Above Reproach

Laura Devlin is catapulted from the Los Angeles public defender's office to an influential political seat in a tale that is diverting but unbelievable. Against her real-estate developer husband's hopes that she work for a lucrative private law firm, Laura chooses a position that is good for her conscience if not for the family pocketbook. Known as the do-gooder at City Hall, she struggles with an overload of cases and attendant mounting family pressures. Laura squeezes in time for a few Professional Women's Caucus meetings, and this group sponsors her as a congressional candidate. Her first look at liberal Senator Douglas Rhodes on the television news practically leads her directly into his arms; they fall in love and he holds the key to her future political success. Before Laura (and the reader) knows it, she's ensconced in the nation's capitol where rewards of power are great and unprecedented, and the cost, dear. Flores wrote Divided Loyalties. (May)