Personal life aside, Nina has just been asked to assist the venerable Klaus Pohlmann in the defense of Stefan Wyatt, a twenty-eight-year-old man accused of stealing a skeleton from a gravesite and strangling a woman. As a defense attorney, she is obligated to defend her client even if she herself thinks he or she is guilty, and she prides herself on her gut feeling of a client’s guilt or innocence. Stefan doesn’t strike her as a guilty man.

Stefan’s story is so bizarre that it could hardly be made up. He was contacted by a man who wanted him to rob a grave. He was told it was the grave of his employer’s father. He was to dig up the grave of the man’s father and bring him the skeleton. A chilling task, but a well paid one. When Stefan dug into the grave, he found freshly entombed body parts of a young woman as well as the skeleton he was hired to remove. He hastily returned the remains of the woman to the grave and covered it up, taking only the skeleton, the grave’s first occupant.

Unfortunately, he was stopped by police for a burned out taillight, at which point they discovered the skeleton. The charge against him was no longer just a grave robbing, but murder.

Perry O’Shaughnessy has produced yet another well-written addition to her series featuring attorney Nina Reilly. She competently juggles Nina’s ongoing personal life, which includes her battle to rear her fourteen-year-old son Bob, and sort out her feelings toward Paul vonWagonner, a private investigator, and her professional duties as a defense lawyer. Truth be told, this book is as much about Nina trying to reconcile her desire for a career with the upbringing of her son as about the discovery of the person responsible for the death of Christina Zhukovsky. The reader cannot help but empathize with Nina as she strives to make sense of, and put some order into, her life.

The most interesting character in the novel is Stefan Wyatt. A soft-spoken, mild mannered fellow, bad things just happen to Stefan. Admittedly, it wasn’t probably the smartest move on his part to accept the job of grave robbing, but, supposedly, the grave was that of his employer’s father, and, therefore, family. He also needed the money. Having been stopped by the police was a monumental stoke of bad luck. Although he seems to have given up hope, the combination of Nina Reilly and Klaus Pohlmann, bode well for a change in his fortune.

Klaus is an enigma. At times he seems almost senile, or suffering from a serious illness, but then his brilliant lawyer mind asserts itself. He is really a good foil for Nina for he forces her to try different strategies in her defense. She thinks she knows a specific formula for a successful defense. Klaus teaches her otherwise.

Though written for a general audience, the legal points germane to Stefan’s trial are correctly and concisely presented. The flavor of the courtroom is felt as opposing attorneys proceed from jury selection to examination of the witnesses. It is readily apparent how important phrasing of questions is, how correct the oft heard admonition is that an attorney should never ask a question to which he doesn’t already know the answer. Legal thriller buffs who haven’t already tried O”Shaughnessy should give her a try.

Underlying the dominant theme of justice being carried out is an historical thread of the mystery of what truly happened to the Romanov family, Russia’s last royalty. Were all members of the family executed at Ekaterinburg or did some members survive? Echoes of this long ago mystery are intertwined with a more modern fictional one.

Although this volume is one in a well established series, it is not mandatory to have read any of the previous entries to enjoy this one. O’Shaughnessy gives adequate background on her returning characters giving first time readers enough information to follow the events in Nina’s personal life. There are a few references to events that took place in earlier adventures, but they are merely an enticement to go back and revisit Nina again.

--Andy Plonka