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Ali Reynolds's life is filled with lawyers. When she turned 40, she was fired from her newscasting job at a major network, so she hired an attorney to defend her in an age discrimination suit. Then, when her network executive husband, Paul Grayson, threw her over for a young, extremely pregnant younger woman, a messy divorce --- and another bank of lawyers --- soon followed. As WEB OF EVIL opens, Ali has agreed to come to Los Angeles from her new home in Sedona, Arizona, to sign the divorce papers.
As she races through the night to make the 10:00 a.m. court appearance (which would allow her husband to get married in the afternoon), she notices lights flashing and oncoming emergency vehicles heading for an accident scene near a railroad crossing in the remote Mohave Desert.
Ali won't find out until later the next day that the victim of the car/train incident is her husband. He wasn't driving, but was bound and gagged in the trunk of the car, and left abandoned on the railroad tracks. Before the day is out, she'll be hiring yet another attorney --- this time it's the best defense lawyer money can buy --- as she becomes the prime suspect in her husband's murder.
In the eyes of the LA police, Ali had plenty of motive and --- when they find out that she was in the vicinity of the car wreck --- opportunity. His will, worth millions of dollars, wasn't scheduled to be changed in favor of his bride until after the wedding ceremony. What follows is a complicated high-stakes trail tracing the producers of a new reality show, money laundering schemes and a gold-digging mother of the bride who seems intent on making certain that Ali is charged with Paul's murder.
Ali writes a popular Internet blog, called Cutloose.com, where she chronicles the trials and tribulations of a young woman set free by circumstances. She makes it clear that she's more than happy to be rid of Paul, or Fang as she refers to him, and fans read and respond to her entries with increasing support and concern. She tries to keep up with her blog, which only adds fuel to the fire as she inadvertently makes incriminating statements before she or anyone else knows that Paul is dead. Once she becomes a suspect, she is cautioned to take a break from blogging. But frightening entries and threats begin to appear.
When the bride's mother turns up dead, the net tightens around Ali as the suspect in another suspicious death.
Ali's mom, who runs a diner in Sedona, shows up to help, and an old school chum who is a cop comes out to LA to assist her in finding the real killer.
WEB OF EVIL is the second in a newly developing series for J. A. Jance. The first, EDGE OF EVIL, introduced readers to Ali. Other well-known and favorite characters in prior series are the famous J.P. Beaumont, the now-aging Seattle cop who made Jance a household name among mystery readers, and Joanna Brady, the Cochise County sheriff in the Arizona series.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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