Lawyers, highly unpleasant lawyers, are the focus of Kent's fourth, often unfocused mystery (after 2005's Street Fighter
) featuring the Philadelphia Press
's odd couple of Andrea "Andy" Cosicki, a young reporter who pens the paper's Mr. Action column, and Shep Ladderback, a curmudgeonly obit writer who often acts much older than his 63 years. Lawyers, all of whom occupy places of dishonor on the list maintained by the Delaware Valley Law Watch, are meeting untimely ends. Shep wants Andy to investigate Schuyler Nordvahl, a founder of Watch and the eccentric Shep thinks may be taking a more active role in removing them from practice. Unfortunately, the victims, known by such sobriquets as "Sandman" and "Slip Disc," are more caricatures than characters, while the amusingly quirky protagonists offer little beyond their quirks. (June)
