From Publishers Weekly
In the 12th John Francis Cuddy mystery (after 1996's Invasion of Privacy), Healy again pungently conjures the people and geography of working-class Boston while delivering a portrait of the hero as a man of principle and a meticulously detailed description of the work?warts, boredom and all?of being a PI. But the overall impact of this tale is seriously compromised by an unconvincing resolution. Asked by an attorney friend to take on a particularly repellent client, a loutish racist charged with killing his wife's African American divorce lawyer, the reluctant Cuddy finds himself gradually believing that Alan Spaeth is being framed. Searching for other suspects in the fatal roadside shooting of Woodrow Wilson Gant, Cuddy comes up with a debt-ridden brother, a dangerous pair of Amerasian gangsters and various partners in Gant's firm with devious private agendas. Along the way, Cuddy is badly beaten and seriously shot. His involvement in the case brings about a rupture in his love life with a female prosecutor, and he manages to find time for a trademark graveside chat with his late wife. But the plot doesn't do the ambience justice, marking Healy's latest as a rare disappointment. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Boston private investigator John Cuddy despises his employer's client?accused of murdering an up-and-coming African American lawyer?but believes in his innocence. He turns, therefore, to secrets in the murder victim's past. A good series addition from a practiced hand.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Alan Spaeth is a virulent racist who has threatened to kill his wife's black divorce lawyer. When the lawyer, Woodrow Gant, is found dead with Spaeth's gun at the scene, the cops toss Spaeth in jail immediately. Spaeth is defended by a longtime friend of Boston private eye John Francis Cuddy, who reluctantly agrees to investigate. Although Cuddy finds Spaeth repugnant, he begins to believe his story. Soon other suspects emerge: the unidentified woman Gant left a restaurant with the night he was killed; the restaurant's owners, whom Gant once sent to prison; Gant's colleagues at the law firm he was about to abandon. The twelfth entry in the Shamus-winning Cuddy series is noteworthy for its byzantine plot as well as the usual Cuddy strengths: characterization, dialogue, and explosive action. Wes Lukowsky

From Kirkus Reviews
A successful Boston divorce lawyer has been executed; the estranged husband of his latest client, a churlish bigot, has been arrested for the murder. What's not to like, right? But John Francis Cuddy reluctantly agrees to help Alan Spaeth's lawyer with Spaeth's defense, even though signing onto Spaeth's cause obviously won't help Cuddy's relationship with Nancy Meagher, his favorite prosecutor. After days of beating the bushes, Cuddy comes up with any number of people who might've wanted Woodrow Gant dead: his most recent lover, the unemployed brother who benefitted to the tune of a $100,000 insurance policy, the law partner whose payoff was ten times richer, the onetime gang- banger whose stint in prison did nothing to make him forget the lawyer who put him there. What he doesn't find is any evidence that his client is innocent. Worse still, the most important discovery the cops make, Spaeth's alibi witness, is in no shape to testify on his buddy's behalf, and it's clear that Cuddy's cage-rattling is getting to the killer. Looks like Cuddy's 12th will be a bust--unless there's a last-minute burst of evidence whose timing puts this case well below Invasion of Privacy (1996). -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
The Pilot (Southern Pines, NC) Healy has quietly labored for the better part of two decades to make the John Francis Cuddy novels among the best in the hard-boiled sub-genre. This, the twelfth in the series, is one of the best.

Book Description
Shamus Award-winning author Jeremiah Healy never fails to deliver scintillating, perfectly pitched mystery masterpieces in what The New York Times Book Review calls "a superior series." Now he "looks ready to join the honors class of private-eye writers that includes Robert B. Parker" (USA Today), as he introduces us to The Only Good Lawer As a favor to a friend, Boston P.I. John Francis Cuddy is looking into the case of Alan Spaeth -- a racist, a misogynist, and a suspected cold-blooded killer. But as much as he's repulsed by the accused, Cuddy's convinced of Spaeth's innocence; he's also intrigued by the victim, Woodrow Wilson Gant, the African-American lawyer who had been representing Spaeth's wife in a very nasty divorce. Three quick bullets on a deserted roadside knocked Gant's rising star out of the Boston skyline for good, and now Cuddy's discovered the attorney was a man of strange desires -- and deadly secrets. Ricocheting from Gant's law offices, Cuddy picks up the trail of a woman who fled the scene of the murder and stumbles on a more personal question. The mere mention of Gant's name puts a cold, hard kink in his relationship with Assistant D.A. Nancy Meagher, and Cuddy's losing sleep wondering why. With greed, revenge, and jealousy just a few of the motives in Gant's high-profile homicide, it's up to Cuddy to explore the raw passion -- and touch every nerve -- of a city on the edge.

