Killing The Lawyers [Paperback]

Reginald Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1998

A Diamond Dagger Award winner. Just because lawyers are rude and expensive doesn't mean P.I. Joe Sixsmith killed two of them. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Meanwhile, a young track star is being threatened with all sorts of nasty things if she shows up at the right place--a new sports complex--at the right time. Somehow, Joe has to clear up both cases before they all run "out" of time. Martin's Press.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA?Joe Sixsmith, a black private investigator working in the failing factory town of Lufton, England, becomes the object of police inquiry after he has the misfortune of being found at the crime scene both times prominent lawyers are murdered. As he attempts to clear his name, Sixsmith's attention is divided because he is also attempting to find the source of threats sent to a popular young athlete, Zak Oto. The world-class runner is being pressured to throw a New Year's Day race at the grand opening of Lufton Pleasure Dome, touted as the opportunity to rejuvenate a fading community. Juggling his own dilemma with the police and the puzzling threats, Sixsmith works his way through the many strata of Lufton's high and low life, meeting unsavory track and sports denizens, snobby lawyers, and the baffling Oto family. No matter how messy his life becomes, Sixsmith and his cat Whitey always manage to land on their feet and see that the culprits are caught. This third Joe Sixsmith mystery is loaded with the street slang and local color that underlies the serious social questions Hill delivers to his readers as the story unfolds and Joe's problems take on multifaceted dimensions. A mystery with a thoughtful message conveyed by an offbeat private detective.?Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School, Upper Marlboro, MD
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Given even John Grisham's jaundiced view of the legal profession, it's not so surprising that Luton p.i. Joe Sixsmith's attempt to boost the insurance payout for his wrecked car by consulting Pollinger, Potter, Naysmith, Montaigne, and Iles should be met first with physical resistance (overdefensive Iles), then with brusque dismissal (curt Potter). But Joe gets the last word when Peter Potter's found dead shortly after throwing Joe out, and Sandra Iles--the most likely suspect in Joe's view--removes herself from contention by getting her neck equally broken. When Felix Naysmith gets attacked while he's on the phone with Joe, however, the coppers think the little shamus's involvement is too suspicious to amount to mere carelessness. Meantime, Joe's pressured from another quarter as well: Somebody who's been gently encouraging local track phenomenon Zak Oto to throw her big race New Year's Day if she wants her family--and now, evidently, her private eye--to go on living. The two cases never exactly grow together, but they overlap in some highly entertaining ways (think illicit romance and clerical error), and the denouement proves that certain key suspects were a lot more clever than they seemed. Joe's third (Born Guilty, 1995, etc.) isn't as funny as his best, but the creator of the immortal Dalziel and Pascoe could plot rings around the competition with one hand while ticking off the dead lawyers with the other. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Worldwide Library (December 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373262981
• ISBN-13: 978-0373262984
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,697,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Reginald Hill has been widely published both in England and the United States. He received Britain's most coveted mystery writers award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, as well as the Golden Dagger for his Dalziel/Pascoe series. He lives with his wife in Cumbria, England.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reginald Hill delivers another good read, September 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Killing the Lawyers (Hardcover)

Private Investigator Joe Sixsmith is irate that his automobile
insurance company could so devalue his wrecked car. Joe visits his lawyer,
who tells him to go to a specialist in motor insurance cases. Joe travels
to the posh law firm of Poll-Pott only to be accosted by a female attorney
and treated like dirt by a contemptuous lawyer, Peter Potter. A disgusted
Joe leaves the law firm, shouting nasty epithets at the lawyers.

Later that day, Peter is found murdered and initially Joe is a suspect
because he had the motive, the means, and perhaps the opportunity.
However, because of the means (a broken neck twsited by an expert), the
police realize Joe could not have committed the crime. Meanwhile, Joe is
hired to check into threats aimed at an internationally famous athlete.
However, when another Poll-Pott lawyer is murdered, another partner in the
firm hires Joe to investigate the killings. Suddenly, Joe, not noted for
his ambition, has two headline cases to investigate.

Although not written as well as Reginald Hill's other two detective series
(Daziel and Pascoe), the Sixsmith novels have their own charm and in some
ways are much more fun to read than Hill's other books. Joe is an
eccentric sleuth, whose basic honesty seems to get him in all sorts of
trouble. Being a black person in a small English town also does not help
his overall standing, especially with local law enforcement. The recurring
secondary characters are all top rate players, who readers will love,
especially the way they treat and react to Joe. KILLING THE LAWYERS, like
its two predecessors (BLOOD SYMPATHY and BORN GUILTY) is a humorous
who-done-it that is worth reading because of its entertaining cast and
story line.

Harriet Klausner