Due Diligence

By Michael A. Kahn

Book Overview

"Quite definitely addictive . . . a must-read, written with wit and humor and peopled with multidimensional characters. What more could a reader ask for?" --Mary Balogh, New York Times bestselling author

The phone call Rachel Gold received from a nervous CPA almost seemed routine. Rosenthal wanted to meet with her to discuss something confidential about a corporate merger. Hardly an unusual request of a lawyer. But Rosenthal never made it to the meeting--and when his corpse is discovered, it was clear he had died under circumstances too bizarre to believe. Having never even met the murdered CPA, Rachel is willing to let the police try to close the case. But that all changes with the next victim--someone so dear to Rachel that the hunt for the killer becomes her personal vendetta.

What lethal facts did the slain accountant find buried in the books of Armstrong Bioproducts while doing the pre-merger due diligence? Was there any connection between that pharmaceutical company and the presidential campaign of Rachel's political hero, Dr. Douglas Armstrong? Armstrong, the founder of Armstrong Bioproducts, is now the junior senator from Missouri. And what was the significance, if any, of the yellowed typewritten lists of names of residents of two St. Louis nursing homes that had gone out of business decades earlier?

Teaming up again with her best friend, Benny Goldberg, Rachel seeks her own measure of vengeance. As other corpses show up, her pursuit will take her from the upper strata of St. Louis society to the elaborate network of limestone caves far beneath the streets of St. Louis, where the answers to the mystery--along with the murderers themselves--await her arrival.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1464204446
• ISBN13: 9781464204449
• Release Date: July 2015
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

prescription medicine

excellent legal tale with a timely theme at its center: how drugs are brought to market. a foreign takeover of a small pharmaceutical company offers insights into the origin and importance of trademarks and the fda approval process. smooth, confident narrative tone and engaging characters.

Book is great; movie could be even better

Upon reflection, Due Dilligence may be the best Rachel Gold story yet -- certainly it's the one with the most potential as a movie. In fact, it's a natural. Graphically, the opening scene is scary in reading and would be even moreso visually. The story is clever, intricately woven, with enough false leads to keep everyone guessing, and ends with a satisfying confrontation between Rachel and a surprising prime villain preceded by a life-and-death chase through the underground tunnels of old St. Louis -- again, something that would work even better darkly seen in a movie than a book. But the book works, oh, does it work. There is a sweet romance with a tragic ending for our heroine and, for a bit of lightness, a couple of memorable softball moments. The vallainy hinges on someone actually trying to do some good at its start, another ends-justify-the-means moral issue. And Rachel's closing confrontational comment: "You've destroyed enough universes for a lifetime" is the most satisfying resolution, morally and structurally. I can't wait for the movie, Mr. Kahn.

outstanding!!!

john grisham style with john. very tough to put this book down. keep up the rachel gold series.

Great female character in book written by a male; FUNNY

Real life lawyer Kahn does a good job with his female lawyer character, Rachel Gold. Her raunchy friend, Benny, keeps Ms. Gold from taking herself too seriously. For people who know St. Louis, the book is full of local references...you always know where Rachel is about town. I had several good laughs in this book, in my opinion, the best of Kahn's Rachel Gold books.