Motion to Suppress (Nina Reilly Series #1) » (~)

Perri O'Shaughnessy is the pen name for sisters Mary and Pamela O’Shaughnessy, who both live in California. They are the authors of eleven bestselling Nina Reilly novels as well as a collection of short crime fiction, Sinister Shorts.

Returning from her late shift as a barmaid at a casino in Lake Tahoe, Misty Patterson struck her violently jealous husband in self-defense. She admits that—but did she kill him? She says she can't remember. Like so many times before, Misty blacked out and the rest of the evening is a blank. Now her husband has disappeared, leaving behind a trail of blood, and she's the number-one murder suspect with no one to turn to for help.

San Francisco attorney Nina Reilly is also on the run—from a bad marriage and a worse career setback. Relocated to Lake Tahoe, Nina is resolved to recover her spirit, give her young son a secure home, and build up a small solo practice. But, when Misty Patterson walks in the door, a blond Barbie doll of a cocktail waitress accused of murder, it triggers a harrowing series of events that will change both women's lives forever.

Common sense says Misty is lying. To win this case Nina will have to trust her own instincts, diving headlong into the dark convolutions of the human mind. This murder case—teeming with sinister secrets, unspoken betrayals, and jolting revelations—is going to change everything Nina Reilly believes about the law. It's going to rock everything Misty believes about herself. And if they can learn to trust each other, it's going to give both women their one and only chance to reclaim their shattered lives.

In a spellbinding novel that doesn't let go from the first page until the shocking unforgettable conclusion, Perri O'Shaughnessy delivers an electrifying legal thriller about two women risking all they have for the truth that could cost them their lives—or set them both free.

Publishers Weekly

Graced by an appealingly sordid cast of sultry barmaids, crafty ex-cops, smarmy con men and venal lawyers, this courtroom drama maintains a swift pace. Attorney Nina Reilly, her marriage shattered, leaves San Francisco with her small son for Lake Tahoe. Encouraged by a feisty secretary with strong ties to the local women's movement, Nina takes on the case of Michelle ``Misty'' Patterson, an admittedly promiscuous barmaid accused of bludgeoning her abusive husband to death. But Misty, who has a long history of emotional problems, has no memory of the night of the murder. Nor can she remember anything that happened before she was 10. Her psychiatric treatment dictates much of the trial procedure: Can records of her therapy be used as evidence? Shrewd Nina's legal skirmishes with psychiatrists pave the way for some explosive revelations. O'Shaughnessy barely keeps the fireworks under control; indeed, some sensational scenes in this first novel offer more dazzle than illumination. Keen detective work, smoldering romance and ongoing consciousness-raising, however, create a Roman candle of a novel that just may rocket O'Shaughnessy to pop-lit fame. Major ad/promo; author tour; British, translation, audio, electronic, performance rights: Lowenstein Associates. (June)