Heaven Is High

December 20, 2010
Barbara Holloway gets involved in a deportation case in Wilhelm's solid 12th legal thriller featuring the Eugene, Ore., D.A. (after Cold Case). When former NFL football player Martin Owens and his wife, Binnie, who was born mute, arrive on Barbara's doorstep, she's moved by their plight. Three years earlier, while cruising with five teammates on a rented yacht near Haiti, Martin found Binnie hiding in his stateroom. He helped smuggle her into the U.S., and they fell in love. Now INS wants to deport her, even though Binnie isn't a Haitian citizen. Barbara agrees to take the case, despite her lack of experience in immigration law. Realizing that the truth lies in Belize with Binnie's family, Barbara sets off for the Central American nation, where she's soon up against corruption and violence in the jungle. In spite of this far-fetched scenario, Wilhelm manages to keep everything on course.

December 1, 2010

A deportation proceeding that seems based on a simple misunderstanding plunges Oregon attorney Barbara Holloway (Cold Case, 2008, etc.) into kidnapping, murder and other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Martin Owens' bride has an interesting family history. Born in Belize, Binnie Santos, who's mute, was a passenger on a ship that was hijacked by Domonic Guteriez and his crew of pirates. Her father was slaughtered, her mother became Guteriez's sex slave when his ship came to port in Haiti and Binnie survived only when Shala Santos, hearing Guteriez haggle over the price a pimp would pay him for Binnie, ran away. Even in the United States, Binnie's troubles are far from over. Someone has claimed to the immigration authorities that she's in the country illegally. Unable to produce a birth certificate or any documents proving that she's not Haitian, she's vulnerable not only to the INS but to Jeffrey Nicholson of the DEA, who demands that Martin, a retired football player with a significant following, turn snitch for him in return for his agency's help. After hearing their story and trying in vain to fob them off on an immigration specialist, Barbara flies south in an attempt to confirm Binnie's story so that if she's deported, it'll be to her family in Belize. Almost immediately she finds that even greater dangers await Binnie in Belize than the pirates hoping she'll be sent back to Haiti.

A book that includes sex, drugs, piracy, a homicidally dysfunctional family, official corruption on two continents and a rousing finale that will bring all your moral self-righteousness to the surface.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2010
In the latest mystery starring low-key attorney Barbara Holloway, former NFL player Martin Owens and his mute wife, Binnie, beg her to help prevent the U.S. from deporting Binnie back to Haiti as an illegal immigrant. Binnies mother, born in Belize, had been kidnapped and enslaved by pirates, and Binnie says shell kill herself before returning to certain slavery. Mere hours after taking the case, Barbara receives a visit from a DEA official who claims Owens is involved in drug trafficking and wants to force him to become an informant. She decides the only way to help her clients is to go to Belize and try to discover the real identity of Binnies mother. Once there, Barbara finds mystery, danger, and intrigue. This volume, given its change in setting and freestanding plot, stands alone in the long-running Barbara Holloway series, which means new readers can easily dive in and enjoy a complex story. Barbara is a compelling characterintelligent and capable yet vulnerable enough for readers to worry about the danger she encounters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)