police procedurals

There's a new star on the scene of the mystery/suspense genre: Brian Haig. I was suspicious at first of this brother of General Alexander Haig, thinking maybe Brian was taking advantage of easy celebrity. No way. Brian Haig proves his talent in Private Sector, written in an energetic, light-hearted style with a good dose of self-deprecating humor.

Sean Drummond is perfectly happy as an Army Attorney, not particularly excited about participating in an attorney exchange program between the Army and the "Private Sector", assigned to a high profile, high-billing law firm. But Sean signed up to follow orders. As the fledgling member of the prestigious D.C. law firm, Sean wastes no time establishing his reputation as a bad boy, unconcerned with keeping this particular assignment. Clearly, Drummond has no love for this arrogant group, specialized litigators who cater to the most elite of Washington businessmen. Sean readily disdains the smooth talkers with their extravagant lifestyles and has no intention of fitting into this particular niche.

Sean is baffled by the aura of menace that surfaces as soon as he begins to ask questions about his predecessor, a young woman recently found murdered. Naturally inquisitive, Drummond is especially interested, since he once dated the young woman. Any attempt on his part to uncover her activities at the firm before her death is met with a wall of silence, which, of course, only piques Sean's curiosity. He appears to spend his days cavorting through his duties in designer suits, driving a new Jaguar provided by the firm, but, in reality, he is intent on uncovering the circumstances that led to this strange death.

Not one to be easily thwarted or intimidated, Drummond enlists the aid of a D.C .cop and an Assistant D.A., who also happens to be the sister of the murdered girl. Continuing his pursuit of inside information, Drummond uncovers a convoluted plot with serious implications of government interference. Then other young women are killed, each in a similar fashion, although with progressively more violence. The police request help from the FBI, assuming they are dealing with a serial killer, but there is far more involved than the apparent serial murders. As Sean and Janet delve deeper than is prudent, their actions put them both in imminent jeopardy.

In Private Sector, Brian Haig serves up a volatile mix of sociopathic assassins, CIA operatives and FBI investigators, with frightening implications. A sly master of bluff and bravado, Haig's Sean Drummond is a sympathetic, even endearing, character, easy to like, imperfections and all. Oblivious to personal danger, Drummond stubbornly pursues the motive and the murderer, refusing to ignore conflicting motives that may impact his investigation. Take the infamous inter-agency conflicts between the CIA and the FBI, add a twisted plot with international criminal overtones and you have a nicely stylized mystery novel by a talented author. Haig knows how to tell a story. This young author is ensured a bright future, with his fresh voice and penchant for innovative plotting. Luan Gaines/ 2003.

Stellar voice performers John Rubinstein and Michael Emerson give can't-stop-listening-to readings of this thoroughly entertaining thriller. Happily, author Haig reprises his attractive but prickly hero Sean Drummond.

An Army attorney Drummond seems to thrive on being a burr under anyone and everyone's saddle. He's loaned out to a prestigious Washington, D.C. law firm where he proceeds to nettle and needle. There's not a one of his new compadres with whom he has anything in common, although the perks and office space are commendable.

JAG officer Lisa Morrow is brutally killed. Murdered, in fact, when she's going to meet Drummond. He has barely begun investigating this crime when other professional women are murdered and Drummond realizes there's a psycho serial killer on the loose.

In addition, he is beginning to detect a foul odor emanating from the firm's most important client. Something is not only wrong - it's dead wrong. Soon the indefatigable Drummond finds himself in the middle of doings more heinous than any he has ever seen.

A fast paced narrative and rapid fire action propel Haig's latest.

- Gail Cooke

I just love wise-cracking protagonists; they have a skill I've never been able to develop. Sean Drummond is the JAG attorney creation of Brian Haig, son of Alexander (you know, of "Don't worry, Alex is here. I'm in charge, so nothing to worry about" fame), but I won't hold that against him.
Major Drummond has been asked to spend a year working for a private law firm - Culper, Hutch, and Westin - that represent some of the District of Columbia's most respectable institutions, as an experiment in army/private sector cooperation. The fact that he is unpopular with his army superiors for his sharp tongue and insubordination might also have had something to do with it. Drummond begins irritating his stuffed shirt bosses from the moment he arrives. He figures if he makes himself sufficiently unpopular, he can get himself kicked out of the program, where he follows in the footsteps at the law firm of Lisa Morrow, another JAG officer and Sean's erstwhile old flame.
Lisa had been killed in the Pentagon parking lot just before a dinner date that Sean hopes might rekindle some of the former embers. Her death is followed by three others, all the ostensible work of a serial killer whose modus operandi appears very similar to that of the LA Killer of several years before, i.e., the victims' necks had all been snapped. There was no apparent connection between the victims.
Sean, in the meantime has become embroiled in an audit of Morris Telecommunications, a company that has retained his law firm. Sean discovers some unusual financial arrangements, but he has no reason to suspect anything particularly nefarious until his brother, a financial wizard with spreadsheets, points out that several "swaps" on Morris's books put Sean's firm in some financial jeopardy. (Swaps are what sank Enron. Basically, two entities get together to show revenue on their books for the largely insubstantial use of each other's services. It's a way of propping up income statements to keep stock prices up, all legal according to generally accepted accounting principles, but another reason to shoot the accountants before going after the lawyers. :)) ) Drummond also begins to realize that the firm's attorneys might be capitalizing on his inexperience with corporate law to set him up as a fall guy. They to reckon without his long experience as a criminal attorney for the army.
In the meantime, Janet Morrow, Lisa's sister and assistant district attorney in Boston, has decided to follow the investigation into her sister's death from close up. She and Sean discover that Lisa's emails had been hidden and quarantined in the firm's network behind a secure firewall. Sean is accused of malfeasance by the firm, but by some not-so-subtle pressure on the privates of his boss (in a very funny scene), Sean extorts the help of the firm's computer expert to examine Lisa's emails. It's there that he discovers a link between the victims. Lisa had known all of them.
Soon Drummond is snared in a mesh of conflicting loyalties, as he discovers that some governmental agencies are involved in some very secret business. A fun read. Drummond is a great character who ranks with Nelson DeMille's wiseacre CID investigator.