Jury Rigged (Five Star First Edition Mystery) [Hardcover]

Laurie Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2008 | ISBN-10: 1594147108 | ISBN-13: 978-1594147104

Laurie Moore was born and reared in the Great State of Texas, where she developed a flair for foreign languages. She’s traveled to forty-nine U.S. states, most of the Canadian provinces, Mexico, and Spain. She majored in Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish, English, and Elementary and Secondary Education. Instead of using her teaching certificate, she entered into a career in law enforcement in 1979. After six years of patrol work and a year of criminal investigation, she made Sergeant, and worked as a District Attorney investigator for several DAs in the Central Texas area over the next seven years. In 1992, she moved to Fort Worth and graduated from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, where she received her Juris Doctor in 1995. She is currently in private practice in “Cowtown,” and has a daughter at Rhodes, a destructive Siamese cat, and a sneaky Welsh Corgi. She is still a licensed, commissioned peace officer. Laurie has been a member of the DFW Writers Workshop since 1992, and currently serves on the Board of Directors. She is the author of Constable’s Run, Constable’s Apprehension, and The Lady Godiva Murder. Writing is her passion.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. If Stephanie Plum had a Texas cousin, Edgar-finalist Moore's Cézanne Martin, a Fort Worth cop turned lawyer, would be it. Adding extra pizzazz to the hilarious third installment (after 2004's The Wild Orchid Society) is Deuteronomy Duty Devilrow, Cézanne's African-American teenage ward, whose words-from-the-hood often threaten to steal the show. The action opens with a bang as Cézanne wakes up late one night to find a gun in her face—held by Darlene Driskoll, a soon-to-be-convicted crazed murderess and prison escapee. After eluding Driskoll in the course of a harrowing car ride, Cézanne seeks help from the FWPD's star detective, Wolfgang Slash Vaughn. News that Bob Martin, her long-lost dad, has died disrupts her life further when she discovers elderly Aunt Velda squatting in her inheritance, a Fort Worth house. Then Cézanne's brother, Henri Matisse Martin, suddenly appears, wanting his share of their dad's estate. Moore makes sure it's all a hoot and a half. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Cézanne Martin, on leave from the police department to set up a law practice, has hit an all-time low. For starters, she didn’t know her lover was married. After his wife kills him, she breaks out of jail and comes after Cézanne. Cézanne’s house is so thoroughly booby-trapped by the vengeful wife, she can’t stay there, what with razors in her sofa, poison in her food, and corrosive chemicals in her soap. Cézanne’s bad luck continues when her estranged father dies, leaving her his house, complete with devilishly demented Aunt Velda, who will do anything in her power—legal and otherwise—to keep Cézanne out. To make a horrible situation even more unbearable, Cézanne has inherited custody of Deuteronomy Devilrow, a juvenile delinquent with a flair for voodoo whose sole purpose in life seems to be making Cézanne as crazy as Aunt Velda. Full of dark humor, plot twists, an underlying mood of danger, memorable moments, and characters so colorful they glow neon, the third in Moore’s series, following The Lady Godiva Murder (2004) and The Wild Orchid Society (2004), is not to be missed. --Shelley Mosley

Product Details

• Hardcover: 417 pages
• Publisher: Five Star (ME) (December 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594147108
• ISBN-13: 978-1594147104
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,049,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jury Rigged, January 3, 2009

By 

M. Long (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jury Rigged (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

This is the third in the Cezanne Martin series, and imo, the best written. Love the characters and the flair for writing Ms. Moore shows. I've read the first two, and while I did enjoy them, I admit, this is my favorite in the series. It seems as easily written as a conversation with a friend. Hope there will be a fourth!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A large order of humor with a side of mystery, February 28, 2009

By 

Sandy Kay (Twin Cities, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jury Rigged (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

I'm torn over how many stars to give this book. As a mystery/crime novel alone, it's just OK. Same thing as just a humor book. But when you put the humor and the crime novel parts together, the combination works better than the sum of the parts. It's about 3.5 stars.

The author has a witty way with names. The protagonist, Cezanne Martin, has siblings named Monet and Matisse. Better yet, the young girl staying with her goes by Duty but her given name is Deuteronomy; she has family named Leviticus, Corinthia, and Galatia.

As the book opens, Cezanne has taken a 90-day leave of absence from the homicide department to open up a law practice. She has also just gotten engaged and been kidnapped by the deranged killer wife of a man she had been involved with. Next she learns that the father who left when she was a child recently died and left a house for her and the brother she hasn't seen in years. The house comes furnished with her aunt Velda who refuses to leave. A good bit of the humor comes from the efforts of Cezanne and Duty to remove Velda and of Velda to stay put and get rid of them.

This is not the best book ever written but it was a nice change of pace from some of the edgier thrillers I had been reading and it was good for some laughs, which is always nice. If you like humor along with your mysteries, you might enjoy this book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fort Worth will never be the same, December 18, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jury Rigged (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

In Fort Worth, Cezanne Martin left the police department to practice law. One morning, she wakes up to find Darlene Driskoll holding a gun to her face. Driskoll forces Martin into her car, but the attorney manages to escape. Knowing this is not over, Martin turns to FWPD star detective, Wolfgang "Slash" Vaughn for help from the crazed killer who escaped from her incarceration.

Soon after her traumatic experience, Martin learns her long missing dad Bob died and that her elderly Aunt Velda lives in poverty inside a mansion. Finally her brother, Henri Matisse Martin, arrives demanding his share of the estate. Between family to include her teenage ward Deuteronomy "Duty" Devilrow and a killer, Martin decides the latter is safer.

The third humorous Martin investigative thriller (see LADY GODIVA MURDER and THE WILD ORCHID SOCIETY) is a hoot from the hood as Duty provides enlightening commentary on the big show. The story line is fast-paced especially with deadly deranged Driskoll stalking. Between Duty's asides and in your face comments and Cezanne's struggles to survive her family, Slash, Duty and Driskoll, Fort Worth will never be the same.

Harriet Klausner