Lia Matera: Where Lawyers Fear to Tread (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
A San Francisco student's about to discover law school can be murderous in this comic mystery series opener.
Willa Jansson picked the wrong time to quit smoking. Exams are four weeks away. And if she's not sitting in class, studying, or sipping innumerable cups of coffee, then she's toiling away as the senior articles editor at the Malhousie Law Review. This job, and being

in the top 10 percent of her class, means she'll be able to land her dream job when she graduates. But at the moment, she has an even bigger problem to deal with...

After Malhousie's editor in chief, super-student Susan Green, is found bludgeoned to death, strangers -- curious reporters, angry professors, and high-profile lawyers -- keep snooping around the office. Then another editor fights to take Susan's position, only to meet the same grisly end. Willa knows she must find out quickly who's killing her fellow students and why -- because, as the new editor in chief, she could be next...

Praise for the Willa Jansson Mysteries
"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
"Readers will be shaken by Matera's rapier-sharp dissection of personal relationships and radical ideologies. Matera again demonstrates that she is one of today's best mystery writers." -- Publishers Weekly

Lia Matera: Where Lawyers Fear to Tread. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Mysterious Press / Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781504066648 (June, 2021), eBook, 2124 KB (ca. 209 p.), $6.99.

Lia Matera: Where Lawyers Fear to Tread (USA 1991)

From the Publisher:
Murder of the First Part
Overworked, overcaffeinated, and as cranky as a sequestered jury, Willa Jansson has a law review to get out. As second in command to the brilliant Susan Green, the ideal law student and perfect editor, Willa's rank jumps up a step when Susan's head is bashed in over a brief at the law review office.

Everyone at Malhousie, the small San Francisco law school, is stunned by the crime-including professors and the staff at the review. And none of them are above suspicion. Willa, now in charge and none too happy about it, launches a private investigation that succeeds not only in compromising her honor, but getting her arrested, as she chases one blind lead after another and comes face-to-face with the banality of evil...

"Matera has her own distinctive voice." The San Diego Union

Lia Matera: Where Lawyers Fear to Tread. Willa gets her big break in law school -- unfortunately, it's over someone's dead body... A Willa Jansson Mystery. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 0345371259 (May, 1991), 168 p., $4.95.

Lia Matera: Where Lawyers Fear to Tread (USA 1987)

From the Publisher:
WITH MALICE AFORETHOUGHT
The cutthroat paper chase at Malhousie Law School took an unprecedented turn when the ambitious Law Review editor-in-chief was found dead, slumped over a brief. Senior Willa Jansson won the job by default; but was stepping into her predecessor's shoes evidence to incriminate her? It wasn't long before Willa had probable cause to believe she'd be the next corpus delicti. Trouble was, she was also everyone's prime suspect. Soon Willa found herself knee-deep in writs, torts... and murder.

A prominent lady lawyer is gunning for the Attorney General's office -- but will a case of blackmail deny her appeal? The neighborhood wino knows something the cops don't, the jury's still out on the testimony of Willa's friends, and Willa's falling in love with a Republican. Will Willa pass the bar and proceed to trial? Just what procedure will flush out the guilty party-before he kills again?

Lia Matera: Where Lawyers Fear to Tread. A Willa Jansson Mystery. Bantam Books, ISBN: 055326818X (August, 1987), 168 p., $2.95.