Open Season on Lawyers: A Novel of Suspense

by Taffy Cannon

Book Overview

Somebody is killing the sleazy lawyers of Los Angeles. LAPD Robbery-Homicide Detective Joanna Davis matches wits with a serial killer who tailors each murder to a specific legal abuse. His victim... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1880284510
• ISBN13: 9781880284513
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Daniel & Daniel Publishers
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Can Joanna find the Atterminator?

It's not until the fourth lawyer is found dead that the police begin to see a pattern. Of course, the others were ruled as accidents or suicides. But now it's as plain as day. A serial killer is on the loose in LA killing off lawyers. Not that the victims were innocent either. It's fallen on Joanna Davis and her partner to lead the task force tracking down this fiend. But he's good. Almost too good. With very little to go on and copycat killings to sort through, it looks hopeless.This book is a combination of police procedural and serial killer, two sub-genres I tend to not read. Even so, I was easily sucked in and entertained by this tightly plotted tale. Ms. Cannon is a master of the multiple viewpoint story, and here she uses it to good effect to increase the tension. Joanna herself is an interesting character, although one of her personal sub-plots could have been eliminated to make the story stronger. The villain is an interesting and creative character as well. I actually looked forward to his viewpoint almost as much as Joanna's.Fans of this author's other books need not fear; the violence is kept well under control. This is an entertaining mystery that will appeal to fans of many sub-genres.

Crais, Coben and Cannon

From TV to movies to a dark history of mystery noir, we just can't get our fill of that slice of humanity that passes for L.A. underbelly. And when we're talking L.A. Low, we're talking L.A. Law. For some reason, the lawyers getting theirs in this book never come off as quite slime-ball enough for my taste. But in fairness, there's a balancing act going on here between the ongoing plottings of a serial killer (so bland he blends) and his deserving victims. It's hard to tell who the real bad guys are without a good detective so Cannon delivers up her most well rounded protagonist yet - Joanna Davis, an empty nesting middle aged career cop who gets the case of a lifetime - especially after it becomes intensely personal. Cannon's SoCal circus is populated with a great sideshow of characters all given their marching orders by the masterful mystery ringmaster. How she loves to get crack that wit. On Viki Vale, trophy wife: "The lady shopped at some classy stores, but she had a gift for finding the sleaziest apparel each had to offer. Basically this was a room to get naked in. Trash will out." In the whatever happened to Vicki Vale category, hey? What did happen to Vicki Vale? No matter. Another character. "Nothing in this office indicated that its occupant had a personality. Including the occupant." Or the Midwest sheriff. "The big, barrel-chested sheriff wore no overcoat and his improbable uniform featured a lot of silly cords and complicated braids and shiny hardware. He looked like an organ grinder's monkey on steroids." Or a victim's wife as "an ebony stunner". Good stuff. This is a well plotted, highly engaging and entertaining read that cascades to a clever and unpredictable action climax. Mystery trolls will appreciate that this is an honestly written caper - the planted clues all come together in the end as Cannon gets the last laugh. Sometimes the author's sharp wit works against her; i.e. - "The Atterminator" - the name the local then national press ascribes to the lawyer killing antagonist works against giving the book a really gritty anchor. The female detective is almost too perennially optimistic - is this woman too nice to be a cop? I don't know. But she's likable. While investigating a twelve step program, she observes "Nobody had founded Cigars Anonymous, a program she considered desperately overdue." She doesn't have the angst or sex drive of Robert Crais' lady cop in L.A. Requiem and the only reason I bring that up is cause this book is close to being as captivating as that great piece of L.A. noir, imho. Any comparison in that company is pure compliment. Open Season on Lawyers is a good read that really gets up on its legs after the case breaks, running all the way to a heart pounding finish.

unusual, to say the least!

If you've ever had a less-than-happy experience with an attorney, you'll LOVE this book! It's everyone's fantasy about how to rid oneself of an enemy. Or perceived enemy, at any rate. Joanna Davis is a wonderful creation; a police detective on the LAPD force who is tough yet sensitive, smart yet cautious, feminine but strong, a very young grandmother and an almost-menopausal woman, all rolled into one delightful bunch of contradictions. Any woman who reads this book would like to have a Joanna in her life as a friend.Of course, almost anyone who reads this book would probably like to have the 'perp' as a friend, too, as long as one stayed on his good side. He's clever and funny and thoughtful and kind to the elderly; it's just most of the legal profession of which he's not overly fond. This is a delightful book, satisfying in every way; it's well-written with a most unusual plot, right up to and including the last page, and peopled by characters you won't soon forget. I'm off to find more books by this author who was previously unknown to me. No longer, though.

Lawyers - let's go

This was an extremely fast paced book with infinite innuendoes. The suspect is revealed early on, but the mystery is at large until the very end. Ms Cannon appears to have an in depth knowledge of the LAPD workings and she skillfully uses this to her advantage. Warning - this is a hard book to put down!

Good story -- well told

What do you call 100,000 attorneys at the bottom of the ocean? A good start! or.....so the old joke goes. The beginning paragraph of OPEN SEASON ON LAWYERS starts like this: "Somebody was killing the sleazy lawyers in Los Angeles. In the beginning, hardly anybody even noticed."Taffy Cannon's new series starring tough-gal Detective Joanna Davis, is a great tour-de-force of police work, even if the victims are less than sympathetic. Cannon has an ear for dialogue and she's a cracker jack storyteller. I read the book in one sitting and was never quite sure of how it was going end. Cannon doesn't telegraph action, she allows it to unfold as it might in real life. The villain in OPEN SEASON ON LAWYERS is a doozie..crafty, clever and well-financed...and determined to rid the world of ambulance chasing slime balls who prey upon the legal system. I'll be reading whatever Cannon writes. And, I'm a fan of her heroine Joanna Davis..she's tough and she's had her share of hard knocks, but she's a survivor with enough determination to 'stay on the trail' until the killer is found! Enjoy!