Sticks & Stones

"Sticks and Stones can break my bones ...." Despite what the old children's rhyme says, words can cause grievous harm. A lesson ex-con Hollis Morgan, a casualty of her deceased ex-husband's white collar crimes, knows all too well. Now that she has received an official pardon, she is free to pursue her dreams of moving up in the world from paralegal to attorney. While awaiting the results of the bar exam, she hopes to clear the name of a friend accused of libel by philanthropist Dorian Fields, a man whose charitable giving looks a lot like money-laundering. Only problem: the evidence has disappeared and her friend Catherine is found dead. Although initially thought a suicide, Hollis' friend was murdered. Catherine was writing an article about Fields for a tabloid. Hollis and attorney Mark Haddan convince the magazine to let them carry on with the libel defense, but they have fewer than 60 days to prove Catherine's expos was well-founded. In the meantime Hollis has other distractions; she is also helping to settle the estate of Margaret Koch, a rich client of the law firm whose impetuous actions as revealed in her letters still embitter the lives of those she left behind. And then there are the two men vying for her attention-one a police detective, the other a private eye. Normally Hollis trusts her built-in lie detector, but in this case, too many people are lying for too many reasons. One of them is not only a liar, but a killer. Sticks & Stones is Book Two of the Hollis Morgan Mystery Series, which began with The Fallen Angels Book Club.

Author: R. Franklin James
Publisher: Camel Press
Published: 05/01/2014
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.53lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.66d
ISBN: 9781603819190

About the Author
James, R. Franklin: - R. Franklin James worked as a paralegal for a prestigious law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, she pursued a career in public policy and government service. Her short story "The Award" was published in the 2008 Sisters in Crime Anthology. She and her husband now live in northern California. You can find R. Franklin on the Web at www.rfranklinjames.com.