Blood Relative
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Weary of his work, Lomax reluctantly takes a case defending a man he believes is guilty of murder
When Samuel Butler, a cruelly arrogant titan of industry, learns his wife is cheating again, he expresses his feelings with a punch to her face. She is bruised when he leaves the house, but still alive. After a few hours’ drinking, he comes home to apologize, flowers in hand, and finds his wife bludgeoned to death on the floor. Or at least that’s what he tells the police.
The cops don’t believe him, and neither do the people of Denver, who write Butler off as a murderer even before his trial starts. In desperation, Butler’s lawyer hires private detective Jacob Lomax to prove his client’s alibi. Fresh off a Mexican vacation and thinking of quitting the business, Jake hates himself for defending a man who is so obviously guilty. But as he digs into the victim’s past, he reconsiders. There are plenty of men who wanted this woman dead.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shamus Award winner Allegretto ( The Dead of Winter ) perfectly paces his fourth Jacob Lomax mystery. Just back from a Mexico vacation, the Denver-based PI is hired by the defense in a murder case that seems like ``more than the violent end of a lover's quarrel.'' Still brooding over his wife's murder eight years before, Lomax feels burned out and wonders if the killing of Clare Butler represents his last case. Everyone in the Butler family appears to have a secret, especially the accused, Samuel Butler, husband of the victim, abusive father and founder of Butler Manufacturing. His children from his first marriage--Kenneth, a manager in the family firm; Karen, a vintage clothier; and Nicole, a painter--are also incriminated, along with their spouses and live-in lovers. The list of suspects soon expands further to include criminals from Clare's past, which involved prostitution and designer drugs. With action turning on creative bookkeeping, elusive employees, accidents and coincidences, the plot generates more twists than a corkscrew and will captivate readers all the way to its fireball ending.
