MADreads

A fresh start

November 6th, 2008 Lesley - Central

Edna Buchanan, author of the Britt Montero series, returns with a new character in her latest book, Legally Dead.  Michael Venturi is a deputy U.S. Marshal with the Witness Protection Program until a witness in a union corruption case commits murder after being relocated to a small New Hampshire town.  Before he can quit the program in protest, Michael becomes the scapegoat and is fired.

Venturi’s new life leads him to Florida where he and former Marine buddy Danny Trado assemble a secret group of friends to create new identities for innocent people whose lives have been ruined and deserve fresh starts.  Their clients include wrongfully convicted molesters, a threatened judge and a wealthy widow whose children want her declared incompetent so they can collect her fortune.  Venturi and his friends fake  deaths, create new names, appearances and identities and relocate  people to obscure locations overseas. 

This scheme remains successful until complications occur.  Informants Venturi placed in the Witness Protection Program start turning up dead.  In addition, the identities of the recent “legally dead” clients are  discovered and they begin to die.  The race is on to find the murderer before more innocent people are killed.

The scenarios for creating these new lives were clever and really moved the story along.  But there were too many coincidences and friends with just the rights skills at the right time to make this a total rave.

Entry Filed under: Mystery, Thriller