Jeff Sherratt One, Two & Even

One, Two & Even

Jeff Sherratt

Marlowe, Spade and Archer, 2005, $15.95

ISBN: 0975272128

His office assistant Mabel is on LAPD cop turned lawyer Jimmy O'Brien's case for accepting only pro bono clients, like Henry "Buck" Simpson who is obviously going back to prison. That is until the sheriff's department informs Jimmy that he hung himself in his holding cell. Jimmy rejects suicide, as the career criminal was upbeat and even looking forward to playing in a prison baseball game. He asks a favor of his pal Sol Silverman, of Silverman Investigations, who learns that Buck was stabbed three times.

Jimmy keeps digging into Buck's death, while his associate Rita works a seemingly open and shut bank robbery case. That is until Laura calls Jimmy, pleading for him to put on his halo as he did nine months ago. He rushes to her home in Beverly Hills, a long way from Van Nuys, to find her husband of six months Arnie Rosenthal, the meat packing king, dead with an apparent suicide note nearby. Detectives Corshank and Barnes find discrepancies that lead them to conclude homicide occurred, and that the wife and her lover Jimmy did the deed. Though he has a paying client on the one hand for a change, Jimmy also realizes he must prove his innocence.

ONE, TWO, & EVEN is an entertaining legal thriller, especially when Jimmy quotes precedence in courtrooms and challenges Corshank with rights. The exciting storyline is also supported by a solid investigative subplot and a terrific secondary cast, but clearly this is Jimmy's tale. Fans will enjoy this fun novel, and seek the previous O'Brien story, SIX TO FIVE AGAINST.