Power of Attorney

Bobby Vine was an Atlanta corporate lawyer with a knack for turning a deal until he was caught turning a few illegal ones, betrayed by his partner and co-conspirator, Roger Hawley. While Vine was in prison, Hawley re-established himself. Emerging from prison, Vine is irked with his old pal, but claims he did not murder him--despite the fact that Hawley is found in Vine's kitchen, his head bashed in with a crowbar bearing Vine's fingerprints. Once again Vine finds himself inside a cell. His chances for proving his innocence look grim until an unusual offer comes his way: wealthy socialite Jeannette Richardson will bail Vine out if he will try to trace money pilfered from a business partnership in which she invested. Her light-fingered partner was Hawley. The company's financial papers look squeaky clean, but soon Vine's ``deal-making juices'' begin to flow again, and with the help of Sarah Bryce, a shrewd paralegal, he ventures into the deadlier side of high finance. First-novelist Sorrells, a former corporate lawyer, succeeds only intermittently in his efforts to infuse these financial maneuverings with dramatic intensity, and when he fails the text has all the thrills of a P&L statement. (Feb.)