Penzler Pick, May 2000: Lawyers writing crime novels have been a rapidly growing sector of the mystery-writing population for well over a decade now, ever since Scott Turow hit the big time with his excellent Presumed Innocent in 1987. And then there was that fellow Grisham....

In fact, the legal mystery has been a genre niche for a century and a half: one of the first crime novels ever written, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, chronicled the courtroom battles of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce in 1852-1853. Anna Katharine Green with The Leavenworth Case (1872) and Melville Davisson Post were the first great American practitioners of the legal thriller, soon followed by the Mr. Tutt stories of Arthur Train (an assistant New York district attorney in the 1920s) to the English legal-chambers-set novels of Michael Gilbert, Sarah Caudwell, John Mortimer, et al. The bandwagon has become more crowded on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years.

Fresh voices, however, are always welcome, and with her first series entry, Render Up the Body, Colorado law professor and former federal prosecutor Marianne Wesson achieved what most first-timers only dream of, solid reviews and word-of-mouth momentum that left her admirers waiting to see if she could deliver again. My verdict: she has. A Suggestion of Death takes Wesson's heroine, Cinda Hayes, into a looking-glass world of maverick jurisprudence, where a secret common-law court has set itself up to deal out judgments harking back to a simpler era.

Against all her instincts, Cinda, a Boulder attorney with a knack for attracting the vulnerable and the victimized, finds herself drawn to the charismatic Pike Sayers, who presides over the unsanctioned (and illicit) common-law courtroom. Though he quotes Auden to her, she's not convinced he's any better than the right-wing vigilantes who appear to be his followers. Worse still, she can't decide what role he's assuming in the matter of Mariah McKay, the troubled young daughter of a right-wing politician who is hiding from her family and has sought Cinda's advice on issues of past abuse by her father.

It's a tricky personal and professional obstacle course for Cinda as she attempts to protect both Mariah and herself. A Suggestion of Death has the benefit of the author's own familiarity with the territory. The straightforward legal questions are gripping, but so are the provocative issues raised by common-law adherents. Add the potential for deadly violence, and you've got a first-rate, surprise-streaked suspense novel. --Otto Penzler

