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I love it when I discover a book that makes me laugh so hard that my dog rolls his eyes toward me, as if to say, Okay, you’re starting to freak me out. And Dead Lawyers did just that. Author Debra Tash has an extraordinary sense of humor and a one-of-a-kind style that you don’t want to miss.
In life, Roman advocate Antinous Maricus Philippus won many cases, even if it meant that he often based whole trials on lies. But he crossed the wrong woman, and the goddess Justitia cursed him, denying him the ability to continue on to the Elysian Fields until he won another case.
Nineteen hundred years later, he still hasn’t won—hence the demise of Joan of Arc and the deaths of two of Henry the Eighth’s wives (the two who were beheaded). But maybe he’s about to catch a break with a simple, straightforward case that he can’t possibly lose.
Cocktail waitress Kate Wender heads to small claims court to fight for her refrigerator, which her no-good, lying ex-boyfriend took when he left. Before their case reaches the judge, someone kills her ex-boyfriend in the parking lot where she works—and she’s framed for his murder. To make things worse, her lawyer is a ghost—one who hasn’t won a case in hundreds of years.
As Antinous and Kate flee from the casinos of Las Vegas to the Queen Mary in Long Beach, they fight to clear Kate’s name before she’s sent off to jail—or, worse, across the River Styx by the same gangsters who killed her ex-boyfriend—and Antinous ends up trapped forever in limbo.
With its fast pace and mesmeric plot, Dead Lawyers is a hilarious and suspenseful read that’s full of emotion. At times, you’ll laugh so hard that tears will flow down your cheeks. At other times, a sentence or a scene will touch your heart. I loved this author’s off-the-wall style—and the way she describes smells, sounds, and objects in Dead Lawyers is truly a delight to experience.
Antinous’s character develops and changes over the course of the book, leaving the reader with a deeper understanding of why he’s lost every case that he’s attempted since his death. I caught on right away, but it’s taken poor Antinous nearly two thousand years to figure it out—which is a part of what makes Dead Lawyers so hilarious.
Kate, meanwhile, is an incredibly lovable character. Her sweet nature comes out without resorting to maudlin passages of sap touting her many good points. She’s just someone I’d want to be friends with.
If you crave a story that will make you laugh out loud every few pages, then this novel is the perfect choice. I give Dead Lawyers the highest of recommendations. You simply must read it!
