and exciting. Sure, researching licensing law for the new casino will keep trout meunière on the table, but what could be more tedious? Meanwhile, there’s the estate of an old friend who controls some dock leases on the wharf. And he agrees to help his daughter’s environmental group stop illegal dumping in the river.

Suddenly all three cases begin to converge in an entirely ominous way–the toxic dumping, the dock leases, and the too-good-to-be-true casino job. How is that possible? Could it be Tubby’s been set up as the fall guy in a Mob effort to expand its gambling empire? NOW it's exciting — he's running for his life!

DEAD IN THE WATER

This is the FOURTH book in Edgar-winner Julie Smith’s Rebecca Schwartz series.

San Francisco lawyer Rebecca Schwartz has occasion to wonder when she and her weekend hostess, Marty Whitehead, find a body floating in the 30-foot kelp tower at the Monterey Aquarium, and Marty's promptly dragged off to the slammer.

Rebecca quickly grasps the Emily Post solution—sign on as Marty's lawyer, try to keep her client's two young kids out of the deep end, and somehow avoid drowning in the sea of lies gushing from Marty's mouth--and everyone else’s. There’s a lot of intrigue among the aquarium's oceangoing primates, as well as rumors of a pearl beyond price.


Genre: Mystery