Lia Matera: Star Witness (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
A plucky lawyer's out of her element when she investigates a suspicious death that's out of this world in this mystery by the author of Last Chants.

Overworked San Francisco attorney Willa Jansson's ready to go on her three-week vacation and relax on the beach in Mexico. But before she can leave the office, she gets a phone call from a friend whom she owes a favor...

Willa heads to Santa Cruz to take on what at first sounds like a vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run case. Alan Miller's Fiat fell on top of Francis Addenaur's Buick in a field of Brussels sprouts. The problem is the Fiat left no tracks in the field and Miller wasn't in his car. He says he was abducted by aliens

As Willa begins examining crop circles and subpoenaing UFO experts, she realizes this case could ruin her career. But with an angry widow packing heat and mysterious black helicopters circling the sky, discovering the truth feels like a matter of life or death...

"Matera's latest mystery is a hoot. It will drive the Pentagon non-UFO believers crazy and probably end up being the inspiration for an X-Files episode... . This fast-moving tale is peppered with eccentric characters, snappy dialogue and a creative plot." -- San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle

"Matera has proved more than once that she is the master when it comes to dabbling in Northern California flakiness for her mystery plots. This time she focuses on alien abduction... . Matera cleverly walks the line here between milking the material for humor and taking it all too seriously... . Mystery fans can't fail to be entertained." -- San Jose Mercury News

Lia Matera: Star Witness. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Mysterious Press / Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781504066693 (June, 2021), eBook, 2332 KB (ca. 256 p.), $7.99.

Lia Matera: Star Witness (USA 2007)

From the Publisher:
They say no good deed goes unpunished ... and attorney Willa Jansson learns it the hard way when she agrees to represent the patient of psychiatrist Fred Hershey. She definitely owes him the favor but has no idea what it will eventually cost her. Alan Miller's sports car allegedly went over an embankment onto the coastal highway below, landing atop another car and killing its driver. But there are no tire tracks in the field above and no witnesses to the event. Nor are Miller's injuries consistent with a car crash. Miller wasn't around to defend himself when the police showed up at the accident. Worse yet, he doesn't remember where he was. When Miller is put under hypnosis, he does account for his whereabouts, but it seems so far-fetched, Miller himself doesn't want to believe it - and Willa knows it will never stand up in court...

Lia Matera: Star Witness. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 1416567704 (June, 2007), 256 p., $13.95.

Lia Matera: Star Witness (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
Just when attorney Willa Jansson is about to take a little time off from her job at a Son Francisco multimedia firm, a friend calls in a special favor. So, on her first day of what should have been her well-earned vacation, Willa's off to Santa Cruz to solve what she hopes will be a simple case of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run. But Willa is about to discover that nothing about this case -- or the town where it occurred -- is quite as it seems.

STAR WITNESS
Alan Miller's sports car went over an embankment and onto the coastal highway below, landing atop another car and killing its driver. But there are no tire tracks, no witnesses, and Miller's injuries aren't consistent with a car crash. Unable to recall where he was just after the accident, Miller's memory is jogged under hypnosis -- a recollection so far-fetched that Willa knows it will never stand up in court. All of a sudden, seemingly idyllic Santa Cruz is rife with dangerous secrets, and Willa must outrun helicopters, snipers, reporters, her own interfering mother -- and try to maintain her credibility and her career by making the jury buy her client's out-of-this-world alibi. If she can just keep the witnesses alive long enough to testify...

"You simply have to keep reading, just-to see how it comes out." -- The Washington Post Book World

Lia Matera: Star Witness. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Pocket Star Books, ISBN: 0671004204 (June, 1998), 336 p., $6.50.

Lia Matera: Star Witness (USA 1997)

From the Publisher:
They say no good deed goes unpunished... and when she agrees to represent the patient of psychiatrist Fred Hershey. She definitely owes him the favor but has no idea what it will eventually cost her. So, on what should be Willa's first day of a well-earned vacation from her job at a multimedia firm, she must instead leave San Francisco for Santa Cruz, California, to take on what she hopes will be a simple case of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run. Except nothing about this case-or this town-is quite as it seems.

Alan Miller's sports car allegedly went over an embankment onto the coastal highway below, landing atop another car and killing its driver. But there are no tire tracks in the field above and no witnesses to the event. Nor are Miller's injuries consistent with a car crash. Miller wasn't around to defend himself when the police showed up at the accident. Worse yet, he doesn't remember where he was. When Miller is put under hypnosis, he does account for his whereabouts, but it seems so far-fetched, Miller himself doesn't want to believe it-and Willa knows it will never stand up in court.

Suddenly seemingly idyllic Santa Cruz is full of dangerous secrets, some of which threaten to cost Willa her career, her client his freedom, and her witnesses their lives. Outrunning menacing helicopters, vindictive reporters, shadowy snipers, and, heaven help her, her own interfering mother, Willa becomes all the more determined to provide her client the best possible defense... if only she can make the jury -- and her client -- accept his out-of-this-world alibi. And if only she can keep her witnesses alive long enough to testify.

This latest courtroom thriller proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Willa Jansson is "one of the most articulate and surely the wittiest of women sleuths at large in the genre" (The New York Times Book Review).

Lia Matera: Star Witness. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 0684834693 (June, 1997), 255 p., $22.00.