Reviewed by Jaimie Bell
Lawyer Benjy Bluestone is having a tough day. Having just left home he gets the convertible top of the just fixed 68 red Mustang ripped off by a wrecking ball and meets the woman of his dreams by almost running her down at 80 mph. This is only the beginning of drastic changes about to occur in his quiet life and pleasant though unexciting law career.
After a slight delay on the freeway with Benjy, up and coming real estate agent Delia Torres presents a generous offer to Walter Marsh, owner of the once-upon-a-time hotspot Century Club as the land wants to be used by a developer she represents for the new convention center. Unfortunately, an option already exists to buy it. In order to get their cut in this lucrative project, the greedy scoundrels then go around Delia to get a court appointed emergency injunction to stop all action until the option expires. Walter enlists Benjy’s help who manages to stop the emergency restraining order despite the fact he must argue the motion to a judge who is also his ex-wife.
Delia’s uncle Oscar Torres, who is Mayor of Bayview is behind these shenanigans, and, along with con man Chuck Steinberg and assistant, Rico, they try to come up with plan B. Oscar brainstorms the idea of planting some skeletons and other paraphernalia near the Century Club and announcing it is an Indian burial ground. Although finding usable skeletons poses a bit of a problem, it is soon resolved in a creative way. Knowing full well the hoax would be found out, the planned circus it would create in the media and courtroom would buy enough time for the option to expire.
The plan might have succeeded except that Rico decided to visit his favorite dominatrix Mistress Distress and paid her with some of the money designated to the skeleton fund. The resulting unhappy phone call along with the hysterical ravings of a grieving widow set off a chain of events only a city like Miami could produce.
This caper was
immensely entertaining and I laughed out loud at several points. Author Alan Rolnick writes ingenious comic
scenes where his colorful characters come to life.
The political corruption was toned down to be
dangerous but somewhat less than evil.
Rico is the only really bad guy but is just too ridiculous to
take
seriously. His scene with Mistress Distress was very funny, especially
when she
said he was impertinent and Rico wondered why since he had never wet
his
pants. My favorite part was the
Wacky courtroom
scenes caught the flavor of the story with some truly laughable
moments. It
came as no surprise to learn that Alan Rolnick practiced law for twenty
years
in Miami. If he keeps writing books of this caliber, he has a great new
career
before him. Well done!