Waking up to the clang of the BART light rail train, took me back years ago when the sound of the bell was meant to wake me up and signal the start of another day in prison.
But that’s been awhile, and since then I’ve turned my life around, and except for a random memory, I could almost forget the year and a half I spent in California’s forced accommodations. However, nothing could make me forget the betrayal of my now ex-husband, who set me up to take the fall for his criminality. He swore that I would get off, because I’d never had a run in with the law, but we weren’t counting on a tough-on-crime judge who gave me three years for insurance fraud.
My immediate family would be considered dysfunctional on a good day, but the day I looked into my father’s eyes as they took me away, was the worst of my life. The fact that my mother ignored me and kept muttering :”. . .this is so embarrassing. . . to my sister and brother hurt me but then I’d never been able to count on her support.
So I served my time and got off in eighteen months for good behavior. I got out physically, but I still carried my cell with me. It has taken years for me to compartmentalize those months and put them behind me—not far behind, because I never want to completely forget how I lost myself.
It took some doing but I received a judicial pardon, graduated from law school, passed the California bar and now I’m working as a probate attorney for a small but respected law firm in the Bay Area.
Enough reminiscing.
Before I go out the door, I give a kiss on the forehead to my sleeping significant other, John Faber, without whom I’d be even more ensconced in the shell I started building for myself. He keeps me—hopeful.
Which reminds me, I’m going to be late for my meeting with George.
George Ravel is my managing attorney, not my boss but a mentor type I can bounce things off of, except that day before yesterday he surprises me with the fact that his newly discovered birth mother (I didn’t even know he was adopted) left him a fortune and he wants me to process the will.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that I’ll have to tell him that not only did he inherit millions from his birth mother, he also inherited a bounty of the most obnoxious, greedy and desperate step-relations I have ever come across. They are determined to contest the will and do whatever they can to invalidate his share.
But it’s not in my nature to pass on a wrong that I can make right. This morning I plan to tell him that I’ve discovered a few key pieces of information that completely changes the outlook—and not all for the good.
This brings me to another case that’s making me crazy, yesterday I was contacted by the county sheriff. Evidently my business card was discovered on the car seat of a woman who was murdered. I didn’t recognize her name or description, but trying telling that to law enforcement when you’re an ex-con.
Supposedly, she’s known to have an incriminating list of names that many will pay—and kill, to keep from seeing the light of day. It’s just my luck that everyone thinks that she gave me a copy of the list—except she didn’t.
And that’s just today.
The Trade List is the fourth book in the Hollis Morgan mystery series, published by Camel Press, June 2016.
Hollis Morgan has come a long way since serving time for her ex-husband’s white-collar crimes. After receiving a state pardon, she is now a probate attorney at the Bay Area firm where she began as a paralegal. In a case close to home, her manager, George Ravel, inherits a fortune from his newly found birth mother, but her dead husband’s heirs are overcome with greed, not grief. They are determined to discredit her will and deny her natural son even one cent of the millions they believe should belong to their father’s estate.
George asks Hollis to handle the case, but her attention is divided. A dead woman has been discovered with Hollis’s business card–one that dates back to Hollis’s years on parole. The police don’t believe Hollis’s claim that she never met Olivia Shur. As it turns out, she did know the woman, only under another name. At the time of her death, Olivia Shur possessed a list that could end the careers and lives of several public officials and prominent businessmen. Copies of the list exist. Someone believes Hollis has one of them and will go to any extreme to obtain it.
To protect her friends and stay alive, Hollis turns to her ex-con buddies from the Fallen Angels Book Club. In this case, there are too many people on both sides of the law who are determined to see her stopped.
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About the author
R. Franklin James grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and flourished in a career of public policy and political advocacy. In 2013 the first book in her fan starred Hollis Morgan Mystery Series, The Fallen Angels Book Club, was released, and followed by Sticks & Stones, in 2014. The third book in the series: The Return of the Fallen Angels Book Club came out in 2015. Book four, The Trade List, is scheduled for release in June 2016. James resides in northern California.
For more information please visit: www.rfranklinjames.com.
Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a print copy of The Trade List. US entries only, please. The giveaway will end June 7, 2016 at 12 AM EST. Good luck everyone!
All comments are welcomed.
Thanks for adding to my TBR list. Great review & sounds like a Must
Read series. Thank you for the chance to win.
Sounds like a good series!
Sounds intriguing! Added to wish list.
Want it.
Hollis sounds like a great character. I’ll have to go back and read the previous books. Looking forward to that and the newest installment.
I am not familiar with the Hollis Morgan’s mystery series but I am sure it will not be for long. Thanks for including this series on your blog. robeader53@yahoo.com
Oh yummy. This book sounds fascinating! I can’t wait to read it. Definitely high up on my TBR list.
This book would be very enjoyable. Thanks.
Hollis rocks! Love these mysteries.
Sounds like an exciting, must-read book.
Wow, sounds like a great read, hope I win, ty for the chance
I love this series. I already have THE TRADE LIST loaded on my Kindle. I can’t wait to start it.
Another new-to-me author to try. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
This is a new author to me and sounds like an interesting read. Looking forward to reading.
I’m unfamiliar with this series. Can’t wait to get started on it. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of The Trade List. I’m off to buy the first book because I just can’t bring myself to read books in a series out of order. LOL!
Great premise. Hope she keeps her ears and eyes open and her head down.
Interesting background for an attorney. Thanks for information about the book!
This is a great series. Love them all. I want a print copy so I plan to win.
Another awesome book and series. Another book and series to add to my TBR list. Fingers crossed in the chance to win a copy of The Trade List.
This sounds like a good series. Thank you for introducing me to R. Franklin James’ books.
I’m a Hollis fan. 🙂 Can’t wait to read the new one!
a new-to-me author…sounds very interesting. thanks for the chance
Such a great series! Looking forward to reading this new one. Thanks for the chance to win it.
This sounds like a serious read, so I would love to win this, thanks.
I’m always looking for a new mystery series! This sounds good!! Thanks for offering this! lindaherold999@gmail.com
Wow, number four. George gets more involved. Nice backstory add. So looking forward adding number 4 to my book shelf.
I have read additional reviews about this book and it sounds like everyone who has read it is captivated by Hollis and her story! I think I need to start at the beginning of this serie! Thanks Dru for introducing me to the author and Hollis. Thanks to R. Franklin for the chance to win a copy.
New author/book. Looks so intriguing. A must read. On my TBR. But am hoping a win so I can read it sooner, rather than later. Thank you so much for an intro to a new exciting author/book
This is a new to me series/author. Thank you for sharing, sounds like a good mystery.