From Publishers Weekly
Following the breakout success of Render Up the Body, Wesson returns with another searingly intelligent legal thriller starring Boulder attorney Cinda Hayes. These days, business is sparse for Cinda and her feisty law partner, Tory Meadows, until a whispery-voiced young woman calls Cinda on a radio call-in show. That woman turns out to be the estranged younger daughter of state senatorial candidate Harrison McKay. She accuses her father of abusing her sexually as a child, but she can't quite remember any details. Though reluctant to wade through the legal quagmire of "repressed memory" theory, Cinda finds herself captivated by the lost, anorexic child-woman, who now goes by the name Mariah and lives among suspected neo-Nazis in rural Colorado. Somehow Cinda has to jog Mariah's memory before the statute of limitations runs out; and somehow she has to overcome her own repugnance for Mariah's friends, especially the self-appointed "common law judge," Pike Sayers, whose iconoclastic mystery she finds both fascinating and suspicious. Enigmatic and unnerving, Sayers is a remarkable character, but no more so than the fiercely intelligent but self-deprecating Cinda, who's haunted by the conviction that she's an impostor. Sometimes the plot moves along predictable, overly neat lines. (For example, it's inconceivable that Cinda wouldn't bother to contact the police after someone breaks into her car, then sends her a mutilated Barbie doll with a swastika.) But when it comes to exploring dark, ambiguous terrain--such as paranoid politics and possible incest--Wesson writes with a rare blend of fearlessness, insight and wit. She's now clearly on the short list of the best practitioners of the genre. Agent, Jed Mattes. Author tour. (Feb.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In her second novel featuring Boulder, CO, lawyer Cinda Hayes (after Rendering Up the Body) law professor Wesson again spins an engrossing tale about the strengths and limits of the law. Frail Mariah McKay, estranged daughter of a prominent local political figure, comes to Cinda seeking redress for harm her father caused her. But Mariah's memories are still vague, the statute of limitations is running out, and the issue of recovered memory requires scrupulous care. While common-law judge Pike Sayers provides lifesaving support for Mariah and commonsense counsel for Cinda, his ties to a local militia group are suspect. Warnings to Cinda (a broken car window, a dismembered doll) go unheeded, and tragedy ensues before all of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. With her appealing protagonist, brisk style, storytelling skill, and political correctness (Cinda has an African American lover and a lesbian law partner), Wesson should win new fans. A first-rate legal thriller.-Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
After a striking debut (Render up the Body, 1997), Wesson returns with a solid performance in which a mistreated young girl and a courageous lawyer battle for justice. Every lawyer knows that you never get emotionally involved with a client. And yet there's something about the waiflike Mariah McKaydaughter of Harrison McKay, a respected figure (university professor, candidate for the state senate) in Boulder, Coloradothat 40-something Cinda Hayes finds irresistible. The inner mom staking its claim, she thinks later, an account that my life had not to that point presented.'' Mariah thinks her fathers done something unspeakable to her, something so awful that the details have been repressed, though the damage resulting has blighted her life. Guesting on a radio show, Cinda describes the ``intimate torts'' done by people closely related to their victims. Mariah wants to know more, thinking it could be the basis of a suit against her father. Cinda has doubts, but when powerful forces from the McKays to an ugly local militia group warn her off, her skepticism becomes a steely resolve she shares with some unlikely allies. Pike Sayers, for instance, is a self-styled common-law judge as enigmatic as he is charismatic, with friends and admirers in the vicious militia. At length, Cinda and Mariah bring their suit, and the stage seems set for the obligatory courtroom showdownonly it isn't. Resolution happens another way, more somber and more poignant. The tale begins well, then bogs down in maundering and digression before recovering to finish strongly. Wesson's prose style is both careful and pleasing, her heroine so likable that you'll forgive the walkabout. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
Linda Fairstein bestselling author of Cold Hit Wesson has written another stunning legal thriller -- a haunting tale of deception and betrayal, with compelling characters and a taut plot. A Suggestion of Death is a gripping page-turner which is as smart as it is frightening.

Rosellen Brown bestselling author of Before and After I once heard that every good story needs five elements -- sex, money, religion, family complications, and a mystery. Substitute the new paranoid militia politics for religion, and Marianne Wesson's new novel has everything. Far more appealing and vulnerable characters than most legal thrillers, formidable expertise, a puzzle full of surprises at the center (and a dose of latte to remind us we're still in Boulder) make A Suggestion of Death thoroughly involving. I hope Cinda Hayes has a dozen more stories to tell, because I can't get enough of her.

Lawrence Schiller bestselling author of Perfect Murder, Perfect Town Marianne Wesson is unrivaled in her ability to interweave fascinating legal details with poignant, vivid characters. The result: we are entertained without realizing we've been educated. A Suggestion of Death is a sophisticated, masterful work of legal suspense.

Review
Jeff Longauthor of The DescentMarianne Wesson's shadow dance between law and militia is a beautiful thing to watch. She has seized Boulder for her vibrant stage, and has created in Pike Sayers one of the most powerful characters since Atticus Finch. Inside Wesson's seductive wit and prose hangs a New West noose...what a braided serpent it is!

Review
Lawrence Schiller bestselling author of Perfect Murder, Perfect Town Marianne Wesson is unrivaled in her ability to interweave fascinating legal details with poignant, vivid characters. The result: we are entertained without realizing we've been educated. A Suggestion of Death is a sophisticated, masterful work of legal suspense.

