The Ditto List

by Stephen Greenleaf

A self-deprecating divorce lawyer with a yen for happy endings, D.T. Jones takes on as clients three women--Mareth Stone, Lucinda Flinders, and Esther Preston--each of whom has a seemingly hopeless case

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Stephen Greenleaf got a B.A. from Carlton College in 1964 and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkely in 1967. Stephen Greenleaf served in the United States Army from 1967 through 1969, and was also admitted to the California Bar during that period, with subsequent numerous legal positions.

Stephen Greenleaf studied creative writing at the University of Iowa in 1978 and 1979, (the Iowa Writers Workshop) with the subsequent publication of his first Tanner novel in 1979. Mr. Greenleaf has written fourteen John Marshall Tanner books to date, with his latest being Ellipse. All the novels are situated in San Fransico, and Stephen Greenleaf also lives in northern California with his wife Ann.

Series:
* John Marshall Tanner Mystery

Reviews

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in the 1980's and 90's, a lawyer named Stephen Greenleaf wrote a series of novels featuring San Francisco private eye, John Marshall Tanner. They were clever reads but more attuned to the simpler times in which they were written. These Tanner novels have been recently reissued in ebook form, along with a couple of standalone novels, one being "The Ditto List". I had enjoyed all of Greenleaf's novels, but in particular, "The Ditto List" and when I saw it was now available again, I downloaded it.

The "ditto list" was a list of divorce court cases that family-law attorney D.T. Jones prepared for weekly court action. Most of his clientele were women, usually poor and downtrodden, who wanted to be divorced from their often violent, usually nere-do-well husbands. Oh, every now and again he represented women from higher economic ranges, but his bread and butter were "ditto listers". D.T. was often asked what his initials stood for, and he always had a different answer, depending on who was asking. D.T. was himself sort of on the skids; he drank a bit too much, gambled a lot too much, but the reader and his ex-wife, Michele and daughter, Heather, knew that under D.T.'s surface was a heart of gold.

Stephen Greenleaf's book is an excellent look at a flawed man who knows his flaws better than anyone else does, but tries to overcome them. He represents women in cases that cried out for do-gooder lawyering and D.T. is a man whose innate cleverness displays itself mostly at the right time and in the right circumstances. "The Ditto List" is a bit melancholy but the excellent ending is well-deserved.

[Jan Jaap]

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