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A San Francisco student's about to discover law school can be murderous in this comic mystery series opener. Willa Jansson picked the wrong time to quit smoking. Exams are four weeks away. And if she's not sitting in class, studying, or sipping innumerable cups of coffee, then she's toiling away as the senior articles editor at the Malhousie Law Review. This job, and being in the top 10 percent of her class, means she'll be able to land her dream job when she graduates. But at the moment, show more she has an even bigger problem to deal with . . . After Malhousie's editor in chief, super-student Susan Green, is found bludgeoned to death, strangers--curious reporters, angry professors, and high-profile lawyers--keep snooping around the office. Then another editor fights to take Susan's position, only to meet the same grisly end. Willa knows she must find out quickly who's killing her fellow students and why--because, as the new editor in chief, she could be next . . . Praise for the Willa Jansson Mysteries "Willa Jansson is one of the most articulate and surely the wittiest of women sleuths at large in the genre." --The New York Times Book Review "Readers will be shaken by Matera's rapier-sharp dissection of personal relationships and radical ideologies. Matera again demonstrates that she is one of today's best mystery writers." --Publishers Weekly show lessTags
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Member Reviews
PLOT OR PREMISE:
Willa Jansson is the senior articles editor for a law school review when her editor-in-chief gets killed. She wants to know who did it, but doesn't figure it out before a couple more get bopped.
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WHAT I LIKED:
The law school aspect is well-done, perhaps reflective of the fact the author actually attended a law school, a nice change from some of the authors today. The story zips along at a good pace, and is enjoyable, once you get past the five-too-many characters / suspects and the obligatory "oops, I've written 50 pages and haven't killed anybody else off in order to sustain the suspense" technique.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The problem with the book is that there are too many pieces, and they all get equal weight: Willa's show more relationships with the various men running through the story (she's the protagonist but all you do sometimes is feel sorry for her), all of the various suspects (pretty much everyone), and a host of motives ranging from being petty to outright greed to the green-eyed monster of justified jealousy. The character development is mediocre, including some peripheral characters that wind up being key ingredients, and some main characters that turn out to be a complete waste of paper. Ironic that the protag is an editor because that is what this book really needed.
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BOTTOM-LINE:
Zips along at a good pace
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media. show less
Willa Jansson is the senior articles editor for a law school review when her editor-in-chief gets killed. She wants to know who did it, but doesn't figure it out before a couple more get bopped.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
The law school aspect is well-done, perhaps reflective of the fact the author actually attended a law school, a nice change from some of the authors today. The story zips along at a good pace, and is enjoyable, once you get past the five-too-many characters / suspects and the obligatory "oops, I've written 50 pages and haven't killed anybody else off in order to sustain the suspense" technique.
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The problem with the book is that there are too many pieces, and they all get equal weight: Willa's show more relationships with the various men running through the story (she's the protagonist but all you do sometimes is feel sorry for her), all of the various suspects (pretty much everyone), and a host of motives ranging from being petty to outright greed to the green-eyed monster of justified jealousy. The character development is mediocre, including some peripheral characters that wind up being key ingredients, and some main characters that turn out to be a complete waste of paper. Ironic that the protag is an editor because that is what this book really needed.
.
BOTTOM-LINE:
Zips along at a good pace
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media. show less
murders in law school
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Author Information
32+ Works 876 Members
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Where Lawyers Fear to Tread
- Original title
- Where lawyers fear to tread
- Original publication date
- 1987
- People/Characters
- Willa Jansson
- Important places
- San Francisco, California, USA
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 84
- Popularity
- 378,328
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (2.90)
- Languages
- English, Finnish, German, Norwegian (Bokmål)
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 2
