Rebecca Schwartz, nice Jewish lawyer with a few too many fantasies, is happily playing the piano in a whorehouse when she suddenly finds herself assigned to make sure a near-naked state senator escapes a police raid. That dirty job done, a lovely evening turns even more delightful when she’s picked up by the cops and spends the next two hours at the Hall of Justice. Could this day get any worse? Of Course! Guess who arrives home to find a dead hooker on her living room floor? Handsome Parker Phillips, Rebecca’s new beau and the most attractive man she’s met in ages, is arrested for the murder. (Worse, she suspects he might actually have done it.) On the plus side, another very attractive man is following the case—reporter Rob Burns of the San Francisco Chronicle, a possible ally. And there are other possibilities. Fans of Janet Evanovich, Joan Hess, and Elizabeth Peters will get a kick out of this one.

An alternate cover edition can be found here. When the heir to the Martinelli family's renowned sourdough starter is murdered before they were to auction it off, Rebecca Schwartz is determined to discover if he died for a handful of dough. The more she sifts through the tangled relationships of the city's bread-making dynasties, though, the closer she gets to the recipe for murder....

The Edgar Award-winning author of New Orleans Mourning offers more of her bestselling series starring San Francisco lawyer/sleuth Rebecca Schwartz. Rebecca heads to an Easter morning sunrise service and gets the shock of her life: the body of a tourist has been nailed to the cross.

What's the etiquette when your hostess is arrested for murder? San Francisco lawyer Rebecca Schwartz has occasion to wonder when she and her weekend hostess, Marty Whitehead, find a body floating in the 30-foot kelp tower at the Monterey Aquarium, and Marty's promptly dragged off to the slammer. Rebecca quickly grasps the Emily Post solution—sign on as Marty's lawyer, try to keep her client's two young kids out of the deep end, and somehow avoid drowning in the sea of lies gushing from Marty's mouth—and everyone else’s. There’s a lot of intrigue among the aquarium's oceangoing primates, as well as rumors of a pearl beyond price. For Rebecca, the sea and all its animals have always held huge attraction, but now her attention turns to a particularly fine specimen of homo sapiens—hot marine biologist Julio Soto. As her investigation picks up speed, she finds she better act fast to keep Julio from sleeping with the fishes he collects. Because if she doesn't, he could be next in line for the shark tank—along with Rebecca herself.

What she’s about to learn will rock her world! Rebecca Schwartz, “Jewish feminist lawyer,” as she’s fond of saying, thought she knew her best friend—and her boy friend. Not to mention her family. But everything's about to change. Secrets spill out of these pages like hornets out of a nest, each with its own distinct sting, as author Smith weaves a thrill-packed and complicated mystery that’s as much about how little we know about our nearest and dearest as it is about whodunit. Rebecca’s shocked when Chris Nicholson, her glamorous law partner, is arrested for murder—but not nearly so shocked as when she discovers Chris can't come up with an alibi. What she was doing, Chris says, involves a secret so damaging she’d be drummed out of San Francisco legal circles if anyone knew. All she’ll say is what her secret isn't—crime, drugs, sex, alcohol, addiction, illness (mental or otherwise), or an eating disorder. So what’s left? Sure enough, when Rebecca uncovers it, her world tilts on its axis—and continues to list, ever more dangerously, as the story picks up speed and this formerly rational lawyer finds her worldview threatened by things she never knew existed. At least not in her circle! And Chris is far from the only one with a skeleton in her closet. The murdered man, Jason McKendrick, was a much-loved columnist, a carefree bachelor with a million glamorous women, who also happened to have a very special friend who slept on a filthy mattress in his apartment. As Rebecca and Chris peel back the layers of Jason’s complicated world, they find he was leading not just a double life, but maybe many more. Only one person knows what made him tick. But can she stay alive long enough to tell his story?

A ROOMMATE SEARCH TURNS DARK… When Julie Smith’s much-loved lawyer sleuth, Rebecca Schwartz, helps a friend move, she’s pretty surprised to find the new roommate digging a grave. This mystery short story’s a bit darker than most of Rebecca’s adventures, although the irrepressible San Francisco lawyer manages to keep her famous sense of humor. A great introduction for those who haven’t yet read Rebecca, introduced the same year as Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski, but a completely different brand of female sleuth—a bit less super-human, we’re afraid. Rebecca’s loveable for her very bumbling human-ness rather than her super-powers. At the time, she was a bit hard-boiled, but mysteries with female sleuths have changed so much her humorous adventures could now be considered on the cozy side. (Except for the sometimes-un-cozy language. A warning to readers offended by such—stick fingers firmly in ears!)

A BAFFLING CALL, FOLLOWED BY TRAGEDY! If you’re a lawyer, and someone you haven’t heard from in years calls to ask how to execute a holographic will, what are you to think if he dies the next day? This is a dark, dark story…actually very unlike San Francisco attorney Rebecca Schwartz’s usual outings. Rebecca’s usually given to displaying her wit and using her wits, but she mostly does the latter here—so perhaps this one will appeal more to noir than cozy fans. Even with her usual humorous turn of mind dialed down a notch, Rebecca’s still an ace detective, still operating in a meticulously drawn Bay Area, still solving a baffling murder mystery, so, when all said and done, still a female sleuth to love! Just one having a bad day. For all fans of female protagonists, Bay Area mysteries, and the occasional case of literary shivers!