Designer Crimes

Laura DiPalma #5

by Lia Matera

Suing her former boss when his slander costs her new solo law practice its most important client, Laura Di Palma witnesses a murder for which the only clue is the victim's elusive dying words. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Lia Matera is a graduate of Hastings College of the Law, where she was editor in chief of the Constitutional Law Quarterly. She was also a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School before becoming a full-time writer of legal mysteries. Prior Convictions and A Radical Departure were nominated for Edgar Allan Poe awards. The Good Fight and Where Lawyers Fear to Tread were nominated for Anthony and Macavity Awards. She has written nine novels, including the critically acclaimed Face Value. Matera lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Reviews

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Designer Crimes by Lia Matera is the 5th book of the Laura DiPalma mystery series set in contemporary Northern California. Laura is struggling to keep her law office going. Her enemy Steve Sayres (at her former law firm) is poisoning clients against her. At wits' end, Laura visits an attorney to sue Sayres for slander. Suddenly a shooter enters the office, misses Laura, kills Jocelyn. Her dying whisper: "Designer Crimes".

Laura flees back to Hillsdale in Northern California, the small town where she grew up. She co-owns a Victorian with her Uncle Henry, the mayor. But there is no rest or peace for Laura: an explosion and a huge fire destroy the town's only shopping mall, shortly after she arrives. She tries to find her client, Brad Rommel, a friend from high school charged with murder. Instead she finds a suspicious crime scene at his mountain cabin. Laura wrangles with another high school classmate, Jay Bartoli, a police detective. Each hopes the other will confide more than they should, for old times' sake.

Back in San Francisco, Laura relies upon private investigator Sandy Arkelett. He and his hacker employee Osmil uncover intriguing information about the lawyers' office where Jocelyn died. But they still aren't sure who was the intended target, Jocelyn or Laura.

Laura ping-pongs back and forth from Hillsdale to San Francisco. She takes far too much risk for a clandestine meeting with Brad; is almost killed. Jay and Brad are each jealous of Laura's attention to the other. Nonsense, since she now appreciates Sandy all over again (just hasn't told him yet).

Odd events occur, and even odder evidence turns up (a bucket of blood in the yard). Laura can't make it all fit into a reasonable pattern. Then she wonders, what if that is the point? Lots of misleading clues to keep her from guessing the truth.

The tension ratchets up with deadly confrontations. Sent off on a wild goose chase, Laura comes face to face with a killer aiming a gun at her, in the woods at night. But it's not the end yet...she will still have to fight for her life inside the courthouse. And solve the cryptic clue "Designer Crimes".

A shame this is the last book of the series! Inquiring readers want to know...Will Laura thrive in her latest career change? Will she acknowledge how important Sandy is in her life - and tell him so?

[Zoe Solari · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was the only english book i found in the second hand shop that caught my attention and was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED ate this up in like a day nothing like a silly mystery book to get you out of a reading slump i did have to read the end of it in my flatmates company cause i got scared but thats more of a reflection on how easily i am scared. good.

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first time reading a book from the series. I can see why people would like the series and I probably would have like the book better if I was a fan of the series. I just found the book OK.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at a dollar-a-bag book sale. I had read a couple of Matera;s novels before. This one has her character, Laura Di Palma running back and forth between San Francisco and her home town of Hillsdale in northern California with two cases that appear at first to be unrelated. A nicely told story that keeps your interest from the beginning all the way through to the end.