The sequel to Edgar-nominated A Criminal Appeal marks the return of Nora Lumsey: self-described "big-boned" deputy public defender with a passion for justice, a weakness for the wrong men, and a talent for putting herself in the line of fire. This time, Nora investigates the grotesque murder of her ex-lover - a womanizing, cocaine-addicted law professor who espouses Darwinism. Natural Law also introduces Luther Cox, a rural police detective who consults the I-Ching and paints landscapes, and who must confront evidence of his role in a police cover-up involving a crime committed by one of the local university's star basketball players. As the plot unfolds, Nora and Luther find themselves both allied and at odds as they ferret out a sordid conspiracy implicating a civic-minded pimp who plays violin in the local symphony, twin teenage trailer-park prostitutes named Stormi and Sunni Skye, and a university basketball coach with a genius for manipulation and a taste for the wild side. A brilliantly detailed portrait of a stratified community in which drugs, sex, basketball, and murder accord social equality, Natural Law is at once a philosophical mystery and page-turning thriller that will leave readers enthralled with the breadth of its vision and the depth of its emotional resonance. While defending a drug-addicted prostitute accused of murder, attorney Nora Lumsey uncovers police wrongdoing, rape by an Indiana University basketball player, and much more. A solid second to the author's first novel, A Criminal Appeal (LJ 9/1/98), nominated for an Edgar. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. A corpse is found in an Indiana cornfield. The discovery of the body, that of a distinguished but controversial and greatly despised law professor, draws in a hard-luck hooker, a conflicted and self-hating public defender, and a depressive, artistic cop. This is the second appearance for the public defender, Nora Lumsey, who starred in Schanker's preceding procedural, the Edgar-nominated A Criminal Appeal (1998). In this character-complex sequel, Lumsey, a woman who, feeling herself an outcast, is drawn to her scum-of-the-earth clients, shares the spotlight with the cop on the case, Luther Cox. Shanker effectively shuttles back and forth between their perspectives, giving the reader a view from both sides of a case that moves from raggedy trailer parks to well-appointed law-school offices to the splendidly appointed domain of the real power at the university, the rapacious basketball coach. Nice pacing, in-depth insights into the lurchings of the law, and a stunning climax. Connie Fletcher Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved