Hidden Agenda

Willa Jansson #3

by Lia Matera

Willa Jansson has always thought of herself as a right-thinking left-wing lawyer. But when her radical San Francisco law firm closes after the murder of its chief rabble-rouser, she does the next worst thing and takes a job as a high-priced corporate attorney. Willa has misgivings almost immediately, as she realizes all is not calm behind the firm's stately oak doors. After all, she's been around danger before, and she, can smell murder in the air.

Sure enough, two partners are killed. Unfortunately, the popular misconception is that the storm is blowing in from her direction. Hassled now by the police, her parents, and office politics of the murdering kind, Willa is forced to play hardball with the big boys, before the third strike is called on her....

Genres: Mystery

184 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

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

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Willa Jansson is a young-ish attorney in San Francisco that carries around a lot of baggage. Her upbringing was somewhat unusual because her parents were Sixties radicals that have remained radicals; I believe they are in their 50s now. The family, including Willa in her younger years, have seen going to jail for "the cause" (which seems to be pretty much all types) as a noble thing, etc. Until now. Willa has decided she'd actually like to make some money (disappointing her parents immensely) and joins a high-powered firm.

Willa's life, as shown in the former couple of series volumes, has been disrupted by murder too often, already. The first in the series takes place during her law school years. Then Willa's former boss, a legal aid-type attorney, was poisoned with hemlock; it seems very suspicious when her new boss, in this third volume, is killed the same way... and then another partner at the firm dies the same way. Willa and a couple of the local police detectives attempt to make some sense of everything before anyone else (including Willa) also dies.

I'm ambivalent about this series. Sometimes Willa irritates the crap out of me; but sometimes her wit and outlook are also interesting. It's also fun to re-live some of the memories of the 60s, 70s, and 80s that are discussed; both good and bad stuff.

After reading the teaser for the next volume found in this copy, it looks like I'll plan to read it, too.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Willa Jansson Mystery by Lia Matera is fun to read in San Francisco while staying in this lovely city because this is where the story unfolds. The action takes place among law associates in two different firms who have hired the same person and she can't figure out why. People die and the world turns upside down for the recent hire.

[audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second Willa Jansson mystery I've read, and it'll definitely be the last. In the first one, I found Willa annoying because she wouldn't shut up about her herpes, and in this one I found her annoying because she acted like a child the whole time.

Between stomping about with no regard for her parents' feelings and calling her not-bf SFPD homicide lieutenant to drive from SF to Merced because she "had an uneasy feeling" and throwing tantrums when the pot she craved wasn't immediately accessible, there was really nothing to like about her. And more than that, she just wasn't interesting about being unlikeable, which was the worst part.

And then, on a return visit to her alma mater, she compared finding her name on the engraved plaques noting the top ten percent of a graduating class to finding her name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Whiskey tango ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME.

There was a moment late in the book where I thought Willa had a good chance of dying, and I found myself thinking, "Huh, if she dies, I will have a hell of a lot of respect for this book. It would make a very nice twist." And yet, I was sorely disappointed.

The plot was nearly transparent, the main character needed a hard slap, the love story fell flat, and the ending made me wing the book across the room. But on the plus side, now I've read it, I definitely know this series isn't for me.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

quick read