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Rachel Gold Mysteries #5

by Michael A. Kahn

"A sheer delight! Fast and funny. I couldn't get enough. Fans of Rachel Gold rejoice!" —Tamar Myers, bestselling author

Gorgeous and gutsy attorney Rachel Gold is ready for war on behalf of Sally Wade, who arrives in her office bruised and beaten the morning after Neville McBride, her soon-to-be-ex-husband, broke into her house and savagely attacked her.

McBride, a prominent and wealthy member of the St. Louis power elite, has retained an attack-dog defense lawyer. Before Rachel can get her lawsuit on file, Sally's corpse is found tied up in her bed, apparently strangled. The clues point to McBride, the prime suspect, and the police soon view the case as essentially closed.

But doubts begin to creep into Rachel's mind as she learns more about Sally's personal life. With her rough-and-ready best pal, Benny Goldberg, Rachel works her way through a labyrinth of strip club operators, crooked cops, slimy country club types, double-dealing hookers, and the hog butcher from hell.

Genres: Mystery

327 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Pseudonym for Michael Baron.

Michael Kahn is a trial lawyer by day and an author at night. He wrote his first novel, GRAVE DESIGNS, on a challenge from his wife Margi, who got tired of listening to the same answer whenever she asked him about a book he was reading. "Not bad," he would say, "but I could write a better book than that." "Then write one," she finally said, "or please shut up." So he shut up for a few months--no easy task for an attorney--but finally wrote one.

Kahn is the award-winning author of 11 Rachel Gold novels, the most recent being BAD TRUST, and three stand-alone novels: the recently published PLAYED!, about which Library Journal wrote, "“Fans of quick reads . . . will be well served by this thriller’s fast pace"; THE SIRENA QUEST, which Publishers Weekly praised as “Equal parts rollicking adventure, existential and spiritual quest, and coming-of-(middle)-age tale”; and THE MOURNING SEXTON, a mystery novel under the pen name Michael Baron. His most recent Rachel Gold novel, THE DEAD HAND, was published last fall.

In addition to his day job as a lawyer, he is an adjunct professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, where he teaches a class on censorship and free expression. Married to his high school sweetheart, he is the father of five and the grandfather of, so far, five.

Reviews

[Homerun2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh...

[Robert Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

++Rachel doesn't do personal injury cases. But this client talked her into it and in so doing she ended up helping the defense against her suit and she met the Wolf Man, Jonathan Wolf the defending attorney. A thoroughly convoluted story of obsession, greed, murder and violence. Rachel, her good friend Benny, her mother Sarah and her secretary Jacki make inquiries in East St. Louis, Alton, St. Louis suburbs and Chicago while conducting other cases to successful conclusions. Rachel is threatened, harassed and almost killed. Kahn packs the book with plenty of suspense.++

[Eric_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the fine Rachel Gold series featuring the very fat and obscene but extremely bright and loyal Benny. Rachel is hired by Sally to handle her divorce, something Rachel has sworn not to do. But Sally displays the marks of having been beaten and turns up dead the next day. As her last attorney of record, Rachel is hired to handle the trust and reassign Sally’s clients

I love some of the word play. For example:
I gave him a cynical look. “Are you planning to impress her with the size of your epistemology?”
“Hey, woman, as Manny Kant once said, it’s not the length of your metaphysics, it’s the quality of your categorical imperatives.”
“I love when you philosophy guys talk dirty.”

I won’t say more but to note the title is a pun and gall stones play a role. 3.5 stars, but only because I don’t think it’s quite as good as the preceding titles.

[james · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another in the Rachel Gold series. RG is a lawyer in St Louis whose clients always lead her to interesting and ofter dangerous situations. Her antics always provide a good read.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. I like his newer books better.