Book Description
In her national bestseller Render Up the Body, former federal prosecutor Marianne Wesson delivered an "intense legal drama" (Sara Paretsky). Now, Wesson's unforgettable heroine, Colorado attorney Cinda Hayes, is the heart and soul of a thrilling and authentic new novel -- a page-turner that ranks with the best suspense fiction of Scott Turow and Linda Fairstein. The cry for help first comes over the telephone: a scared young woman with a small voice calls a radio talk show hosted by Cinda Hayes, with searching legal questions about "intimate torts." When Cinda meets Mariah McKay in person, she encounters a troubled, delicate twenty-year-old with a shocking accusation: her father, a respected university professor and candidate for Colorado state senate, traumatized her as a child. Mariah retains only jagged pieces of her horrific memories, but with the clock ticking on the statute of limitations, Cinda cannot afford to wait. She must pursue the case with the evidence at hand. Mariah has fled her privileged upbringing and retreated into the plains east of Boulder, where she has taken refuge among a band of people with their own political agenda -- a militia group. Her chief protector is Pike Sayers, a magnetic, mysterious man who is the community's judge of the "common law." As Cinda investigates Mariah's painful and secretive history, Sayers might be Cinda's greatest ally -- or her worst opposition. And as she deciphers the fragments of evidence, she plunges herself into danger. Someone wants to keep the past wrapped tightly in darkness, and will stop at nothing to ensure that Cinda comes up empty-handed. Under terrible pressure and mounting threats, Cinda will fight relentlessly for a desperate young woman's chance at redemption. Cinda Hayes touches the heart and the mind in A Suggestion of Death, a taut, provocative thriller that resonates well beyond its gripping legal suspense.

About the Author
Marianne Wesson is the bestselling author of Render Up the Body. She is a law professor at the University of Colorado and a former federal prosecutor, as well as an essayist and legal analyst for television and radio. A Suggestion of Death is her second novel. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When a scared young woman calls in to a radio talk show, Colorado attorney Cinda Hayes hears her cry for help. Less clear is whether twenty-year-old Mariah McKay's charges—that her father, a respected senatorial candidate, traumatized her as a child—can be proven, or if her fragmented memories are evidence enough. With the clock ticking on the statute of limitations, Cinda must move fast to pursue the case. But when Mariah takes refuge among a militia group in the Boulder-area plains, Cinda's quest for the truth leads her into deadly territory—where someone wants to keep the past wrapped tightly in darkness.

Marianne Wesson creates rich suspense—and untangles the ethical issues behind the most compelling legal scenario—in her bestselling fiction starring Cinda Hayes.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Following the breakout success of Render Up the Body, Wesson returns with another searingly intelligent legal thriller starring Boulder attorney Cinda Hayes. These days, business is sparse for Cinda and her feisty law partner, Tory Meadows, until a whispery-voiced young woman calls Cinda on a radio call-in show. That woman turns out to be the estranged younger daughter of state senatorial candidate Harrison McKay. She accuses her father of abusing her sexually as a child, but she can't quite remember any details. Though reluctant to wade through the legal quagmire of "repressed memory" theory, Cinda finds herself captivated by the lost, anorexic child-woman, who now goes by the name Mariah and lives among suspected neo-Nazis in rural Colorado. Somehow Cinda has to jog Mariah's memory before the statute of limitations runs out; and somehow she has to overcome her own repugnance for Mariah's friends, especially the self-appointed "common law judge," Pike Sayers, whose iconoclastic mystery she finds both fascinating and suspicious. Enigmatic and unnerving, Sayers is a remarkable character, but no more so than the fiercely intelligent but self-deprecating Cinda, who's haunted by the conviction that she's an impostor. Sometimes the plot moves along predictable, overly neat lines. (For example, it's inconceivable that Cinda wouldn't bother to contact the police after someone breaks into her car, then sends her a mutilated Barbie doll with a swastika.) But when it comes to exploring dark, ambiguous terrain--such as paranoid politics and possible incest--Wesson writes with a rare blend of fearlessness, insight and wit. She's now clearly on the short list of the best practitioners of the genre. Agent, Jed Mattes. Author tour. (Feb.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal