Disappearing Cryptography, Second Edition - Information Hiding: Steganography and Watermarking (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Software Engineering and Programming)

Book Description

Disappearing Cryptography, Second Edition describes how to take words, sounds, or images and hide them in digital data so they look like other words, sounds, or images. When used properly, this powerful technique makes it almost impossible to trace the author and the recipient of a message. Conversations can be submerged in the flow of information through the Internet so that no one can know if a conversation exists at all.

This full revision of the best-selling first edition describes a number of different techniques to hide information. These include encryption, making data incomprehensible; steganography, embedding information into video, audio, or graphics files; watermarking, hiding data in the noise of image or sound files; mimicry, "dressing up" data and making it appear to be other data, and more. The second edition also includes an expanded discussion on hiding information with spread-spectrum algorithms, shuffling tricks, and synthetic worlds. Each chapter is divided into sections, first providing an introduction and high-level summary for those who want to understand the concepts without wading through technical explanations, and then presenting greater detail for those who want to write their own programs. To encourage exploration, the author's Web site www.wayner.org/books/discrypt2/ contains implementations for hiding information in lists, sentences, and images.

Each chapter is divided into sections, providing first an introduction and high-level summary for those who want to understand the concepts without wading through technical details, and then an introductory set of details, for those who want to write their own programs. Fully revised and expanded. Covers key concepts for non-technical readers. Goes into technical details for those wanting to create their own programs and implement algorithms. Up-to-date website containing the code samples from the book.

Customer Reviews:

Accessible introduction to a fascinating topic.......2006-08-13

This is a very easy read that does not really assume much about the reader other than mathematical maturity at the precalculus level, knowledge of programming in a higher level language, and a curiosity about hiding information in such things as images. In fact, I bought this book to get a grasp on how to hide a watermark in an image. The early chapters are devoted to material that forms the basic toolkit for steganography - private key encryption, secret sharing, and error correcting codes. The later chapters describe how to apply these techniques in various ways to hide information.

Chapter 5 discusses common data compression algorithms, not to the point that you could write an encoder/decoder system, but so that you know which allow perfect reconstruction and which do not. Compression leads to the topic of mimicry, which is the subject of chapter 6. Basic mimicry produces text that looks statistically similar to the original text but is far from perfect. Chapter 7 shows methods of improving mimicry techniques so that the mimicked text not only passes statistical tests for similarity to the original, but passes rules for grammar. This leads to the concept of context free grammars and their role in mimicry. Thus, you can hide data in realistic sounding text.

Chapter 8 concentrates on a robust and complete model known as the Turing machine. Such a machine hides data as it "runs forward", while running the machine in reverse allows the hidden data to be recovered. Certain proofs show that this is a stronger data hiding model than those previously discussed.

Chapter nine discusses a more image-processing related data hiding topic - hiding in the noise. What appears as noise to the untrained eye can actually be a message. Of course, the flip side of this is "real" noise has the power to obscure the hidden message.

Chapter 10 discusses anonymous remailers, which is the deletion of the name of the originator of a message by an intermediate node. Such systems can range from very secure to very insecure depending on strategies involved. Chapter 11,"Secret Broadcasts", is a companion chapter on how to broadcast a message so that everyone can read it but nobody knows the source. The solution lies in the "Dining Cryptographers" algorithm, and this solution is discussed at length.

Chapter 12, "Keys", discusses message keys as extensions to the concept of keys in basic cryptography, which was discussed earlier in the book. Adding keys to any algorithm discussed up to this point makes that algorithm stronger. Chapter 13, "Ordering and Reordering", discusses how steganography strategies might be disrupted by reordering parts of a message, and discusses methods that might prevent this from being a problem.

Chapter 14, "Spreading", is a more mathematical chapter than the preceding ones and takes a different approach to the problem of information hiding. It takes ideas from spread spectrum radio and applies them to steganography. This is the one chapter where a knowledge of calculus, Fourier transforms, and even wavelets will be helpful.

The last three chapters, "Synthetic Worlds", "Watermarks", and "Steganalysis" are short and more subjective than previous ones, mainly giving the reader a broad overview of these topics.

