Rep Pennyworth is agonizing over preparing a eulogy for a fellow lawyer who was so cold-hearted and mean spirited that none of his colleagues grieve his passing. Vance Hayes, the deceased, rode his snowmobile, while intoxicated, onto thin ice and plunged to his death. Rep does not believe this is an accident or that Hayes was legally drunk, because the Vance he knew could remain sober while drinking nonstop at social functions. Quickly Rep learns that his hunch is correct and that Vance's death is very suspicious but not accidental. The first clue to the whodunit is provided by Sue Key, a Vietnamese-American court reporter who Rep represents as a result of an interesting twist of events that includes the deceased. Rep, his wife Melissa, and an odd assortment of friends become amateur sleuths in their spare time in order to figure out what really happened to Vance and what are the ties between him, a Vietnamese-American family and the Leopald order. Did Vance Hayes have a kinder and gentler side that no one knew?

Putting Lipstick on a Pig is the third book in the Rep and Melissa Pennyworth series. Michael Bowen has a knack for tying odd threads together to create a complex and highly entertaining murder mystery. In this installment there is a eulogy, a snowmobile accident, a Vietnamese-American family, an odd legal case, and a huge influx of people with guns hunting deer. The quirky title of the book is neatly introduced at the beginning and plays a role in the wrap-up of the whodunit. Bowen's writing is crisp and witty, the plotline is just fantastic. Fans of this series will not be disappointed; new reader will want to read the other books in the series.