Category Archives: News

News Alert: Library Journal Joins Publishers Weekly In Awarding HUSH MONEY a Starred Review

Calling HUSH MONEY a “delightful debut,” Library Journal has given it a starred review, which you can read right here:

When Sydney Everett’s Olympic-caliber jumping horse, Hush Puppy, dies suddenly, her law firm jumps into action, sending out young Pasadena, CA, attorney Jack MacTaggart. Sydney is worth watching because another horse she owned died under suspicious circumstances just a few years earlier. Jack follows a circuitous paper trail and learns that Sydney was guilty of insurance fraud that first time, and someone within the club has been blackmailing her ever since. Jack knows he’s hot on the trail when the next death turns out to be that of his mentor at the law firm. Stable manager Tara Flynn clues in Jack to the riding club’s dirt and also provides romantic interest and an investigative assistant he can trust. Meanwhile, Jack’s other case, about medical insurance, gives him the break he needs. VERDICT Winner of the SouthWest Writers (SWW) grand-prize Storyteller Award for 2010, trial lawyer Greaves’s delightful debut, which the SWW also named Best Mystery of 2010, cleverly intermingles equestrian show jumping, insurance claims, and high-tech science in this sunny California thriller. Great readalikes for tone would be Jack Fredrickson and Spencer Quinn. [Greaves’s second book, Hard Twisted, was named best historical novel of 2010 by the SouthWest Writers and will be published by Bloomsbury USA this fall.—Ed.]

 

News Alert: Publishers Weekly Calls Hush Money a Stellar Debut

My first book review–ever–is a starred one from Publishers Weekly. I’m thrilled! Here it is:

Near the outset of Greaves’s stellar first novel, Hush Puppy, a healthy champion show horse, suddenly drops dead. Hush Puppy’s vet suspects the horse was poisoned and the animal’s owner, Pasadena socialite Sydney Everett, faces charges of fraud. Attorney Jack McTaggert agrees to defend Everett, but his doubts about his client’s innocence increase after he learns that another of her animals died five years earlier, netting Everett a $1 million insurance payout. Meanwhile, the lawyer must deal with a civil case involving a blue-collar worker suffering from terminal leukemia unable to get coverage for a new procedure. The insurance fraud case soon turns deadly for humans as well, placing McTaggert directly in the crosshairs both of the police and the criminal behind the plot. Greaves makes the most of his 25 years as a trial attorney in relating courtroom tactics. The combination of confident writing and a determined and ethical protagonist add up to a winner.