Jack MacTaggart

A Finalist for Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel A Finalist for Left Coast Crime's 2013 Rocky Award When Hush Puppy, Pasadena socialite Sydney Everett's champion show horse, dies under suspicious circumstances, junior lawyer Jack MacTaggart is assigned to handle the insurance claim. But the case soon takes an unexpected turn, thrusting Jack into a spiraling web of blackmail and murder in which he finds himself both the prime suspect and the next likely victim. In this acclaimed debut novel, the first in a series, former Los Angeles trial lawyer Chuck Greaves takes readers into the high-stakes worlds of big-firm litigation and professional equestrian show-jumping, where no one can be trusted, and where nothing is quite what it seems.

U.S. Senate candidate Warren Burkett has a history of marital infidelity. Three weeks before Election Day, Burkett comes to the aid of a beautiful green-eyed lady, only to find himself alone and naked in a stranger's home from which a priceless painting is missing. As the resulting scandal threatens to tilt the election, the painting turns up in a most unexpected place ... and so does a dead body. Hired to defend Burkett and unravel the deepening mystery, Jack MacTaggart must traverse a minefield of ruthless politicians, felonious art dealers, swarming paparazzi, the amorous wife of Burkett's billionaire opponent, her mobbed-up brother, and a district attorney with an old score to settle. With the electoral clock ticking and the press following his every move, Jack's investigation leads him on a roller-coaster ride through the lofty heights and gritty depths of Los Angeles and Southern California, lending new meaning to the adage that all's fair in love and politics.

Philippe Giroux, estimable patriarch of the Château Giroux wine empire, has tragically lost a son. Or, has he? Once confirmed by the court, Alain Giroux's death will pave the way for his brother Phil to inherit America's most storied winery. Or, will it? Andy Clarkson, Alain's boyhood chum, covets the Château Giroux vineyard acreage for his neighboring golf resort. Or, does he? Claudia Giroux, Philippe's hauntingly beautiful daughter, has proof that Alain's death may not have been all that it seems. Or, does she? As the scions of a privileged California wine dynasty grapple for control of their family's legacy, attorney Jack MacTaggart is caught in a cross fire of estrangement, betrayal, and murder. To complicate matters, Jack is being shadowed by film star Ethan Scott, who hopes to spin the dross of a family's private travails into box-office gold. Amid the stately oaks and sylvan vineyards of California's fabled Napa Valley, Jack learns the hard way that while blood may be thicker than water, money is a powerful anticoagulant. As the long-buried secrets of a troubled family are finally revealed, only one question remains to be answered: Who will survive to become the Last Heir?