Elizabeth Woodcraft

On the one hand this is an often hilarious romp through a world of pedaloes, dodgy nightclub singers and sweaters even your mother would reject as too naff. On the other hand it is hopelessly convoluted and occasionally glib. It felt a little like trying to unpick a horrendous knot in your i-pod headphones, and it takes ages and gets worse as you go along until you think it may actually be three different pairs of headphones.....then you realise it is only the one....but once you get it unpicked the flipping things only work in one ear.

The best thing about the book as far as I'm concerned is central character Frankie, barrister, feminist, lesbian, housework-hater and wearer of black linen trousers. Reassuringly human, rather scatty and prone to offering to do things for her friends and then forgetting, she has a tremendously wry sense of humour and it is impossible not to like her. The insight into the world of the barrister with its arcane traditions is fascinating too.

On the debit side, I was often confused as to whose side we were supposed to be on, and career criminal Danny seemed a little too suave and erudite for a guy who has spent most of his life in the nick. I think it would be fair to say that Frankie gets herself into a career-threatening mess of her own free will, and I sometimes found her actions difficult to sympathise with. I wondered whether it would have worked if the central character was a straight male barrister - would we have accepted his brain being turned to mush by a tarty blonde? I thought possibly not, so is it OK if the central character is a lesbian? Not being one it's hard for me to comment, but it felt a tiny bit sexist - something even Frankie herself may have disapproved of!… (plus d'informations)

I read the sequel to this first, without realising it was a sequel. Quite interesting reading them this way round, and entirely feasible since there were no spoilers in the second book.

Like that second book, this one features a highly improbable and somewhat convoluted murder mystery in which right-on lesbian lawyer Frankie gets herself entangled and then arrested. In between times she drinks copious quantities of Chardonnay and though she's supposed to be practicing at the Bar it doesn't seem as though she needs any practise, ha ha ha.

I could take or leave the actual plot - which hinged rather precariously on Frankie's right-on conscience, clearly more right-on than mine as I couldn't understand why she just didn't leave well alone. What I liked about the book was the sardonic humour and the insider's view of the life of a barrister, even though she doesn't do a great deal of proper work in this one. Moreover the world she inhabits - where all women are gay and all men are pigs (perhaps a tad exaggerated but that's how it comes across at times) is just skewed enough in comparison with the world I inhabit that it qualified as superb escapism. Not expecting jaw dropping storylines, but I hope there are more in this series.… (plus d'informations)

Owing to circumstantial evidence, Frances "Frankie" Richmond, a lesbian British lawyer, stands accused of a murder she didn't commit. It all begins when she represents an old acquaintance named Saskia in court: Saskia walks, a suspicious man follows, Saskia bolts, and Frankie follows the man, who beats her up and then gets killed. After police charge her in the murder, Frankie tries to find Saskia, who seems to hold the key to it all. Frankie's lawyer friend Kay (an ex-lover), best friend Lena, and law-clerk Gavin provide welcome character subplots. Lively and imaginative, this first novel sets a cracking pace.… (plus d'informations)