Lia Matera: A Radical Departure (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
A California lawyer's dream job becomes a nightmare when her boss is murdered in this mystery by the author of Where Lawyers Fear to Tread.

Fresh out of law school, Willa Jansson nabs a first-year associate position at a family friend's law firm. Famous progressive attorney Julian Warneke has gotten Willa's hippie parents out of legal trouble on several occasions, though his reputation for grandstanding landed Willa in jail for two traumatic months after she was arrested during a protest march. Regardless, she's happy to be working for such an influential firm, even if it pays less than any other outfit in town and she's assigned to all the divorces, landlord-tenant cases, and drunk-driving defenses...

Willa's caseload is the least of her worries when Julian's poisoned to death at a fancy work lunch. When the investigation begins, the authorities are drawn to Willa as a suspect in the "law school murders." Then there's the matter of her mother being listed to inherit Julian's house. As Willa begins working to clear their names, she must dodge a terrible ex-boyfriend and a charming cop -- not to mention a killer who's drawing ever closer...

Praise for the Willa Jansson Mysteries
"Matera's wit, grace with language, irreverence toward the legal system, and wry dissection of being a child of the Sixties make this a standout." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Intelligent and entertaining... Absorbing... With sharp descriptions and crisp dialogue... Admirably delivers the complex situations and memorable characters of a 'real novel' while still managing to let the detective story have its day in court." -- The Wall Street Journal

Lia Matera: A Radical Departure. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Mysterious Press / Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781504066655 (June, 2021), eBook, 2180 KB (ca. 149 p.), $7.99.

Lia Matera: A Radical Departure (USA 1991)

From the Publisher:
MURDER ON THE MENU
Now that she's working as an underpaid associate for radical lawyer Julian Warneke's San Francisco law firm, Willa Jansson's getting used to having her illusions shattered. But when Warneke collapses from hemlock poisoning at lunch, in front of the whole firm, she's as shocked as anyone.

Things go from awful to outrageous when Willa's rad-lib mother, a former client of the deceased, is suspiciously named in his will to inherit his fantastic home in the hills. By now Willa is frantic to discover what's going on around her. Poking into the recent past and the apolitical present. she fishes out an old boyfriend shed rather forget, a cop she hates on principle, and a famous law firm that can barely make ends meet. It's a pretty good catch for a first-year associate-considering that, in the meantime, someone's trying to kill her...

"Has almost everything a good mystery needs... a complex plot, social commentary, loads of atmosphere and a cast of unusual characters... The reader wants to hang out with Jansson and see more of her clear-eyed view of the world." -- San Jose Mercury News

Lia Matera: A Radical Departure. In a famous left-wing law firm, Willa discovers the price of politics is deadlv. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 0345371267 (November, 1991), $4.99.

Lia Matera: A Radical Departure (USA 1988)

From the Publisher:
REQUIEM FOR A RADICAL
San Francisco lawyer Julian Warneke used to defend draft resisters and Black Panthers -- until the copyright protection of their fitness books became more lucrative.

After lunching at a chichi restaurant, Julian drops dead of hemlock poisoning. Willa Jansson, junior attorney, is at first a prime suspect in his murder. But then the evidence starts to pile up. And it looks like Willa's aging hippie mother is the killer.

Nobody's sure why Willa's mom is inheriting most of Julian's multi-million-dollar estate. Or what Julion's clients, the warring teamsters, have to do with his death.

Julian's old Yippie cronies have gone Yuppie, and it's a long way from peace, love and granola to safe sex, networking... and murder.

Lia Matera: A Radical Departure. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Bantam Books, ISBN: 0553270729 (February, 1988), $3.50.