About the Book
Reviews
Ordering

About the Book
Reviews
About the Author
Excerpt
Ordering

About the Book
About the Author
Excerpt
Ordering

Rattlesnake Lawyer
A Legal Thriller of the New West

A Novel By Jonathan Miller

Darkly comic legal thriller
set in the American southwest,
written by a lawyer who lived there.

ISBN #: 0-9673920-3-9
$10.95/Trade paperback/279 pages
 

Excerpt

Chapter 1
One on One

"One on One, Two on One." The door clicked open.

The brand new guard in an oversized tan uniform entered the multi-purpose room of the Anguilar County Detention Center.  It was his first time for sure, probably his first job ever since graduating from the vocational program at Anguilar High.  He gagged on the smell of the evening's dinner of green chile enchiladas, then scanned the group of residents waiting for the nightly head count.

"Fresh white meat," a particularly large resident muttered behind the guard's back.  I sat at a far table with Jesus Villalobos who laughed, "That's what we used to say about you when you came here."

I felt for the poor guy and called to him, "Yo buddy, you looking for us?"

We were the only ones in suits - blue double-breasted, crisp red ties - sitting alone at the furthest of the plastic mesh tables.  He hurried over to our table.

"Jesus Villalobos, Dan Shepard?" he asked nervously.  We nodded simultaneously.

"Jury's back"

Jesus and I stared at each other. There really wasn't anything more to be said.  This was it.

The guard kept his eyes at the level of our Windsor knots as he tool out both sets of handcuffs.  "They told me to take you back to court."

He finally looked at each of us in the eye, unsure of something.  He fiddled with both sets of handcuffs a few more times, as he scanned each of our faces.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled at last.  "I'm not sure exactly who I'm supposed to cuff - isn't one of you supposed to be the lawyer?"