So one of my favorite mystery series is Parnell Hall‘s Stanley Hasting series. Well now Mr. Hall wishes to be the “King of Kindle” and as such he has placed his books at the Kindle store at bargain prices. In addition, he has put up a series he wrote under the name of J.P Hailey. These books feature a down on his luck lawyer, actor, and cab driver named Steve Winslow. Book 20 for 2011 is the first of these books The Baxter Trust” and while it may not be great literature, it is great fun!
The book revolves around Sheila Baxter and the trust fund set up by her grandfather a multimillionaire. The trust will make Sheila a millionaire when she turns 35 but until then she lives on the money doled out by the trustee of the Trust her Uncle Max. Sheila is currently involved in a relationship with a married man John Dutton that revolves around sex and cocaine. When John flies to Reno for a couple of days to finalize his divorce, Sheila is left on her own. When she returns to her apartment there is a note in her mailbox that says “I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU” !( What does he know, maybe the cocaine?) The note is followed up with a phone call and soon Sheila is headed for the police station. The cops of course can’t do anything and just tell her to go home and let them know if anything else happens. Well the next day something does, Sheila returns home after begging for some money from Uncle Max and then scoring some cocaine, only to find a man face down on the floor of her apartment with a knife from her knife rack in his back! Soon Sheila knows she needs an attorney and finds one in Steve Winslow a down on his luck attorney, actor and cab driver. Soon Steve is faced with the task of defending Sheila from a murder rap!(Niece of millionaire murders blackmailer, an open and shut case, but is it? That’s what Steve has to find out! Oh, and there is a clause in the trust that the trust is null and void and the money goes to charity if Sheila is involved in any scandal!
The book was a fast read and highly entertaining. I love the character of Steve Winslow, who is a little like Stanley Hastings, but his own character! The other characters are good too and the story line has some twists and turns as Steve is hit with evidence during the trial.
So go and support Parnell Hall and help make him the “King of Kindle” and for 99 cents you can’t go wrong! As for me I think I’ll move on to Steve Winslow’s second adventure!