About the Author
Jeremiah Healy is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He won the Shamus award for Best Novel for The Staked Goat, and has been nominated five additional times for both Best Novel and Best Short Story. His newest novel, Spiral, the thirteenth in his acclaimed series featuring John Francis Cuddy, is currently available in hardcover from Pocket Books.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

An attorney friend of Boston P.I. John Cuddy has called in a favor, looking into the case of Alan Spaeth. Spaeth is one sorry piece of work - a down-and-out divorce squeeze, a racist, a misogynist, and from all appearances, a cold-blooded killer. Frankly wishing the whole mess would disappear, Cuddy can't let it. It pains him, but he's convinced of Spaeth's innocence, and he isn't the kind of P.I. who can watch even a guy like Spaeth fry for someone else's crime. As much as Cuddy is repulsed by the accused, he's intrigued by the victim, Woodrow Wilson Gant, the African-American lawyer who had been representing Spaeth's wife in a very nasty divorce. Ricocheting from Gant's law offices, Cuddy picks up the trail of a woman who fled the scene of the murder. Rousted by a couple of loan sharks and conned by Gant's avaricious brother, Cuddy stumbles on a more personal question. The mere mention of Gant's name puts a cold, hard kink in his relationship with Assistant D. A. Nancy Meagher, and Cuddy's losing sleep wondering why.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In the 12th John Francis Cuddy mystery (after 1996's Invasion of Privacy), Healy again pungently conjures the people and geography of working-class Boston while delivering a portrait of the hero as a man of principle and a meticulously detailed description of the workwarts, boredom and allof being a PI. But the overall impact of this tale is seriously compromised by an unconvincing resolution. Asked by an attorney friend to take on a particularly repellent client, a loutish racist charged with killing his wife's African American divorce lawyer, the reluctant Cuddy finds himself gradually believing that Alan Spaeth is being framed. Searching for other suspects in the fatal roadside shooting of Woodrow Wilson Gant, Cuddy comes up with a debt-ridden brother, a dangerous pair of Amerasian gangsters and various partners in Gant's firm with devious private agendas. Along the way, Cuddy is badly beaten and seriously shot. His involvement in the case brings about a rupture in his love life with a female prosecutor, and he manages to find time for a trademark graveside chat with his late wife. But the plot doesn't do the ambience justice, marking Healy's latest as a rare disappointment. (Mar.)

Library Journal

Boston private investigator John Cuddy despises his employer's clientaccused of murdering an up-and-coming African American lawyerbut believes in his innocence. He turns, therefore, to secrets in the murder victim's past. A good series addition from a practiced hand.

Kirkus Reviews

A successful Boston divorce lawyer has been executed; the estranged husband of his latest client, a churlish bigot, has been arrested for the murder. What's not to like, right? But John Francis Cuddy reluctantly agrees to help Alan Spaeth's lawyer with Spaeth's defense, even though signing onto Spaeth's cause obviously won't help Cuddy's relationship with Nancy Meagher, his favorite prosecutor. After days of beating the bushes, Cuddy comes up with any number of people who might've wanted Woodrow Gant dead: his most recent lover, the unemployed brother who benefitted to the tune of a $100,000 insurance policy, the law partner whose payoff was ten times richer, the onetime gang- banger whose stint in prison did nothing to make him forget the lawyer who put him there. What he doesn't find is any evidence that his client is innocent. Worse still, the most important discovery the cops make, Spaeth's alibi witness, is in no shape to testify on his buddy's behalf, and it's clear that Cuddy's cage-rattling is getting to the killer. Looks like Cuddy's 12th will be a bust—unless there's a last-minute burst of evidence whose timing puts this case well below Invasion of Privacy (1996).