The Lies That Bind

Neil Hamel #5

by Judith Van Gieson

Accepting the case of an elderly woman accused of murdering her son's accidental killer, sometime sleuth Neil Hamel begins an investigation across the Southwest landscape and into the dangerous truths of the victim and accused. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Judith Van Gieson is the author of a children’s book, a collection of poetry and short stories, and thirteen mysteries. Her short stories have appeared in several mystery anthologies. In the first mystery series eight books, featuring female Albuquerque attorney/sleuth Neil Hamel, were published by HarperCollins. Neil’s work often involved environmental issues including endangered species and wildfires. Books in this series were published in England, Japan and Germany. It was optioned by CBS. The Lies That Bind was a finalist for the Shamus Award for best detective novel. The series won the Spirit of Magnifico Literary Award.

There were five books in the second series with heroine Claire Reynier published in paperback by Signet, in hardcover by University of New Mexico Press and in a large print edition by Thorndike. Claire works as an archivist and librarian at the Center for Southwest Research at UNM. This series involved rare artifacts and New Mexico history. The Stolen Blue was a finalist for the Reviewer’s Choice Award. The Shadow of Venus was a finalist for the Barry Award and won the Zia Award given by New Mexico Press Women for Best Work of Fiction by a New Mexico woman.

Series:
* Neil Hamel
* Claire Reynier

Reviews

[Glen]

A former hippie who became a lawyer is hired by a friend's square mother. It seems she's being framed for a hit and run manslaughter.

It's all very Don Henley.

Even though the book is set in New Mexico, there is a lot of page time for Argentina.

[Sandy]

This was a pretty thought provoking book. It was set about 30 years ago and was interesting to remember all the problems in Argentina in the last century.

[Jeff Dickison]

Good little mystery as lady lawyer tries to help mean old woman escape from a vehicular homicide charge. It was very easy from near the beginning to figure who one of the major bad characters was going to be, but there were some twists and surprises. Recommended to mystery fans.

[Kay]

The S&L Meltdown of the 80s pales by comparison with The Great Recession, but when this mystery was written, Charles Keating and his cronies had wrought massive damage on the Arizona and New Mexican real estate scene. The scandal's aftermath figures heavily in the plot of this Neil Hamel adventure, which I enjoyed far more than an earlier adventure I read recently.
Neil is an unconventional Albuquerque lawyer, who plods through the divorce litigation that pays her bills but is always looking for a homicide investigation she can poke into. Interesting, unconventional characters and lots of local color make this a good read and a cautionary tale about big-time real estate developers--a lesson we have yet to learn.

[Wendy]

Protagonist is female lawyer in Albuquerque. I currently live in ABQ and usually enjoy reading about local scenery, but this book just didn't cut it for me. Too much other stuff going on to distract from the vehicular homicide case at the heart of the story and the real mystery. I couldn't get into the characters - all but the lawyer and the DA guy were just too something, and I couldn't relate or care about any of them. I was disappointed because the author has several books in the Neil Hamel series (she's the lawyer with a man's name :-)), and I was looking forward to a new author & series.

[Bruce]

Neil Hamel, lawyer in New Mexico gets a call call from Martha, older woman/mother of an old high school friend. She has just been charged with running over her dead grandsons former fiance in her parking lot. This was ok. Not much of a page turner. It was mostly slow moving, some interesting characters, but mostly under developed. First Neil Hamel I've read - she is ok, maybe could grow on you after awhile...

[Alan]

I have always liked Van Gieson's mystery novels for their lead characters and evocations of Albuquerque and New Mexico.

[Cindy B.]

Well plotted and narrated - some twists and lite profanity. Like the wryly writing style and female lead, recommended.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Albuquerque lawyer Neil Hamel agrees to defend an elderly woman accused of murder. She gets into grave danger.

[June Herdzina]

Mild character descriptions. Probably wouldn't seek out her next book.