Lachlan Smith

I enjoy a good legal thriller and it's always fun to discover a new character. Bear is Broken is Lachlan Smith's debut novel. And who better to pen a legal thriller than a lawyer himself!

Leo Maxwell was raised by his older brother Teddy - a successful criminal defense lawyer. Successful in the eyes of his clients, but the cops and prosecutors aren't big fans. Leo himself has just passed the bar exam. The two brothers are out for lunch when an unknown assailant walks in and shoots Teddy show more point blank.

Teddy alive - but barely. The cops seem to be dragging their heels, so Leo decides to investigate on his own. But the deeper he digs, the less he knows. It seems everyone has something to hide - Teddy's staff, his ex-wife, his clients and the Maxwell patriarch - currently serving a life sentence for murder. And Teddy himself - is he the dirty lawyer the cops think he is?

Smith has created an interesting protagonist. At first, I thought Leo was the young, innocent new lawyer who would strive to uphold the law and not sully his newly minted bar card. He is - to a point. He makes mistakes and some bad judgement calls, but there's more than a little Teddy in Leo - he's not quite the innocent I thought he was. My opinion on Leo changed more than once throughout the book. As his investigation progresses, he is forced to face certain truths. Many of the supporting characters are unlikeable, giving the book bit of a noir-ish detective feel.

Smith's plotting is more involved that I initially thought it would be - there are lots of red herrings and false trails that kept me choosing between two suspects right up until the last chapters. I did think the plot was drawn out a few chapters too many.

I chose to listen to Bear is Broken. The reader was R.C. Bray - a narrator I was unfamiliar with. And that was perfect for establishing a new character. He has a interesting voice - a bit of a hard edge and gravelly undertones mixed with naiveté. Bray was an easy voice to listen to and his enunciation was clear.

All in all, a solid debut from a new author. Leo Maxwell's tale is far from over. This is the first in a planned series. Leo as a character has been established and perhaps we'll see more courtroom action next time 'round. The ending is satisfying, but left with enough threads to pick up on for the second entry. I'll be listening. show less

Leo Maxwell was raised from the age of 10 by his brother, Teddy Maxwell, who was 12 years his senior who became a prominent San Francisco defense attorney. At the beginning of the story Leo has just passed the Bar and is now Teddy's belittled "gopher"--still over-shadowed by Teddy's aggressive personality and arrogance. When Teddy is shot in the head as they eat lunch at a local San Francisco restaurant, Leo is left to pick up the pieces including that of their father who is in prison for show more killing their mother 19 years before. This beautifully written novel draws you into the lives of these two young men and leaves you, at the end of the journey, a bit dizzy from the twists and turns of the plots (intentionally plural) and emotionally drained by the passions exposed in the study of the relationship between these two men. show less

Having just passed the bar a few days earlier newly minted lawyer Leo Maxwell expected a routine lunch with his brother Teddy Maxwell. It was 1999 and Teddy was deep in trial and locked into the case. When in trial he always ate at Coruna. That habit meant the shooter knew exactly where Teddy would be when court was in recess and could easily plan the attack. The shooter walked in and briefly stood behind Leo before firing one shot over his shoulder and fired one round directly into show more Teddy’s head putting him on the floor in a pool of blood and damn near dead.

Miraculously, Teddy didn’t die and survives the shooting to lie in a hospital bed deep in a coma. As Leo is forced to face some very unpleasant truths about Teddy’s medical condition and his quality of life should he survive. There are more unpleasant truths in store. Teddy vigorously defended his clients against the police and courts in San Francisco and that means there are those who shed no tears over the attempted murder of Teddy Maxwell. Teddy was flamboyant and successful in his defense work and clearly he pushed things close to the edge on various matters. As far as Leo knows Teddy was not dirty, but now there are allegations of perjury, fraud, missing client money, and more.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg in this book full of twists, backstory, and complex dysfunctional relationships. While Leo works to find the shooter and can’t decide whether he should pray for his brother to survive or not, things get murkier and murkier page after page in Bear Is Broken: A Leo Maxwell Mystery.

A debut mystery for a projected new series that should be a very good one if this opening book sets the standard. Complex characters, plenty of intrigue, and many twists keeps the reader locked in throughout this compelling debut novel. Those readers who prefer simple characters they can like, simple plots, and light secondary storylines will want to look elsewhere as this often dark book is not for them.

Bear Is Broken: A Leo Maxwell Mystery
Lachlan Smith
http://www.leomaxwellmysteries.com
The Mysterious Press (Grove/Atlantic)
http://www.groveatlantic.com
2013
ISBN #978-0-8021-2079-3
Hardback (also available in audio and e-book)
260 Pages
$24.00

Material supplied by the good people of the Plano Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013 show less

Teddy Maxwell had been the best criminal defense lawyer in town though he certainly wasn’t the most ethical. A gunshot to the head took him down and pretty much stopped his legal career. These days while he does show up at the office, he has a hard time with memory issues and various cognitive problems. It’s been two and a half years since that day and Leo Maxwell still hopes that someday his brother might live on his own.

In the meantime Leo has a major trial coming up with his client show more Marty Scarsdale. He stands accused of sexually assaulting Erica Lawler, the 13 year old friend of Scarsdale’s daughter, Angela. The crime allegedly happened during a sleepover in the Scarsdale home. The evidence is against Scarsdale and includes the massive amount of detail that Erica has testified to in police interviews and will no doubt repeat in court. The fact that Marty’s wife has kicked him out of their home raises the stress level on the client and does nothing to make him more sympathetic to the jury. Leo figures that if he can win the case he can make a name for himself and strike out on his own. A win would give him his freedom from Teddy’s ex-wife Jeanie who is his boss and has a very different way of looking at cases and life in general than Leo.

Her control of him and how he wants to practice law constantly grates on his nerves. While winning the Scarsdale case would be a good opportunity there may even be a better one. Jamil Robinson is in the Santa Rita Jail and has sent his sister, Lavonia Martin, to meet with Leo. According to her, Oakland Police are about to discover that the gun they recovered from Jamil’s car the night before was used in a murder two weeks ago. Jamil is on parole so a gun in his car is a ticket straight back to prison. That is bad enough but he expects to be accused of murder once the police id the weapon. The murder victim was one of the leaders in the local drug trade. She claims that a crooked police detective named Campbell planted the gun in the car after Jamil had been falsely arrested during a rigged traffic stop. She has ten thousand dollars in cash and a brother she is desperate to help in any way possible.

Before long Leo finds out that nothing is as it seems at home or at work in Lion Plays Rough: A Leo Maxwell Mystery. Readers soon discover that while nothing is as it seems in either case, plot coincidences will drive the majority of this book where Leo will be saved again and again from a certain and very painful death. In a book that is ploddingly slow, especially from a book labeled a thriller by the publisher, Leo and readers grind though cases that go nowhere fast.

After the incredibly good Bear is Broken this second book of the series goes nowhere fast. The elements of a really good thriller are present with plenty of angst at home and at work, crooked cops, drug dealers, and more in two very complicated cases. But, there is little to no suspense in the grind to the conclusion of each case as well as a high degree of predictability. The astounding number of coincides rise to such a level by the end of the book that the reader is forgiven the occasional chuckle. One hopes that this book is a temporary setback and the next one in the series proves to be as good as the first.

Lion Plays Rough: A Leo Maxwell Mystery
Lachlan Smith
http://www.leomaxwellmysteries.com
The Mysterious Press (imprint of Grove/Atlantic)
http://www.groveatlantic.com
2014
ISBN#978-0-8021-2216-2
Hardback (audio and e-book available)
250 Pages
$24.00

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014 show less