Jackson Bryant is a successful lawyer at the peak of his career. After a particularly large settlement, he decides to retire and head back to Fort Worth, TX where he grew up. His son, J.D., has just started college and is on the football team. Because of a divorce early in his son’s life, Jack hasn’t had a lot of time with his son and wants to be closer to him.
Colby Stripling is the real estate agent who sells Jack his house in Fort Worth. She also decorates it for him. During this time, they get to be good friends. Jack wants more from their relationship, but Colby makes it clear there is someone else. They remain good friends.
Bored with his new life and uninterested in hobnobbing with the big wigs at the country club, Jack returns to his roots. His old neighborhood hasn’t changed much, except that there are even more poor people in need of help. He decides to set up an office and do pro bono legal work.
Things are pretty quiet until Jack helps a woman who is being hounded by a credit card company. The judgement in their favor, with a write up in the local paper, blows the top off his business. He has people lined up outside to talk to him.
It’s Colby who sends him his most important client. June Davis, whose late husband, Willie, worked with Colby years ago at a car dealership, has recently died. June mistakenly gets a check that was being sent to the car company, payment for a life insurance policy they had taken out on Willie when he worked for them years ago. The check isn’t made out to June, it’s made out to the car company. The $10,000 she was supposed to be given hasn’t arrived. Jack takes the case and files to sue the car company’s owner, Dwayne Allison.
Meanwhile, folks are dying under strange circumstances. Like Willie Davis, their deaths seem to be accidents. However, several attempts on Colby’s life lead Jack to the conclusion that none of them were accidental.
“Dead Peasants” is a well paced legal thriller that kept this reader on the edge of her seat. I couldn’t put it down. There’s just enough courtroom drama to satisfy the legal types, and all of it is authentic – the author, Larry D. Thompson, is a lawyer. For the more ghoulish, there’s plenty of murder and mystery to keep you entertained. Jack, Colby and J.D. keep finding and putting the pieces together, but it isn’t until the end that the final piece clicks into place.
The characters in “Dead Peasants” are fully rounded and authentic. The plot moves well and the villain is purely villainous. I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery.
5 Golden Acorns
© 2012 Dellani Oakes
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