Beach Lawyer

The intriguing prologue of screenwriter Duff’s otherwise disappointing first novel finds Southern California attorney Robert Worth behind bars. Flash back to eight weeks earlier. Robert, a hardworking associate for the law firm of Fanelli & Pierce, hopes soon to make partner after years in the trenches working on dull assignments such as purchase of assets agreements. Then he comes into conflict with one of his bosses, Jack Pierce, an unbelievable jerk. Jack not only tries to bully a client, Alison Maxwell, into settling for pennies on the dollar in her late brother’s wrongful death claim but also refuses to validate the ticket for the garage where she parked her car. Robert gets more deeply involved with Alison after she tells him Jack sexually assaulted her. When Robert confronts his boss about this alleged assault, Jack fires him. The improbable plot includes some familiar twists as Robert takes up Alison’s cause as his own. [em]Agent: Beth Davey, Davey Literary & Media Management. (May) [/em]