Review: Last Lawyer Standing by Douglas Corleone

A Mysterious Review of …

Last Lawyer Standing by Douglas Corleone. A Kevin Corvelli Mystery.

Review summary: This sharply written legal thriller has Honolulu criminal defense attorney Kevin Corvelli at his best in the courtroom, but even his action scenes are well scripted and executed, helped mostly by the presence of a new — and hopefully recurring — character. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Last Lawyer Standing
Douglas Corleone
A Kevin Corvelli Mystery
Minotaur Books (August 2012)

Publisher synopsis: Defense attorney Kevin Corvelli fled from New York to Hawaii after the sensational death of one of his clients three years ago. Now, in the wake of another client’s death — a client Kevin had fallen in love with — Kevin would run again if only he could pull himself free from a couple of high-profile, high-risk cases. The FBI is investigating the poisoning of a young woman who happened to be Governor Wade Omphrey’s mistress. The governor was off the island at the time, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t order the hit or that he doesn’t need a hotshot lawyer like Corvelli defending him.

Then the DEA raids a local meth lab and Turi Ahina is picked up in the sweep. A career criminal, Ahina has set Corvelli up with plenty of client referrals, but Corvelli owes him for much more than that ever since Ahina saved his life. Now Ahina’s only way out is to turn in the big man, and he can’t just tell the FBI who it is—they already know that. He needs to find him and set a trap, a trap that won’t succeed without Corvelli’s help. The plan is simple, as foolproof and dangerous as a suicide attempt.

As the stakes rise, Corvelli gets drawn in deeper and deeper until the only way he can escape is to stick it out to the end …