The Last Heir: A Mystery (Jack Mactaggart Mystery)
Greaves has turned his irrepressible (or irritating, depending on one’s point of view) lawyer Jack MacTaggart loose on the world of family money, trusts, inheritances, and their concomitants—envy, greed, and murder. Alain Giroux, heir to a Napa Valley winery, is missing and presumed dead. His father is in mourning not for his lost son but for the chance that the winery will go to a daughter who will sell it to a developer. The old man hires MacTaggart to sink that possibility, but then Alain’s signature turns up on fresh credit-card bills. Then there’s a murder, and MacTaggart begins his trek through a world where bad feelings are the only kind that haven’t been burned away. Readers may find this parade of jerks wearisome and wish MacTaggart’s wisecracks didn’t sound like little-guy putdowns, and while Greaves can write beautifully—“her hair glowed like poppies in a summer morning memo”—stretches of dialogue sound like legal briefs. But he’s provided a gripping look at a world where great resources and the best intentions can go horribly wrong. --Don Crinklaw