HUSH MONEY

Hush Money is a fast-paced,funny mystery and Jack MacTaggart is a delightful, wise-cracking hero.

Jack MacTaggart never thought he'd find himself employed at Henley & Hargrove, Pasadena's oldest and snobbiest law firm. Hell, growing up in a Section 8 housing project in East L.A., he hardly thought he'd move from night class at Loyola Law to the litigation department at H&H, championed by the legendary Russell Dinsmoor. But he wouldn't be Jack if he hadn't imposed two conditions: that he can prosecute any insurance bad faith cases (pro bono), and that he'd never have to shill for an insurance company. When the most valuable show horse of his firm's most valuable client is found dead on the eve of a major competition, Jack is dispatched to investigate. Conscripted to prove the socialite Sydney Everett innocent, Jack uncovers an old blackmail scheme whose tendrils reach all the way back to the firm. But when he reports his findings to Dinsmoor, the latter turns up dead, and Jack finds himself both the prime suspect and the killer's next likely victim. Like the popular breed of crime fiction protagonists--think DeMille's John Corey and Connelly's Harry Bosch--Jack MacTaggart is rough-palmed and smug, with a sardonic sense of humor. But younger, charming, and sexy, Jack is a new hero readers will instantly like. And it's Jack who can get the job done and exonerate himself when murder, fraud, and blackmail put his job, his freedom and his life on the line. Chuck Greaves is the winner of the SouthWest Writers 2010 grand-prize Storyteller Award. Besting 680 entrants across the country, as well as taking home top prizes in two genre categories, Greaves has been judged a talented new voice in fiction. His historical novel, HARD TWISTED, took top prize in its category in the SouthWest Writers annual competition. Greaves spent 25 years as a trial lawyer in Los Angeles before moving to Santa Fe in 2006 to focus full-time on writing. His debut short story, A Christmas Tail, won the Santa Fe New Mexican's annual Holiday fiction contest for 2007, and was featured on the cover of its Sunday magazine.