Last Chants

Willa Jansson #5

by Lia Matera

Willa Jansson becomes a fugitive, along with an old family friend, mythology scholar Arthur Kenna, the prime suspect in a murder, and finds herself caught up in a bizarre world of eccentric high-tech software designers as she investigates the crime to clear her and Arthur's names. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Lia Matera is a graduate of Hastings College of the Law, where she was editor in chief of the Constitutional Law Quarterly. She was also a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School before becoming a full-time writer of legal mysteries. Prior Convictions and A Radical Departure were nominated for Edgar Allan Poe awards. The Good Fight and Where Lawyers Fear to Tread were nominated for Anthony and Macavity Awards. She has written nine novels, including the critically acclaimed Face Value. Matera lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Reviews

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Last Chants by Lia Matera is the 5th book of the Willa Jansson mystery series set in 1990s San Francisco area. Willa is on her way to her first day at a new job with a multimedia legal firm. She's just one of the throng walking to work in San Francisco, when she spots an old, dear friend. To her shock, he's pointing a gun at someone. Willa knows there is no way Arthur could really commit a violent crime. But a policeman is heading his way. California's 3 strikes law will mean prison for life for Arthur, since he's been arrested before for radical protests with her parents.

Willa outraces the policeman to Arthur, drags him along in flight through alleys to evade the police. Arthur keeps wanting to stop and explain what happened, but she will not stop. He doesn't understand that pointing a gun (for whatever reason) is guaranteed life imprisonment. Willa learns that a murder victim was discovered the same day, someone Arthur knew very well: Billy Seawuitt. For sure they're both hunted by the police now.

She needs to keep herself and Arthur hidden until publicity dies down, but how? Edward has a rustic shack in the woods, up in the mountains. It's very rustic, but a good hiding place. Or is it? Turns out the nearby small town has a storefront business that just happens to be a client of her new firm. (Of course, she didn't show up on the first day...but she plans to spin a yarn to get by that technical detail.) And it also turns out they hired the murder victim as a consultant.

Willa must solve the murder mystery before revealing their whereabouts. She also must stay away from a violent, perhaps crazy, woman who is much larger and stronger than Willa. So Willa has to learn the mystic legends that brought Seawuitt to the "Bowl Rock". As well as fend off hostile strangers they encounter in the woods. Are these men really on a fishing or hunting trip, in business clothes?

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a good storyline. Mystery and legal drama. Interesting and intriguing characters to say the least. The plot kept me engaged and hooked however, arthur’s very detailed explanation for everything made it drag and slow the excitement for me personally. Though most of his thoughts and ideas were interesting i felt the author had him over do it far too much in his explanations. Solid read though.

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, so Willa "gets kidnapped" by an old friend to save him from going to jail, and they end up hiding from police in a cabin near where her friend's assistant was killed. The plot also involves high tech wars & religious anthropology. Actually, the plot was a little weird, but the background was fun to untangle.

[Darlis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an ok summer read.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

#5 of a series. Perhaps if I had read the others in order I would have liked it better.