September 2002
Cash Call
A Stan Turner Mystery
Book 6
ISBN#0-9666366-8-6, Trade Paperback, $12.95
Stan and Rebekah’s good friends, Don and Pam Blaylock, are in deep trouble. An imprudent investment in a Golden Dragon franchise and their son’s arrest for DWI trigger an avalanche of misfortune culminating with the murder of Luther Bell, the smooth talking, restaurant promoter responsible for their impending demise. While Stan conducts a preemptive investigation to prove his clients are innocent, he is inundated with lawsuits and claims from their growing list of creditors and must deal with the inevitable marital strife that threatens these once proud families. Then one of Stan’s old flames resurfaces and makes a play for Stan’s affections sending Rebekah in a rage that culminates in a confrontation with the intruder and a .38 special. A wrongful death suit worth millions, ancient Peruvian pottery filled with diamonds and a confrontation with the Mob round out this nail biting legal thriller.
by William Manchee...a novel that reveals the truth about the credit cards we love and cherish.
...one of the most exciting fiction novels of the year." Harold McFarlen Amazon Top 50 Reviewer (#39)
Non-stop plotting action makes. Plastic Gods; a book you can't put down. Denise Clark, Denise's Pieces Reviews
"...this stunning work as writer Manchee offers the reader a peek into a side of banking and credit most of us never realized might exist. Molly Martin Reviews
Cash Call Reviews
Excerpt from Deadly Doses by Mary Welk
Fans of legal mysteries are enjoying the Stan Turner mysteries by Texas attorney William Manchee. Published by Top Publications, the series features a brash young Dallas lawyer who starts his practice on a $2,000 cash advance on his credit card after "graduating" from the Marine Corps. The series begins with UNDAUNTED followed by BRASH ENDEAVOR AND SECOND CHAIR. Manchee's 2002 title, CA$H CALL, continues the story of Stan's uphill battle to raise a family while hunting down clues to save his clients. A modern day Perry Mason, Turner is living proof that defending accused murderers doesn't always pay one's mortgage.
CASH
CALL A Stan Turner Mystery
By William Manchee
Top Publications, Ltd. September 2002
Trade Paperback $12.95
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, author of the Caroline Rhodes mystery series
Penniless
attorney Stan Turner loves to fish, and when a client offers him a boat in exchange for
legal services, Stan thinks he's just about died and gone to heaven. Rebekah Turner isn't
as pleased with the deal as her husband. She also isn't pleased with some of Stan's
acquaintances, including the mystery woman who's been sending him love poems. As for Don
and Pam Blaylock, Rebekah thinks the couple is a bit too snobbish when she first meets
them, but as time goes by, she accepts the pair's presence in Stan's world. After all,
even the strong-minded Rebekah can feel sorry for two people who have been taken to
the cleaners by a conniving business partner.
Don
and Pam are facing bankruptcy when Luther Bell absconds with money from their Chinese
restaurant franchise. That's not their only problem, though. Their athlete son Rob has
been arrested for drunk driving, and Rob's girlfriend is pregnant by her high school
senior lover. Stan's legal maneuvering may save the Blaylocks from the poorhouse, but can
he save their son from jail?
Stan
figures things can't get much worse for Pam and Don, but then Luther Bell turns up dead
and Don is arrested for murder. It's up to Stan to use what little money the Blaylocks can
pay him to defend his client in the best way possible. With the help of a newly hired
female partner and a knowledgeable private investigator, Stan does just that. Much like
Perry Mason, Stan uses courtroom drama and surprise testimony to unmask Luther Bell's
actual killer.
CASH
CALL is the fourth Stan Turner mystery by legal eagle William Manchee. Putting his law degree to
good use, Manchee presents readers
with snappy courtroom scenes including lively dialogue between Stan and various witnesses.
Stan's private life is also handled nicely by the author, especially the scenes that
involve the Turner children. Manchee
makes his story more realistic by not limiting Stan to one case at a time. Turner's
involvement in a wrongful death suit and his possession of a Peruvian pot filled with
diamonds are side plots that may detract at times from the main story line, but they are,
nevertheless, true to life. CASH CALL has its occasional weak moments, but it passes the
test as a cozy legal mystery.
Visit William Manchee’s website to learn more about CASH CALL and its author: http://www.billmanchee.com/ca$h_call.htm
The Book Reader, America's Most Independent Review of New Titles * Fall/Winter 2002
Cash Call By William Manchee, Top Publications, $12.95.
