Green-Eyed Lady – Chuck Graves – Jack MacTaggart No 2
Green-Eyed Lady from Chuck Greaves has a great opening. Liberal Democratic candidate for the Senate in California Warren Burkett three weeks before the election, encounters a damsel in distress. The young lady’s pursue and keys have been stolen by an unknown assailant. Burkett offers to give the beautiful green-eyed lady a ride back to her mansion. Reminiscent of another Democrat, this one was elected President, Burkett’s libido doesn’t stop. He believes he has hit the mother lode with this young woman! So much so, he helps break into her mansion (remember her keys were in her purse, which was stolen!) But when the door to her bedroom bangs open, where a lust-filled Burkett lies in wait for a thankful young woman to repay her debt it’s not the damsel who enters the room, but the police. They had responded the break-in at the mansion! When the dust settles, the green-eyed lady is gone along with a 2 million dollar plus painting and maybe Burkett’s hopes of winning the election!
In steps attorney Jack MacTaggart,, who is hired to defend Burkett and unravel the mystery! When the painting surfaces in a most unusual place, the election is rocked again! And it appears that MacTaggart has stepped into some deep, you now what, as he takes on not one but two swarmy politicians, a mobster, and an urban artist! This tale has lots of twists and turns and it’s hard to tell who the good guys are. Hint it may not be the politicians!!
I started this book early in the month and liked it, but I set aside, and I raced through both Alex Kava’s Breaking Creed and Parnell Hall’s Safari.When I came back to the book, within a few pages of where I had left off, Greaves hooked me and he didn’t let go until the final pieces of the puzzle f ell into place! Douglas Preston says this about the book…..
“GREEN-EYED LADY by Chuck Greaves is the wickedest read of the year, smart, real, vivid as hell, and so plausible it could be in the Times. Greaves is a master of the language. I loved this book.”
Green-Eyed Lady is the second book in the Jack MacTaggart series. Book One is Hush Money which may soon be on its way to me from my library!! Hush Money won the Southwest Writers International Writing Contest and was named a finalist for several national honors including the Rocky Award from Left Coast Crime, the Reviewers Choice Award from RT Book Reviews and the Audie Award from the Audio Publishers Association.
Bottom Line: Green-Eyed Lady was definitely a 4 star out of 5 book for me. I really enjoyed Jack MacTaggart and his associates. The story was well-crafted with lots of twists and turns and you really didn’t know who was responsible for the various murders, and there are a few. Mr. Greaves who was a trial lawyer for 25 years certainly knows both his stuff – both the law and writing!..So here I go again with another series to follow and one of the few that features a lawyer!!