BRASH ENDEAVOR

William Manchee

A Stan Turner Mystery, Book II

Top Publications, July 1998,

Trade Paperback  ISBN # 1-884570-89-5

Step into the shoes of Dallas attorney, Stan Turner, in the late 1970's as he begins the practice of law. Then hang on for the ride of your life as Stan immediately steps into a rattlesnake's nest and has to do some fancy two-steppin' to avoid a lethal strike from his own clients. When Stan's wife, Rebekah, is arrested for murder and a client turns out to be a ghost, Stan turns in his legal pad for a detective's notebook and goes to work to solve these most perplexing mysteries.

Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Stan pushes on relentlessly to extricate himself and his family from certain doom. Sex, greed and a lust for power drive this most extraordinary novel to a stunning conclusion.

Review, Dallas Observer

Thursday, July 30, 1998

William Manchee could be Dallas answer to John Grisham. Manchee, an author who has maintained a private law firm in Dallas since 1975, recently published Brash Endeavor, a page-turning tale of a small-time lawyer in over his head with some big time clients. Just like Grisham's books, the protagonist apppears to be a thinly veiledversion of Manchee. The novel follows Stan Turner--the character that Manchee introduced in the well-received Undaunted as he moves to Dallas to open up his own law practice and becomes involved with an insurance scam that ends up with his wife being falsely accused of murder. It sounds like just the kind of potboiler that Grisham is know for. Let's just hope Manchee doesn't option any of his books to movie producers.

Stan Turner and his wife Rebekah are unaware exactly how their lives are about to change when Stan determines to open his own law practice. Following this decision the only steady, reliable income coming into their home is derived from Rebekah’s work a few hours each week at the nearby Central Receiving Hospital where she in ICU/ER nurse.

Much to the delight of Stan and Rebekah clients and the promise of constant income do soon appear, Stan’s old friend Kurt Harrison sends the flamboyant Gena Lombardi and her problems to Stan, Inca Oil needs an attorney to do land title searches, Kurt introduces Dan Kelley. Things are looking up.

An offer for a percentage in an oil well rather than a fee for work performed is viewed by Stan as a method for insuring a good steady income. The only fly in the ointment is Rebekah’s growing dissatisfaction and plain old wifely jealousy for the attractive women Stan meets in the course of his work.

When Stan and the nubile wife of a client are found in a clinch out at the ‘coming in’ party held at the newly opened well Rebekah is sure her suspicions are well founded. A short time later Stan finds himself facing the fact of his wife’s arrest for the death of that wife of a client, caring for his four young kiddies with the help of Rebekah’s mother and trying to unravel how it has all gone so wrong.

Merge Robert B. Parker’s ‘Paper Doll,’ with ‘Traitorous Intent’ by Charlotte Lacey along with a generous splash of plain old Erle Stanley Gardner intrigue for an idea of what BRASH ENDEAVOR is all about. This mystery thriller by clever writer William Manchee is a ‘keep you turning the page’ read.

The jealousy felt by Rebekah is plausible and the desperation driven behavior of her husband to find answers to incomprehensible questions is as thinkable. Stan knows no matter how upset Rebekah may have felt; the woman he has married, loved and had four children with could not have done such a thing as to kill someone. He knows he will have to sort it all out, find the actual murderer and rescue Rebekah from the morass in which they find themselves. The interwoven personal issues between husband and wife, between Stan and his clients, between Turner and the police are all very believable in this intricately wrought thriller by Dallas, Texas attorney Manchee.

Manchee’s deftness for the human situation and his expressive narrative draw the reader straiaght into the tale. This experienced writer has a discernment of the human psyche many do not possess. He uses that understanding to present an assemblage of characters so distinctive and credible the reader believes they must be actual people.

BRASH ENDEAVOR offers the reader a peek inside the daily lives of individuals who are interesting and fun and wholly plausible. BRASH ENDEAVOR is another in a series of William Manchee’s ‘Stan Turner’ mystery thrillers. My favorite type of book, good solid writing filled with believable characters and situations, no graphic sex thrown in just to sell the book or to try to cover up lack of writing skill, no silly posturing, this is just a good, well written book . We who enjoy thrillers can only hope writer Manchee is hard at work on the next in the series and that many more Stan Turner novels are soon forthcoming. BRASH ENDEAVOR is a tale that will grab you from the first line and will hold you tight right on down to the last page. Very perceptive and highly recommended.