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An Academy-Award Nominated AuthorSomebody is murdering the cheap attorneys of Los Angeles. LAPD investigator Joanna Davis matches wits with the sequence torpedo who tailors any attempted murder to the specific abuse of authorised practice. They call him the Atterminator . . . as well as he likes it. Political as well as press mass confusion ensues, as well as tensions in the Southland climb even aloft when the murders escalate. Then the torpedo starts to take the personal seductiveness in interlude Joanna’s investigation…. More >>
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Taffy Cannon, Open Season on Lawyers (Perseverance Press, 2002)
Taffy Cannon’s sixth novel suffers from one of the silliest names ever given to a book. Don’t, however, judge said book by its cover, no matter what is written there; Open Season on Lawyers, despite having some flaws, is a fast-paced, witty romp through the life and detection of a serial killer whom most of us would very much like to be.
As the title tells you, someone’s killing lawyers. Their deaths are staged in wonderfully ironic ways (a victim based on the infamous Stella lawsuit is boiled alive in a hot tub; a lawyer who successfully defended a fast food chain against claims of food poisoning dies of botulism, etc.). After the first few, the cops realize they have a serial killer on their hands. Enter tough, plucky (aren’t they all?) heroine Joanna Davis and her partner Al Jacobs, trying to track down the killer the press have dubbed The Atterminator.
One thing about Cannon’s writing that definitely sticks out is her dry, almost British, wit. The chuckles to be found in these pages have their mirror in the deserts of California. Slapstick this ain’t, but a finely-honed sense of irony that never sounds forced. Because of that, it’s possible to overlook some of the more predictable parts of the book (the final conflict, for example, can be seen from at least fifty pages away). As well, there is a good deal of technical artistry on the part of the killer; Ms. Cannon has done her research, and done it well. It would seem to behoove the astute reviewer not to ask exactly how well, but there you go.
Balanced against these strong points are the odd cliché now and again, an almost painful sense of stereotyping, and a few niggling habits (one cop, named Quincy Reese, nicknamed Q, is never referred to as Q, or as Reese, but always as Q Reese, for example). Certainly not enough to keep you from picking this up, if you’re a mystery fan; Cannon’s novels may be just the thing for this year’s beach reads, if you haven’t discovered her yet. ** ½
What do you call 100,000 attorneys at the bottom of the ocean? A good start!
or…..so the old joke goes.
The beginning paragraph of OPEN SEASON ON LAWYERS starts like this:
“Somebody was killing the sleazy lawyers in Los Angeles. In the beginning, hardly anybody even noticed.”
Taffy Cannon’s new series starring tough-gal Detective Joanna Davis, is a great tour-de-force of police work, even if the victims are less than sympathetic.
Cannon has an ear for dialogue and she’s a cracker jack storyteller. I read the book in one sitting and was never quite sure of how it was going end. Cannon doesn’t telegraph action, she allows it to unfold as it might in real life.
The villain in OPEN SEASON ON LAWYERS is a doozie..crafty, clever and well-financed…and determined to rid the world of ambulance chasing slime balls who prey upon the legal system.
I’ll be reading whatever Cannon writes. And, I’m a fan of her heroine Joanna Davis..she’s tough and she’s had her share of hard knocks, but she’s a survivor with enough determination to ’stay on the trail’ until the killer is found!
Enjoy!
From TV to movies to a dark history of mystery noir, we just can’t get our fill of that slice of humanity that passes for L.A. underbelly. And when we’re talking L.A. Low, we’re talking L.A. Law. For some reason, the lawyers getting theirs in this book never come off as quite slime-ball enough for my taste. But in fairness, there’s a balancing act going on here between the ongoing plottings of a serial killer (so bland he blends) and his deserving victims. It’s hard to tell who the real bad guys are without a good detective so Cannon delivers up her most well rounded protagonist yet – Joanna Davis, an empty nesting middle aged career cop who gets the case of a lifetime – especially after it becomes intensely personal. Cannon’s SoCal circus is populated with a great sideshow of characters all given their marching orders by the masterful mystery ringmaster. How she loves to get crack that wit. On Viki Vale, trophy wife: “The lady shopped at some classy stores, but she had a gift for finding the sleaziest apparel each had to offer. Basically this was a room to get naked in. Trash will out.” In the whatever happened to Vicki Vale category, hey? What did happen to Vicki Vale? No matter. Another character. “Nothing in this office indicated that its occupant had a personality. Including the occupant.” Or the Midwest sheriff. “The big, barrel-chested sheriff wore no overcoat and his improbable uniform featured a lot of silly cords and complicated braids and shiny hardware. He looked like an organ grinder’s monkey on steroids.” Or a victim’s wife as “an ebony stunner”. Good stuff. This is a well plotted, highly engaging and entertaining read that cascades to a clever and unpredictable action climax. Mystery trolls will appreciate that this is an honestly written caper – the planted clues all come together in the end as Cannon gets the last laugh. Sometimes the author’s sharp wit works against her; i.e. – “The Atterminator” – the name the local then national press ascribes to the lawyer killing antagonist works against giving the book a really gritty anchor. The female detective is almost too perennially optimistic – is this woman too nice to be a cop? I don’t know. But she’s likable. While investigating a twelve step program, she observes “Nobody had founded Cigars Anonymous, a program she considered desperately overdue.” She doesn’t have the angst or sex drive of Robert Crais’ lady cop in L.A. Requiem and the only reason I bring that up is cause this book is close to being as captivating as that great piece of L.A. noir, imho. Any comparison in that company is pure compliment. Open Season on Lawyers is a good read that really gets up on its legs after the case breaks, running all the way to a heart pounding finish.
If you’ve ever had a less-than-happy experience with an attorney, you’ll LOVE this book! It’s everyone’s fantasy about how to rid oneself of an enemy. Or perceived enemy, at any rate.
Joanna Davis is a wonderful creation; a police detective on the LAPD force who is tough yet sensitive, smart yet cautious, feminine but strong, a very young grandmother and an almost-menopausal woman, all rolled into one delightful bunch of contradictions. Any woman who reads this book would like to have a Joanna in her life as a friend.
Of course, almost anyone who reads this book would probably like to have the ‘perp’ as a friend, too, as long as one stayed on his good side. He’s clever and funny and thoughtful and kind to the elderly; it’s just most of the legal profession of which he’s not overly fond.
This is a delightful book, satisfying in every way; it’s well-written with a most unusual plot, right up to and including the last page, and peopled by characters you won’t soon forget. I’m off to find more books by this author who was previously unknown to me. No longer, though.
This was an extremely fast paced book with infinite innuendoes. The suspect is revealed early on, but the mystery is at large until the very end. Ms Cannon appears to have an in depth knowledge of the LAPD workings and she skillfully uses this to her advantage. Warning – this is a hard book to put down!