Nothing But the Truth: 2a Joshua Rabb Novel

The Southwest of the late 1940s is the setting for this series, featuring part-time Bureau of Indian Affairs lawyer Joshua Rabb, a one-armed WWII veteran and widower from Brooklyn last seen in Versions of Truth. Here the mob has moved West to build a casino. Rabb, based in Tucson, has been hired on retainer by Meyer Lansky, who faces a Grand Jury inquiry about his role in financing Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Rabb is also called on when the body of a murdered Hasidic Jew is discovered in a remote area of the local Indian reservation, not far from an injured companion, who later dies suspiciously in his hospital bed. While working on both cases, Rabb finds himself enmeshed in the world of organized crime, even as his 15-year-old daughter, in a contrived subplot, becomes involved with the mafia via a romance with Joe Bonnanno's son. While the action and famous names will likely hold readers' attention, neither period nor players are vividly depicted. It's mostly meltdown in this melting pot of Italian mobsters, Jewish lawyers, Native Americans, Mexicans and good old boys, as Parrish substitutes dialect and one liners for solid character development. (Feb.)