A Clean Kill

Tom McInnes #3

by Mike Stewart

When a young woman asks Tom to investigate her mother's death in a small-town hospital, his first instinct is to refuse the case. But as the woman reveals the suspicious circumstances of a simple food poisoning turned deadly, he reluctantly finds himself intrigued. As Tom and his investigator, Joey, delve into the mother's death, an attempt is made on Tom's life, the state bar threatens disbarment, and he finds himself accused of murdering a fellow lawyer. With the help of a beautiful Asian-American psychologist-turned-jury expert, his search for the truth uncovers a conspiracy of jury-rigging beginning at the highest levels of government and backed up by cold-blooded killers.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Michael Garnet Stewart is an American author.

A native of Vredenburgh, Alabama, in Monroe County, Stewart attended Tabor Academy for the first two years of high school but graduated from Wilcox Academy in Camden, Alabama. He received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University. In between school terms, he spent the summers working as a forest technician and farmhand. After graduating from college, he worked as a copy editor for the Atlanta Journal and assisted on a friend's unsuccessful gubernatorial.

In 1985, Stewart enrolled at Cumberland School of Law, where he became an associate editor of the Cumberland Law Review and moot court champion. He was a leadership scholarship recipient and the author of a published case note cited by the Alabama Supreme Court.

After graduating from law school, Stewart was admitted to the Alabama Bar and began work as a corporate attorney, specializing in healthcare law. In the 1990s, he retired from his position as General Counsel of Complete Health, a large healthcare company, and pursued his lifelong dream of writing novels. Stewart lives in Birmingham with his family.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced and well plotted with lots of twists and turns. There is also a lot of violence and swear words. This is not a cozy.

[Harold Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than expected

The action kept you wanting to continue reading. Reading was a pleasure. Definitely need to read more by this author

[Lesli Harmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for a quick thriller read! Loved that it was set in Alabama. Didn’t realize it was the third book of a series though but that didn’t really affect the storyline of the book.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A CLEAN KILL (Legal Thriller-Alabama-Cont) – G+
Stewart, Mike – 3rd in series
Dell, 2006- Paperback
Attorney Tom McInnes is hired by a young woman whose mother died while on jury duty. He soon uncovers that her death resulted in a new jury member, a large award to the plaintiff and the law firm handling the case. With the help of a psychologist, Kai-Li, he discovers this law firm has had an unrealistically large number of hold-out jurors become sick and the replacement juror enabling a large fee for the lawyers. But the information doesn’t come without Tom being stalked, threatened, beaten and attempts to kill him.
*** The author spent a fair amount of time trying to explain the lawyer’s attraction to violence but I still wasn’t convinced. There is a love interest but it was nice that they didn’t immediately fall into bed and pledge undying love. There was the required threatening sidekick although I learned very little about him. I imagine I’d feel differently had I read the first two books of the series. There was some good tension and I enjoyed the book being set in Mobile, Alabama which is a different setting from most. Falling into the category of a good airplane book, I found it rather unbelievable but entertaining.

[Mary Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish there were more Tom McIness books!

[Button · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Stewart writes well and I love that his settings are in South Alabama. Hope he has something new coming out soon.