Jury Rigged

Five Star First Edition Mystery

A month after solving two high profile murders, Cézanne takes a leave of absence from the Fort Worth Police Department to get her law office up and running. But bad things happen in threes. After Cézanne gets an engagement ring, her fiancé disappears. The same night she learns her wayward father died, she barely escapes a grisly death at the hands of escaped murderess Darlene Driskoll. Having left no will, Cézanne's father's estate is up for grabs and long, lost relatives are coming out of the woodwork to claim a share of the inheritance: the missing brother no one's seen or heard from in twenty years may be a fraud; a greedy widow nobody knew existed is scheming to eliminate heirs; and a squatter who insists she's Cézanne's Aunt Velda has moved into the deceased's stately home and refuses to leave. Then Deuteronomy Devilrow, a Voodoo practicing adolescent, shows up as Cézanne's deadbeat client base falls apart.

from Publishers Weekly

“If Stephanie Plum had a Texas cousin, ... Moore's Cézanne Martin, a Fort Worth cop turned lawyer, would be it. Adding extra pizzazz to the hilarious third installment (after 2004's The Wild Orchid Society) is Deuteronomy "Duty" Devilrow, Cézanne's African-American teenage ward, whose "words-from-the-hood" often threaten to steal the show. The action opens with a bang as Cézanne wakes up late one night to find a gun in her face-held by Darlene Driskoll, a soon-to-be-convicted crazed murderess and prison escapee. After eluding Driskoll in the course of a harrowing car ride, Cézanne seeks help from the FWPD's star detective, Wolfgang "Slash" Vaughn. News that Bob Martin, her long-lost dad, has died disrupts her life further when she discovers elderly Aunt Velda squatting in her inheritance, a Fort Worth house. Then Cézanne's brother, Henri Matisse Martin, suddenly appears, wanting his share of their dad's estate. Moore makes sure it's all a hoot and a half. (Dec.)

The Wild Orchid Society

Five Star First Edition Mystery

Having solved the LADY GODIVA MURDER does not liberate Cezanne Martin from being an anathema because of her affair with a married peer. Instead Cezanne is further punished by her relative Deputy Chief Daniel Rosen who announces at a press conference that she is the temporary head of homicide. Rosen informs the media that Cezanne will head up the newly formed Cold Case Squad and promises to solve the eight year old Great Dane Murder in two weeks. Rosen will keep the pressure on Cezanne because he expects her to resign after making the Fort Worth police a laughing stock.

Cezanne refuses to quit though she has just obtained her law degree. Instead she transfers in ostracized cop Klevenhagen because his personnel file is bigger than hers. As she watches a teen with the gift of sight, Cezanne obtains help from the FBI that leads her to digging undercover the Dungeons of Decadence, but soon learns that the Executioner stalks D&D participants seeking sacrifices of the top secret WILD ORCHID SOCIETY. If she is to solve her cold case, Cezanne will need to infiltrate this deadly group and unmask the Executioner. Besides her career in jeopardy, her life could be forfeit too.

The latest Martin police procedural is a fantastic tale that hooks the audience the moment that the reader realizes along with the heroine that she is being set up to fail. The story line moves forward on several fronts that not only never slows down the pace, but also cleverly merges together into a terrific investigative tale. Sub-genre fans will want Moore detective tales from a Five Star author.

~ Harriet Klausner

The Lady Godiva Murder

Five Star First Edition Mystery

From Publishers Weekly
Cezanne Martin has had it rough-she made it through her rookie year as a Fort Worth, Tex., cop; survived a disastrous affair with a colleague who neglected to mention his unbalanced wife; and managed to see the silver lining in having crusty Roby Tyson, a longtime veteran of the force, as her partner. Yet her world is turned upside-down with the Lady Godiva case, where the lady in question is none other than the captain's daughter and Roby's secret lover. The murder turns cop against cop and all evidence points to the grief-stricken Roby. Cezanne is determined to clear her partner despite getting demoted to a desk job, having to work side by side with her ex-lover's vengeful wife and being forced into sessions with the department shrink ("A forty-five minute visit with Aden Whitelark... left her gnawing a hole inside her mouth"). While Moore (Constable's Run), a former cop and lawyer, knows the Texas justice system and writes credibly about its fools and foibles, she bombards the reader with ancillary subplots better saved for a subsequent outing. Nevertheless, the book is full of quirky characters, deft descriptions and razor sharp humor. And Cezanne is truly a work of art: a fiery mass of attitude, intelligence and barbed wit, haunted by a childhood best described as awful. Though facing an uncertain future after quietly earning a law degree, C‚zanne has handily earned a spot among contemporary female crime solvers like Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, Grafton's Kinsey Millhone and Garcia-Aguilera's Lupe Solano.

Publisher: Gale Group
Pub. Date: December 10, 2008
ISBN-13: 9781594147104

Book Review: 'Jury Rigged' by Laurie Moore
By JANE SUMNER

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Hardcover: 402 pages
Publisher: Five Star (ME)(May 2004)
ISBN-10: 1410401898

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Hardcover: 355 pages
Publisher: Five Star; 1 edition(December 2, 2002)
ISBN-10: 0786248270