THE DREAMER by Sheldon Siegel
Sheldon Siegel has now written eleven Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez novels. I have read them all. Some have been good while others have been great. All have been well written, easy to read stories about a pair of lawyers in San Fransisco who once were married and worked together in the legal profession. Now they are divorced and still work together in the legal profession. Rosie is the city’s Public Defender and Mike works in her office. They are the classical example of “can’t live with you but can’t live without you.”
One day Rosie is approached by her mother to take on the case of Mercy Tejada. She is a young woman who worked for one of the most promising chefs in San Francisco. He was definitely a rising star and his restaurant was the place to eat. But he was an obnoxious individual who hit on his staff for sexual favors. Mercy had been the object of his advances at one time. She rejected him and they had words. Still she continued to work for him right up to the night she found him stabbed and bleeding out..
Mercy said she discovered him lying beside his car in the back of the restaurant and tried to help by removing the knife. The police said she stabbed him since her prints were the only ones on the knife. Rosie and Mike have to convince a jury she is telling the truth. The fact she is a “dreamer” in California and her mother is an “illegal” makes things more complicated.
This is basic Siegel from start to finish. You have a crime; you have an uphill battle; you have events that complicate the trial – and then it is over. Along the way you get a little more insight into the relationship between Mike and Rosie as well as with their children and assorted family members. If you have read any of the previous novels you are already familiar with these other characters.
The main take away from this book is that it is comfortable reading. Mike and Rosie are two of my favorite characters in literature. I feel I know them so well I could tell you their favorite foods or movies. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Siegel to write about any other characters. I need my yearly dose of these two’s adventures.
Still all of Siegel’s books are good or great. THE DREAMER is a good book because it is comfortable one. Maybe it is time to get Rosie and Mike into some uncomfortable situations. Uncomfortable might lead them back to great.
Sheldon Siegel’s THE DREAMER is available in hardcover, paperback and ebook on Amazon and in audio on Audible.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
