The Dead Hand: A Rachel Gold Mystery by Michael A. Kahn

The Dead Hand: A Rachel Gold Mystery by Michael A. Kahn --- 227 pages

The tenth book in local attorney/author Michael A. Kahn's clever mystery series features St. Louis attorney Rachel Gold and an abundance of St. Louis references that will add to the enjoyment of local readers.

In her busy law practice, Rachel has handled any number of legally tricky cases and earned a reputation as "tougher than every smart lawyer in town and smarter than every tough lawyer." In “The Dead Hand,” she will need both attributes in order to win two different but tricky cases based on an arcane and obscure bit of Anglo Saxon property law called "The Rule Against Perpetuities."  In one case the trophy widow of a wealthy lingerie manufacturer is attempting to claw back the property deeded to her predecessor in the divorce settlement. In the other the estranged son of a wealthy financier is trying to invalidate the trust created for his much younger half sister by claiming she's not his father's daughter.

Along the way Rachel discovers an unsuspected homicide and meets a man who just might offer her a second chance at love.  Another winner for Kahn.

Click HERE to read the review from Publisher's Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from the St. Louis Jewish Light. 

The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger

The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger - 480 pages

Not only is the novel about a divorce case with all the paperwork involved, it is also written entirely as correspondence and documents.  Sophie Diehl is a criminal lawyer who does a preliminary interview with a woman who was served divorce papers while the main divorce lawyers at her firm are all out on leave.  Mia Mathers Meiklejohn Durkheim likes Sophie and requests she remain on the case. The rest of the book follows the case's proceedings, including negotiations; personal conflicts between all parties; and the daughter's, Jane's, feelings about the situations.  Mia's meddling (in a good way) father also plays a significant role.  Also, through Sophie's work on the case she begins to understand her parents divorce and forgive her father.

Overall, the format of the book took some getting used to.  I'd say the novel was average; there were an equal number of good and boring parts with some "laugh tracks" written in.  However, since it seems to closely mimic a real divorce, I could see it as a painful read to someone who has been through one.

What Maisie Knew by Henry James

What Maisie Knew by Henry James --- 307 pages

Here is a "classic" which, sadly, sounds oh so familiar today. James wrote this tale in 1897, of a child caught in the middle of her selfish and self-absorbed parents' acrimonious divorce. Beale and Ida are only interested in their daughter insofar as she can be used as a weapon against each other. With updated language and video supplied by the papparazzi, it could be a reality series on E! or Fox TV, right next to Paris Jackson or Kim Kardashian, any night of the week.

In fact a film based on the novel, but updated to the current day, spawned this new paperback edition of James' work. The two women who wrote the screenplay for the film know their subject up close and personal: one was caught in a parental custody fight as a child, and the other was a party to a failed marriage and bitter divorce.

I have to admit I've always found James' prose convoluted, but he redeems himself with his scapel-sharp dissections of character. And no matter when they occur, we as a species never seem to lose our fascination with picking through the wreckage of other people's screwed up lives.