"Energetic start to a great new mystery series."

Talbot Jefferson is often a disappointment to the memory of her prim and proper grandmother. The most recent disappointment was when she left her big city partnership to seemingly disappear in the bottom of a bottle and painting the shutters of the family home an atrocious purple. She's immediately suspicious when a judge orders her to be the lawyer in an open-and-shut case of murder. Despite her rustiness in all things legal, no support or information from the suspect, the involvement of her married high-school boyfriend and skeletons in every closet, Tal needs to approach this case appropriately, in hopes of absolution for the case that caused her to flee her life. Armed with an amazing and unwanted assistant and the gossips from multiple generations, she attempts to discover who murdered the suspect's lover in an intriguing ritualistic style.

WISHFUL SINFUL is an energetic start to a new mystery series. It makes the reader want more, NOW, because the relationships in the book are just beginning to develop. Tal Jefferson is a realistic heroine: she realizes and accepts her faults unflinchingly. Her assistant, June, is a wonderful foil for Tal: She demonstrates what a "real" lawyer should do and makes sure that Tal does it. A quick read, this book is the perfect antidote to the back-to- school blahs.

Reviewed by Vicky Gilpin
Posted August 16, 2004