Last Lawyer Standing

In Corleone’s overly busy third Kevin Corvelli mystery (after 2011’s Night on Fire), the criminal defense lawyer takes on two complex and dangerous cases, despite having become addicted to Percocet after surviving a stabbing six months earlier. First and foremost, Corvelli agrees to represent Hawaii’s governor, Wade Omphrey, after Omphrey’s mistress, Oksana Sutin, is poisoned with strychnine. Suspicion of murder would be seriously damaging at any time, but with an election looming, the unresolved homicide case is even more problematic. Meanwhile, the man who saved Corvelli’s life, drug dealer Turi Ahina, who’s been busted again, is facing serious federal charges, which leave Ahina little alternative than to cooperate with the government. Corvelli must also babysit an unlicensed investigator fleeing a mob contract, and confront rampant police corruption while identifying a shadowy criminal mastermind. Some tired genre tropes, including a love interest held hostage, cost the author some originality points. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Aug.)