A Deadly Business by Lis Wiehl with April Henry

This is the second book in the Mia Quinn Mysteries. I enjoyed it very much. We learn more about how Mia's husband died and what he was up to before he died.

Charlie Carlson suggests to Mia that her husbands death was not an accident. Trying to balance her job and her home Mia now must also help Charlie investigate her husbands murder.

Mia is also feeling pressure from her boss who is running for re-election. When 3 teens dump a grocery cart off a bridge onto a woman's head Mia must decide whether they should be tried as juveniles or as adults. Her decision could ultimately lose the race for her boss.

Mia is under so much pressure with all of the situations going on that I found myself wondering how she didn't just break down.

The pace of the book moved along quickly. I was invested in the characters. I did find myself a little irritated at Mia's son Gabe. He has a bit of a rant at one point and I wanted to reach through the pages and shake him, but then had to realize that he too is going through a lot of stuff since his father died. I loved the suspense leading up to the conclusion of the book, I was definitely on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens. There is a bit of attraction going on between Charlie and Mia and another lawyer and Mia. I'm hoping that those will develop in future books. My vote is for Charlie even though he has been married 3 times before!

Check out my review of the first book A MATTER OF TRUST.

Thanks to the publisher Thomas Nelson for my copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own.

A Matter of Trust by Lis Wiehl

Mia's husband has recently passed away. Before he died he was keeping secrets from Mia. After his death Mia is left with more bills than she can handle. Having quit work to raise her children, Mia is now going back to work as an attorney for the district attorney's office.

When she is on the phone with a co-worker and friend the unthinkable happens. Mia hears a gunshot and then her friend barely breathing. Mia leaves her son Gabe on the line to listen if Colleen says anything as Mia rushes to her house. Colleen slowly dies as Gabe is listening.

Mia's current case that she is investigating is a group of high school bullies who's threats and torment has led to a student committing suicide. When the DA asks Mia to investigate Colleen's murder she is reluctant to give up the bullying case and also reluctant to spend more time away from her kids. Mia doesn't know what else to do though in order to pay all of the bills that are coming in so she agrees to team up with Charlie from the local law enforcement office. Charlie has been married 3 times and gets on Mia's nerves but he is a good police officer even if he is a bit high-handed.

Mia and Charlie make a good team and are soon hot on the killer's trail. Mixed in with their investigation is Mia's home life that sometimes seems to be falling apart. Her son is 14 and trying to fit in to high school and her 4 year old daughter Brooke has been having screaming episodes in the middle of the night. Sometimes Mia barely feels like she is keeping her head above water. And then there is her father who seems to have had a change in his life. From being absent when Mia was a child he is now wanting to be there for her and his grandchildren. Claiming to have a changed life in Christ, Mia has a hard time trusting him from his past track record and she definitely doesn't know how she feels about his new interest in church.

I really enjoyed A MATTER OF TRUST. The mystery kept my attention along with all of Mia and Charlie's interactions together. There is a potential for a couple of romantic relationships in future novels. I believe this is the first book in the Mia Quinn Mystery series. There were a couple of times that I felt that I was missing part of the story. I felt like I was coming into the middle of something that the author thought I should already know. In my opinion it detracted a little bit from the story but I was able to catch up with what was going on eventually. Other than that, this was a solid mystery and I definitely will plan on reading the next book in the series. I reviewed The Triple Threat series by this author last year and really enjoyed those. If you like mysteries I definitely recommend A MATTER OF TRUST and The Triple Threat series.

I received my ecopy to review from Booksneeze.

Chasing the Wind by Pamela Binnings Ewen

Amalise is just coming back to work after the nightmare of her husband dying and the events that happened before that(see my review of Dancing on Glass). As a second year lawyer she is put on a real estate case that will take all of her time and energy.

