Prior Convictions

Willa Jansson, a cynical ex-radical, figures the walking dead had more fun than she did last year. At least none of them were selling their souls to a corporate Los Angeles law firm, trying to make their resumes look good. After a year of misery, though, Willa has halfheartedly come home to San Francisco to clerk for a federal judge. If she's lucky, maybe she'll figure out how to get her life back on track.

But Willa fears that fate, as usual, has tricks up its sleeve. For starters, her own parents set her up to help her old boyfriend do a favor for his new girlfriend. And without even realizing what's hit her, Willa's embroiled in a case of conflicting interests, slow-dying passions, and the kind of political grudges that can kill....