Hell on Wheels

September 8, 2014
Early in Jaffarian’s action-filled ninth mystery featuring plus-size paralegal Odelia Grey (after 2013’s Secondhand Stiff), Odelia and her paraplegic husband, Greg Stevens, watch quad rugby, a “game played by quadriplegics in wheelchairs on a regulation basketball court,” at Balboa Park’s Municipal Gymnasium in San Diego, Calif. In the finals, a brawl between their friend Rick Henderson of the Laguna Lunatics and Peter Tanaka of the Ventura Vipers ends in Peter’s death. Earlier, an on-court remark by Peter led to a confrontation between Rocky and Rocky’s wife, Miranda, who stormed out of the gym. Later, Odelia’s difficult boss, Mike Steele, who’s been into a scrap of his own, needs her to cover for him at work while he recuperates. Meanwhile, law-firm head honcho Simon Tobin wants Odelia to do a little digging in a personal matter involving his mother and a mystery woman calling herself Eudora Fox. Jaffarian neatly pulls all the plot lines together for a satisfying outcome. Agent: Whitney Lee, Fielding Agency.

October 15, 2014
This time it's personal, as paralegal Odelia Grey (Secondhand Stiff, 2013, etc.) investigates the murder of a quadriplegic rugby player.Murder Ball, the aficionados' name for quad rugby, is not for the squeamish. Played on a regulation basketball court by athletes with limited use of their arms and legs, the game depends on bashing your wheelchair full-tilt into your opponent's. But even in a sport designed for maximum mayhem, Peter Tanaka had a reputation as a dirty player. And when Odelia and her husband, Greg Stevens-a fan who's barred from playing the game because he's only a paraplegic-watch Rocky Henderson of the Laguna Lunatics bash Tanaka's head into the court, they know he's finally stepped over the line. Tanaka dies but not from the beating; someone's spiked his sports drink with cyanide. Odelia determines to find out who. Her investigation is sidetracked, however, by demands from her importunate boss, Mike Steele, who's gotten himself into some kind of scrape that ended in a fight in a noted dive bar. Steele tries to spin the incident as a car crash. He wants Odelia to cover for him, bringing his work home and keeping the office afloat while his face heals. While she's juggling Steele's demands and her inquiry into Tanaka's death, Steele's boss, Simon Tobin, comes to Odelia with an offer she can't refuse. He wants her to tail his mother, socialite Fanny Albright Tobin, and find out whether her new best friend has designs on the Tobin family fortune. What's a plus-sized paralegal to do? As usual, Odelia does her best, and her best turns out to be not too shabby. Jaffarian deftly juggles three franchises-Odelia's, plus that of Granny Apples and the Madison Rose vampire series-but Odelia does better when she can focus more detection on fewer puzzles.

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November 1, 2014

In her ninth escapade (after Secondhand Stiff) plus-sized paralegal Odelia Grey is attending a quadriplegic rugby tournament with her paraplegic husband, when Peter Tanaka, a not-very-well-liked player, dies on the tournament floor. Once again, Odelia is on the hunt, along with her family and friends.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2014
Odelia Grey and her wheelchair-bound husband, Greg, witness a vicious fight among quadriplegic friends and foes during a rugby match, after which unpleasant Peter Tanaka is dead on the gym floor. Their friend Richard is the main suspect, until police learn Tanaka was poisoned. Then, after Richard's wife's apparent suicide, she becomes the main suspect. Richard, too, kills himself in the face of swirling rumors about his wife and Tanaka. Odelia and Greg, in their usual forthright style, delve into the facts behind the tragedies. Meanwhile, their friend Steele, a recurring series character, is laid up with injuries from a bar incident he won't discuss, while Odelia runs between the office and his home, trying to offer aid. Humor and smart dialogue always pepper Jaffarian's work. The quadriplegic rugby details are fascinating, and Jaffarian's characters remain diverse, delightful, and surprising, though Odelia's criminal connections at times stretch credibility. Fans of G. A. McKevett may also enjoy this series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)