When Amalise finds that the plan is to destroy a section of the city in order to put in a future casino and resort she has qualms about the morality of the decision. Sworn to secrecy Amalise makes the mistake of meeting a family that lives in the section slated to be destroyed. Meeting the family that has taken in foster children, Amalise falls in love with a little boy named Luke. Nobody knows where Luke is from, he hasn't spoken since arriving. Luke and Amalise seem to bond instantly which pushes Amalise to execute a daring plan that may compromise her future as a lawyer. 

In the meantime Jude has discovered that he is in love with his lifelong friend Amalise. But she thinks that he is in love with her co-worker Rebecca. When Amalise explores her own feelings she realizes that there has always been only one man for her, Jude. One misunderstanding after another keeps them from discovering their true feelings for each other for a time.

I enjoyed the continuation of Amalise's story and to see how she has healed. I thought that the story read like a John Grisham book with all of the technical lawyer speak which I enjoyed very much. I also enjoyed the flashbacks to how Luke came to the United States. Even though I liked the story very well I didn't feel like it affected me as much as Dancing on Glass did. Pamela Binnings Ewen is a very good story teller that knows how to keep the reader turning the pages.

Water's Edge by Robert Whitlow

Tom Crane is working for a large Atlanta law firm hoping that he will make partner. His hopes are dashed though when he is "consolidated" instead. Finding himself without a job and girlfriendless(his girlfriend breaks up with him in a letter), Tom heads to his hometown to settle the affairs of his father who recently died in a drowning accident.

While Tom closes his father's law firm he stays with his uncle Elias. At first Tom doesn't want to hear anything from Elias about spiritual things. But when Tom has a spiritual encounter of his own in his father's law office he becomes more open and accepting of heavenly things.

Tom soon uncovers what looks to be an embezzlement scheme involving a client of his father's and an employee at the local Pelham company. Considering that he is best friends with Arthur Pelham's son Rick, Tom fully believes that his father's client was involved in the embezzlement. 

When Rick's wife Tiffany starts flirting with Tom he is flattered and tries to rationalize his attraction to her. After all she assures him that their marriage is on the rocks and she is willing to leave it all behind to be with Tom. Tom soon realizes his rationalization as sin and repents of it. He soon becomes attracted to Rose Addington. Rose refuses to believe that her father was involved in any way in the embezzlement scheme. She challenges Tom to do further research into the events that led up to their fathers deaths.

That research soon lands both Tom and Rose in jail and in serious danger. With his life seeming to fall apart before his eyes, Tom has a hard time calling out to the God that he so recently trusted.

First off the positive: Water's Edge reminded me of reading one of John Grisham's novels, but add in a more spiritual content. I was engaged in the story and characters from the beginning through to the end. The writing flowed and the story remained fairly consistent.

The negative: For me the spiritual content was a bit too mystical mixed with charasmatic. When Rose talked about Tom's office being a "thin" place(a place where there is less separation between heaven and earth) I was thinking, "WHAT?!" Another time Tom asked his uncle if he was a mystic. He described a mystic as being "someone who withdraws from the world and spends time having weird spiritual experiences." Tom's whole relationship with the Lord was based on emotionalism and when the emotion wasn't there then he easily fell away into despair. At one point when everything seemed to come crashing down on him he contemplated suicide. To the point of getting the gun out and having it under his chin to do the job. I understand that we all have our mountaintop experiences, but to crash so low to want to end it all did not seem consistent with Tom's character.

The Street Lawyer by John Grisham

Another hit for John Grisham. I hope that he never goes the route of co-authoring with someone like so many of these authors are doing. So far I have enjoyed every one of Grisham's books.

The Street Lawyer starts off with a gunman holding a group of lawyers hostage in a conference room. From the very beginning this book is a page-turner! The gunman known as "Mister" is a homeless man who is disgruntled at the law firm for evicting him from an abandoned warehouse. Michael Brock is one of those being held. He is 32 years old and on the fast-track to becoming partner in the firm. Shook up over the ordeal and its outcome Michael searches for answers to what resources the homeless have in the Washington DC area.

With lots of twists and turns John Grisham takes us from the streets to the courtroom. A very interesting read!