Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Lean Press
Release Date: August 2004
ISBN: 1-932475-02-8
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Trade Paperback
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Genre:   Mystery/Suspense
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Beverly J. Rowe
Reviewer Notes:  
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Deadly Distractions
A Stan Turner Mystery  
By William Manchee


   This story starts off with a literal bang as Stan Turner's client is found standing over the body of a dead IRS agent, with his shotgun in hand. Since Dusty Thomas has had a years-long feud with the dead agent, Bobby Tuttle, and Bobby was killed with a shotgun, Dusty is charged with first degree murder even though he claims to be innocent.

   Stan's new partner, Paula Waters, handles Dusty Thomas' arraignment and begins to get an investigation underway while Stan is finishing his vacation. She even manages to arrange financing for Dusty's defense. A radical paramilitary group, the Citizens Defense Alliance, or CDA, is doing the funding, much to Stan's dismay. He doesn't want to be associated with this group of anti-government radicals.

   Since the CDA denies the legitimacy of the federal income tax and has been a target of federal prosecutors for many years, Stan's worst fears are realized, and his office immediately comes under the close scrutiny of the FBI and the press. To further complicate matters, Stan's best client and close friend, Tex Weller, has transferred 1.8 million dollars to Stan's trust account from Ecuador, and now he is reported missing by his wife.

   While Stan is searching for Tex in Ecuador, Paula continues her investigation of Bobby Tuttle's murder and quickly discovers a long list of enemies with motive to kill him, becoming more and more convinced that Dusty Thomas is innocent. Her investigation is sidetracked when she learns Stan is missing and may have been kidnapped. As time goes by and Stan doesn't turn up, she is forced to turn her attention back to the Dusty Thomas case and leave the search for Stan up to the FBI. Then Paula, herself, is charged with a phony hit and run.

   Paula, of course, is secretly in love with a very happily married Stan, and by alternating viewpoints between Stan and Paula, Manchee achieves the near impossible task of getting into the mind of each protagonist. The action is non-stop with surprises in every chapter. Parallel, complicated plots converge to an explosive climax. Don't start this book until you have time to read the whole thing...you won't want to put it down.