Buying Time »

Pamela Samuels Young is a practicing attorney and the author of Every Reasonable Doubt, In Firm Pursuit, and Murder on the Down Low. She is a member of the board of directors of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Los Angeles.

Waverly Sloan is a down-on-his-luck lawyer. But just when he's about to hit rock bottom, he stumbles upon a business with the potential to solve all of his problems.

In Waverly's new line of work, he comes to the aid of people in desperate need of cash. But there's a catch. His clients must be terminally ill and willing to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they can collect a dime. Waverly then finds investors eager to advance them thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker's fee for himself—in exchange for a significant return on their investment once the clients take their last breath.

The stakes get higher when Waverly brokers the policy of the cancer-stricken wife of Lawrence Erickson, a high-powered lawyer who's bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General. When Waverly's clients start dying sooner than they should, both Waverly and Erickson—who has some skeletons of his own to hide—are unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail and murder.

Sheldon Siegel

Pamela Samuels Young takes her place among the top tier of legal thriller writers with her latest, Buying Time . . . [A] roller coaster ride that involves murder, insurance fraud and drug dealing. From the towers of downtown L.A. to the corridors of power in Washington, Samuels Young writes a deftly-plotted, immensely readable thriller that combines the best of Lisa Scottoline and Robert Crais. Find a comfortable chair and plan to stay up late. Highly recommended.