Windfall
Brian Lutterman
Conquill Press, Oct 1 2015, $15.00
www.conquillpress.com
ISBN: 9780990846130
In Los Angeles the case against allegedly corrupt Congressman
Luther Shields heads to court when all hell breaks loose. The lead prosecutor
Adam Rosenthal abruptly quits without notice claiming an offer he could not
refuse. The star witness to Shields
accepting bribes from Defense contractor Pacific Technology Group; Lisa Darden
vanishes without a trace. Second
prosecution chair paraplegic Pen Wilkinson learns Lisa is not in her
Minneapolis home or answering her phone; and her sister, neighbors and friends
insist they have no idea where she is.
Though lacking experience, Pen takes over the government lead due
to her being the most knowledgeable on the corruption case in the U.S.
Attorney’s Office. LAPD Detectives come
to Pen’s house to question her as to her relationship with Celia Sims and where
she was last night. Someone murdered
Celia on her former boyfriend (and Pen’s current significant other) James
Carter’s boat “Alicia C”. The police
arrest James for Celia’s murder though Pen remains a viable suspect. Threats mount on Pen as she diligently works
the prosecution while trying to prove James (and herself) did not kill Celia.
The second Pen Wilkinson suspenseful legal thriller
(see Downfall) is an exhilarating cautionary drama that builds suspense based
on Lord Acton’s late nineteenth century observation "Power tends to corrupt,
and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
Pen remains a super lead (even in her few pages as second chair) as she
learns first-hand the meaning of President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address
warning: “… we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial (and Congressional) complex”.
Harriet Klausner
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