The latest in the mystery series starring lawyer Stan Turner. Manchee, a lawyer, pulls out the stops and it’s all go as Turner and his wife Rebekah get involved with friends who are in great trouble with an impending bankruptcy. Turner is involved in a spiral of hounding creditors, arrests, murder, diamonds, gangsters, and a pell-mell pace that holds readers glued to the pages. All sorts of interesting California episodes are here–the Rendevous Club and lap dancing, a Peruvian pottery that is supposed to contain diamonds but doesn’t, the business of lawyering by a lawyer who is always struggling with clients’ payments, the lives of his four growing children, the IRS, interviews with police–and engrossing attorney procedures, in court, in documents, which Manchee knows so well. An old romantic interest complicates matters and creates problems between Turner and his wife. The action moves forward at a brisk pace with surprising (and ingenious) plot twists, and this deeply felt book may be Manchee’s best work to date. The extraordinary and ordinary: "Feeling a little better with one more problem resolved, I went home early and took the family to dinner. It was Thursday, our bowling night..." Manchee writes a very realistic prose, exact, viewing the sharp edges of reality wisely, and he also gives us glimpses beneath the surface, wondering, sympathizing, fearing. There’s a special power and grace here, about family, friends, death, and all the ties that bind one into a non-stop chase to unwrap puzzle with puzzle.
Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks, MyShelf.Com
http://www.myshelf.com/mystery/02/cashcall.htm
PI Lawyer Stan Turner is back in his fourth mystery. “Cash Call”
is written in the first person with Turner’s voice leading readers through his latest
perplexing case.
Readers will discover that Turner isn’t a stereotypical lawyer, like those on
television. He isn’t part of a large lawyer group, nor is he rolling in dough.
He accepts clients who have had little, if any, money and shows compassion for those who
have trouble paying their bill. He even accepts goods instead of cash for payment.
In his personal life, he is a serious family man, intent on providing for his kids and
being with them as much as possible. He is also a loyal husband, although his eye does
wonder occasionally. Stan Turner is one of the best lead characters to come along
in quite some time.
In “Cash Call,” Turner accepts a case for a friend who seems to have made a
deadly investment. Don Blaylock hires Turner to help him when the investment invades his
financial life through a frozen bank account and bad checks. A
man named Luther Bell brought Don into a restaurant investment. In this investment, Don
and the other partners receive one too many “cash calls,” which means they were
expected to come up with cash capital each time the
restaurant has a cash flow problem or loses their interest. Someone wasn’t happy with
the way Luther was handling things and made a call of a different kind.
Once the murder occurs, the mystery begins to unfold, taking readers down various paths of
suspects and alibis. There is enough doubt and suspicion, along with other storylines to
keep the pages turning. Again, Manchee has
provided readers with an impressive contemporary mystery to test even the most experienced
sleuthing mind.
Review by Molly Martin
Entertaining read -- Highly recommended
Stan Turner again faces too little money, clients who won’t or can’t pay, a baffling murder, friends who need his legal expertise and lots of artifice. Turner and his wife Rebekah become friends with the Don and Pam Blaylocks. Before long both Blaylocks are facing legal and IRS problems. A poorly thought out investment on the part of Don Blaylock and a group of entrepreneurs in a Golden Dragon franchise has plunged them first into financial straits which is quickly followed by the murder of the unscrupulous restaurant promoter.
Stan is holding on to his legal practice by his fingertips as his creditors demand money he cannot pry loose from tight fisted clients. The Turner kids are growing up, Marsha is now 8 and her brothers are 10, 12 and 14. Stan accepts a boat as payment in kind from one of his ‘impoverished’ clients. The boat is another in a series of missteps Stan has made when it comes to client payments, Rebekah is furious of course.
The Blaylock legal problems mount. Stan faces the insistence of an old flame and Rebekah’s jealous fury. A wrongful death suit worth enough money to bail himself out of his own money hassles given Stan a little hope for a brighter future. Diamonds hidden in another ‘payment in kind’ set of pottery and just plain danger all are part of Stan’s days as he tries to unravel his own problems along with the hassle the Blaylock’s are facing.
Writer Manchee has set together another great setting of entertaining, convincing characters, predicaments and blunders. The tale Manchee weaves in CASH CALL brings us another great romp with full time lawyer part time sleuth Stan Turner. Turner has a lot of Perry Mason in his methodology without Mason’s perfect record. CASH CALL is a well written tale filled with many of the characters we have come to enjoy from the first works in this ongoing series. As the Turner children grow up we see Stan, Rebekah and their family much as our own. And that is in part what makes this series so engaging.
The reader is hooked immediately in the first sentence of this gripping, creative story theme. Transitions are handled well, with plot and sub plot all tied together in a believable manner. Manchee’s main characters are natural. Dialogue is not contrived as the characters work to resolve conflicts. Climax and conclusion are handled with usual Manchee skill. I can easily believe that Stan would have handled the situations he faced in CASH CALL exactly as is set down by writer Manchee.
Poor Stan and his ever present cash flow problems does manage to again prove his clients are not guilty of the murder of the smooth talking scoundrel who was the cause of so many of their money and other problems. The ongoing joke in the books concerning the ‘payment in kind’ fiascoes are just plain fun.
Writer Manchee continues to grow as a writer. Cash Call is a well crafted novel in the manner of the best of Ellery Queen, Gardner and Gresham. Dialogue is fast paced. The narrative moves smoothly from Stan and his personal situation to his interaction with clients, the romantically inclined gal who just will not accept no and even a mobster or two. It is posted at http://www.wordweaving.com/reviewjul39_02.html
Cindy Penn
editor@wordweaving.comSenior Editor, http://wordweaving.com
Amazon top 50 reviewer
Midwest Book Review
