House Witness

House Witness by Mike Lawson, 353 pages.
In his twelfth Joe Demarco thriller, Lawson has regained his old form. All of the stories are good, but some of them are merely good. This one is fast-paced and lean. DeMarco, semi-attorney, sometimes investigator, occasional-bagman, and full-time fixer is sent off to Manhattan by his boss, Minority Leader of the House, John Mahoney, to make sure that the murderer of one Dominic DiNunzio is found guilty and sent to prison. Joe is only told that his boss is interested because the dead man's mother is an old friend of the Congressman. When the slam dunk murder case against alleged killer Toby Rosenthal starts falling apart, DeMarco has to figure out the why, and the who in a short period of time. DeMarco, the DA assigned to the case, and an unpaid intern race the clock trying to find a shadowy jury specialist who help the ultra-rich evade justice. Lawson, who always writes a good story, trims down the narrative and barely mentions many of his regular characters and that helps keep this tale taut and focused. The villains are drawn well and are interesting characters in their own right, especially Ella, who is not super evil, just competent and determined and maybe a bit of a sociopath. She has a life plan and needs to get on with things. Joe doesn't find any life affirming answers, doesn't find any clues about his past, and doesn't find a new love. He gets lucky and solves the case.