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Last Chants

Published
Jun 1996
Main Genre
Police Procedural Police Procedural
Rating
Pages
320

About This Book

Helping a family friend who's been framed for murder has a San Francisco lawyer living like a fugitive in this mystery by the author of Prior Convictions.

Attorney Willa Jansson's found a new position in the growing field of multimedia law—it's the '90s, after all. Given her track record, she's hoping this job will be smooth sailing. Unfortunately, during her morning commute through the Financial District, she sees a friend of her mother's—mythologist and pacifist Arthur Kenna—about to be arrested for holding a stranger at gunpoint. Willa does the first thing she can think of to save him: she pretends to be Arthur's hostage.

Arthur explains that it was the alleged victim who'd placed the gun in his hand, but Willa knows the police won't buy that—especially after Arthur's assistant is found dead. Forced to hide out in a Boulder Creek mountain cabin belonging to an old flame of Willa's, the fugitive duo soon realizes their only way out of the woods is to locate the real killer. Doing so means digging into Arthur's assistant's past, and divining the truth in a community of high-tech gurus, strange survivalists, a cybernetic shaman, and a nudist who thinks he's the demigod Pan . . .

"Effectively blending the seemingly incongruous elements of high-tech computing and ancient mythology, Matera has produced a first-rate mystery, exhibiting her usual hallmarks of excellent plotting, solid characterizations, and brisk pacing." —Booklist
"Few writers possess Lia Matera's wry humor, especially when it comes to putting down lawyers, or her eye for Northern California fauna." —San Jose Mercury News

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Formats & Editions

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Paperback

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Mass Market Paperback
May 1997 Pocket ISBN 0671880969
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Trade Paperback
Jun 2007 Atria ISBN 1416567690
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Hardcover

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First Edition Jun 1996 Simon & Schuster ISBN 0684810859
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eBook

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Mar 2013 Simon & Schuster ISBN B00BOVCI0E
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Mar 2013 Simon & Schuster ISBN 1476737606
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Mar 2013 Lia Matera
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May 2017 ISBN B0725F8GM5
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Jun 2021 Mysterious Press ISBN 1504066685
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Audio

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Audio Cassette
Nov 1996 Sunset Productions ISBN 1564311961
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