Green-Eyed Lady: A Mystery
Weeks before the election, California senatorial candidate Warren Burkett hires lawyer Jack MacTaggart to help him out of a spot of trouble. Set up by a green-eyed woman, Burkett finds himself in a compromising position, charged with stealing a valuable painting. MacTaggart, in practice with Marta Suarez after the demise of his prestigious Pasadena firm, sets out after the painting, seen briefly in a campaign ad videotaped in a cabin owned by Burkett’s opponent, then gone again. But when the title character, Jordan Mardian, who ran an escort service and fenced high-end art, is found dead in a presumed suicide, and her assistant dies in a fire at Mardian’s art studio, there’s more to investigate than a missing painting. Greaves’ second MacTaggart mystery (after Hush Money, 2012) is grounded in politics, but its madcap plot includes clues sent on an Etch A Sketch, a nighttime sting carried out at the famed Hollywood sign, and savvy use of the media. While this leaves the narrative focus somewhat scattered, the breezy MacTaggart—whose bywords are “Trust me. I’m a lawyer”—is always good company. --Michele Leber