J.L. Abramo. Clutching at Straws (2003) 243 pp.
Lefty Wright breaks into Judge Chancellor’s empty house easy as pie. He has no clue about why he is being paid such a handsome sum for doing it, but the job description didn’t mention the corpse of a prominent criminal court judge lying halfway under the bed. Charged with murder, Lefty contacts San Francisco private investigator Jake Diamond. Jake takes the case, but it soon leads down a series of side paths that sprawl out from Lefty’s prison cell like the tentacles of an octopus.