Showing Prior Convictions by Lia Matera

This New York Times Notable Book of the Year was also nominated for the mystery genre's top prizes, the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Anthony Award. Publishers Weekly said of Prior Convictions, "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."

Attorney Willa Jansson has spent the last year picking up the pieces after an epic hit to her résumé. In the L.A. office of a Wall Street firm, she's been buried under bankruptcy codes, mourning a love life that's back home with a stake in its heart. Now it's finally time to return to San Francisco.

But Willa finds no warm welcome there. Her mother is still furious about her corporate sell-out. Her despised ex demands an outrageous favor. And her new boss, a federal court judge, is already getting hate mail about Willa's supposedly radical past.

It soon clear that Willa's family and oldest friends are conspiring to sabotage her. What happened in her absence to turn everyone against her? If Willa can't figure out what's at stake for those closest to her, she may end up dying for a cause none of them believes in anymore.

Find out why The Wall Street Journal said, "With sharp descriptions and crisp dialogue, Prior Convictions 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," and why Newsday said, "Prior Convictions is gutsy grown-up crime-writing from one of the best practitioners around. It's hard to imagine Matera won't soon have the huge audience she deserves."