Judgment at Santa Monica

by E. J. Copperman

Overview

Hollywood stars, sunshine, stabbings . . . New Jersey prosecutor turned LA family lawyer Sandy Moss is back with a bang in the second book in this fun, witty and fast-paced cosy legal mystery series.

The last person family lawyer Sandy Moss expects to walk into her courtroom, right in the middle of a trial, is TV star Patrick McNabb: prime suspect in her first (and she hopes, last) murder case.

Sandy knows what Patrick's like. Friendly, overconfident, dazzlingly handsome . . . and a well-meaning menace. But his request seems harmless enough. His dear friend Cynthia is getting divorced, and he thinks Sandy's perfect for the job. She accepts - because he's Patrick and there is no denying him.

But of course it's not that simple. Soon Sandy's tangled up in yet another murder - and Patrick, who's currently playing a private detective on TV, believes he's essential to solving the whole thing . . .

Fast-paced, funny and larger than life, with a joy of a protagonist who "could give Perry Mason a run for his money" (Kirkus Reviews), JUDGMENT AT SANTA MONICA is a perfect escapist read and a great choice for fans of legal mysteries and TV shows.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448311521
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	08/29/2023
Series:	A Jersey Girl Legal Mystery , #2
Edition description:	Main - Large Print
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.79(w) x 8.74(h) x (d)

About the Author

E.J. Copperman is the nom de plume for Jeff Cohen, writer of intentionally funny murder mysteries. As E.J., he writes the Haunted Guesthouse and Agent to the Paws series, as well as the brand-new Jersey Girl Legal mysteries; as Jeff, he writes the Double Feature and Aaron Tucker series; and he collaborates with himself on the Samuel Hoenig Asperger's mysteries.

Editorial Reviews

Sandy is a Jersey girl, a competent, tenacious, yet vulnerable heroine in a cast of vividly described characters and in a story with multiple plot twists that's enlivened with humor and set against the glittering backdrop of Hollywood

Booklist on Inherit the Shoes

★ 08/23/2021

Copperman’s terrific sequel to Inherit the Shoes finds attorney Sandy Moss, formerly an assistant county prosecutor in New Jersey, working for a prestigious L.A. firm specializing in family law. When TV actor Patrick McNabb, a friend of Sandy’s and one of her firm’s biggest clients, asks her to help movie star Cynthia Sutton with her divorce settlement, Sandy agrees to do so. A short time later, the police discover Cynthia, in shock and clutching a bloodied TeeVee award, at the Santa Monica home of art gallery owner Wendy Bryan, her deeply unpleasant mother-in-law, who has been stabbed to death with, as the police later determine, the TeeVee award. When Patrick declares that he and Sandy must find the real killer and offers his assistance—after all, he’s playing a private detective in his new series—Sandy reminds him that’s not their job. As Sandy builds Cynthia’s defense, she becomes the target of a none-too-professional assassin. A truly witty narrator, Sandy peppers the text with sly, wry throwaway lines (“I reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer because wine wasn’t going to make me burp and, after the day I’d had, I really wanted to burp”). This breezy book is a pure pleasure to read. Agent: Josh Getzler, HG Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2021-07-28
Sandy Moss defends a second criminal case, and it’s a doozy.

When the former prosecutor left New Jersey for sunny LA, she wanted a change in more than the weather. Tired of dealing with sociopaths, she joined the family law division of Seaton, Taylor, Evans and Wentworth, hoping that even when her clients were angry enough to kill their ex-spouses, they wouldn’t. An unfortunate early misstep found Sandy defending actor Patrick McNabb, whose pending divorce action ended in homicide. Now Patrick, convinced that Sandy is a legal genius, wants her to help fellow thespian Cynthia Sutton negotiate a property settlement with Cynthia’s soon-to-be ex-spouse. Sandy’s self-assurance is close to an all-time low; she’s just failed to defend housewife Madelyn Forsythe from an absurd prostitution charge stemming from an online flirtation. But Patrick’s confidence in Sandy’s skills is exceeded only by his charm in wheedling her into compliance. Of course, history repeats itself, though this time the murder victim is not Sandy's client’s spouse but her client’s mother-in-law. Sandy gets shot at, arrested, and, when the final hammer falls, stuck with one verdict so hilariously improbable virtually no one could see it coming. Copperman, the creator of a host of zany franchise characters, shows that Byzantine twists and turns, if plotted carefully enough, just add to the fun.

Legal mayhem at its finest.

Kirkus Reviews