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ADVENTURE/LEGAL/
ROMANTIC/SPORTS/
SUSPENSE/THRILLER MYSTERY
FALse fortune
Hannah is settling back into her law practice at the family firm, trying not to think too much about Cooper Smith, the boyfriend she’s dumped—for the second time. Hard to do when half-sister Shelby, fresh from rehab, is deeply in love, or at least lust, with a local firefighter.
 
A trip to an abandoned uranium mine turns into the daring lake rescue of a mysterious woman. Then the sisters’ already-rocky relationship becomes bumpier. Hannah is appointed lead counsel in Shelby’s toxic tort case on behalf of the local Indian tribe—a case, Hannah discovers, that some people will do anything to keep out of the courtroom. The arrival of a recently-discovered family member on Hannah’s doorstep further jeopardizes her relationship with Shelby.
 
Hannah’s new friend, Jerry Dan Kovacs, only makes things more complicated. From the moment he jumps into the lake with Hannah to prevent a drowning to his discovery of a hidden map to his bungled attempt at corporate espionage, Jerry Dan entangles Hannah in a whirlwind of events, eventually pulling her into a treasure hunt that may be tied to a complex fraud. Assault and murder ratchet up the ante, and soon Hannah is in such deep water, not even her trusty kayak can keep her afloat. With careers and lives on the line, Hannah must unravel the schemes before it is too late.
Read A Review:

In retired trial lawyer Phelan’s lively fourth Pinnacle Peak mystery, attorney Hannah Dain, barely recovered from the adventures of 2006’s Spurred Ambition, takes on a case that leads her into abandoned mines and deep waters in the Arizona desert. While helping her older sister and fellow attorney, Shelby, gather evidence for a uranium pollution lawsuit brought by the local Indian tribe, Hannah rescues a woman whose car plunges into a lake. Following up on the woman leads to other questions, and a twist of circumstance finds Hannah appointed lead prosecutor for the case. Meanwhile, she’s having second thoughts about her ex-boyfriend, Cooper Smith, and her fondness for her recently discovered young half-sister, Anuya, further jeopardizes her shaky relationship with Shelby. Vivid descriptions of the desert provide a dramatic backdrop to the increasingly dangerous investigation as Hannah inches closer to the truth. Phelan has created a swiftly moving tale of corporate corruption and tangled, touching family relationships.

Publisher's Weekly


How far will the government and an Indian tribe go to avoid adverse publicity about radioactive waste buried on a reservation? These are hard times for Hannah Dain, of Dain & Daughters. She's recently broken up with her lover, Cooper Smith, and discovered a new half-sister to add to the family that includes her aloof law partner Shelby, a recovering alcoholic who doesn't know that they're only half-sisters. On a trip to the reservation, Hannah and Shelby watch in horror as a woman drives off a cliff into a lake, narrowly missing them and Hannah's friend Jerry Dan on the way. Hannah and Jerry Dan risk their lives to rescue the woman, the lover of the deceased geologist who was supposed to testify in Shelby's radioactive waste case. Taking over for an ailing Shelby, Hannah refuses the settlement brokered by the tribe when the plaintiffs beg for their day in court. When her newfound teenaged half-sister Anuya arrives unannounced, they bond despite their many differences. Forays with the newly hired geologist to collect evidence from the reservation put them in danger when they discover that someone has recently been dumping more hazardous waste, someone willing to kill to cover their tracks. Daring desert adventures lead to a resolution that may put Hannah's life back on track. Phelan's fourth (Spurred Ambition, 2006, etc.) provides a worthy heroine, harrowing adventures and a satisfying mystery.

Kirkus Reviews


Appointed lead counsel for a toxic tort case on the behalf of a local Indian tribe, Pinnacle Peak, AZ, business attorney Hannah Dain (Family Claims; Spurred Ambition) finds her life further complicated by her sister Shelby, just out of rehab and in love with a local firefighter, and the arrival of a newly discovered teenage half-sister. Suspenseful and twisty, Phelan's latest outdoors mystery portrays the Indian reservation as full of political machinations, deception, and rules to keep outsiders at a distance. Patrons who enjoy the crime fiction of Margaret Coel and William Kent Krueger will take to this title. For public libraries.

Library Journal