Criminal lawyers are seen as the scummiest of the bottom feeding profession known as lawyers (or barristers and solicitors if one wants to be perfectly correct in Canada). Thus it doesn't come as much of a surprise that someone is targeting Vancouver's criminal bar. William Deverell used to practise criminal law so he has an insider's knowledge of that group. To be quite frank this book isn't going to improve the reputation lawyers have. In fact some readers may be cheering for the hit man (or woman).

It starts with the death of Arthur Besterman, a less than successful criminal lawyer, who somehow managed to win a case and got an accused murderer off. Getting bludgeoned to death in a parking lot late a night seemed to be his reward. Then Brian Pomeroy was shot at while enjoying a romantic interlude with a woman who was not his wife. Brian wasn't hurt but when his wife learned of the circumstances she sent him packing (all the way to Costa Rica). Soon other attempts, some successful, were made on other lawyers and the criminal bar got so nervous they stopped going to court. The court system was a shambles. Something had to be done.

Pomeroy is somewhat out of the fray being deep in Costa Rica and without reliable telephone contact. He is trying to write a mystery which bears a lot of resemblance to what is actually occurring in Vancouver. The local police commandante, Francisco Sierra, is a fan of the mystery genre and he and Pomeroy have many discussions about the book. Then when Pomeroy learns what is going on in Vancouver he brings Sierra in to consider who might be perpetrating the murders. It is actually Sierra who solves the case and the disclosure is straight out of an Agatha Christie novel.

Apparently Deverell spends part of every year in Costa Rica so I can understand why he would want to work that into a book but for me it seemed rather forced and the use of Sierra strained my credulity. I didn't think this was Deverell's finest work but even his less than optimum is pretty good. ( )