The book has a wealth of algorithms, equations, and simple examples. There is even a very basic Java mimicry program in the appendix. However, this is not a programming book full of ready to implement solutions - you will have to do that yourself. There are numerous references to web addresses where you can find both executable and source code for implementing some of the algorithms mentioned in this book. I would say if you are interested in hiding information in data of any kind - text, sound, imagery, etc. - then this book is essential reading. I highly recommend it.

One year after purchase, I keep opening this book.......2003-08-18

All in all just a fascinating book on a fascinating topic. In general, the introductory parts of each chapter are accessible to anyone with a standard 12 year education. The mathematics are best understood by people with a background in algebra and statistics at the American High School level, but not much more. If you buy this book, expect John Ashcroft to put your name on a list of people buying dangerous published works (and with the Patriot Act in place, I am neither paranoid nor joking). The best chapter is the one about encoding information in ordered lists. This book taught me how to include a one line hidden message in a 50 item list of my favorite Country and Western Songs of all time (and THAT is a cool thing to do).

Excelent book.......2003-02-12

I read the entire book from first to last page and enjoyed the content absolutely. The book has theory and practice, clear examples and many references to free and open source software to make tests. The math part has razonable level (not too much, not to little). I have no found anything better in the area.
Good for Peter Wayner!

P.D. ...

You know you are a crypto geek when...........2002-09-30

This book is a great introduction to learning how to hide data in places most people wouldn't think about looking. Sample code and various URL's are provided for places to start, this not the easiest subject to grasp, but the book helps put it at a manageable level.

A great place to start!...

Cool, deep, although a bit goofy.......2002-06-16

This is a deep, serious book about making information transmogrify, even if there are a few silly parts. I liked the funny parts and they reminded me of Goedel Escher and Bach

Amazon.com

Per Larson knows that money makes the world go 'round, and he's tired of watching the gay community running to catch up. In Gay Money, he tackles the financial problems and overlooked opportunities facing gay America. The first part of the book highlights the money-related pitfalls common to certain decades of a gay person's life, and the reparative actions that can be taken. Short, real-life examples are used to illustrate coming out and partying in one's 20s, the financial wake-up call of one's 30s, and the possible stability of one's 40s. Larson offers advice on such topics as coming out at work, breaking out of the gay ghetto, legal protection for sharing arrangements, coverage of assets and final wishes, and which gay-related organizations are worthy of your contributions.

The second part of the book tackles more general financial obstacles and surfaces some perhaps unforeseen opportunities to hurdle them. While the broad strategy to financial success is not so different for gays and lesbians (referred to in the book as "the 90%") than for straights (invest early, plan for retirement, spend disposable income wisely, buy real estate), Larson takes great care in illustrating what distinguishes the experience of gays and lesbians from that of straights. He covers the laws and tax codes that often place gays and lesbians at a financial disadvantage; he also addresses access to assets that married heterosexual couples with children do not have.

Despite a great effort to be evenhanded, the book is male-focused. One of Larson's key ingredients for gay financial success is the absence of dependent children or spouses--an approach that does not take into account past straight relationships or simply a desire to have children and financial independence. While there is a section on breast cancer, HIV takes obvious precedence when talk turns to financial health and illness. Also, the lack of an index is an especially noticeable missing element. Regardless of these gripes, the book is an empowering how-to in combating the social, political, and economic barriers that repress gays and lesbians. Success, of course, is the best revenge. --Manine Golden

Book Description

Same sex, different dollars.

How can being gay generate financial advantages? How can it sabotage your dreams? If you're like most gay men and lesbians, you might have some vague idea that the laws and tax codes place you at a financial disadvantage compared to your straight contemporaries. But it is less likely that you know how to benefit from unseen advantages that are yours for the seizing--once you know that they are there.

Practical, authoritative, and uniquely empowering, Gay Money explains how and why our financial opportunities and problems are different from the married-with-children majority. Drawing on a personal-finance practice devoted exclusively to gay men and lesbians, Per Larson offers you the tools you need to understand and maximize each decade of a financial gay life, while addressing such vital topics as:

*What early career moves give us the most advantage--and how to avoid corporate lavender ceilings

*What insurance we absolutely need to protect our legacy, our lovers--or our independence

*Why our relationships are financially different from conventional marriages--and how we can turn that to our benefit

*Pitfalls and scams we're particularly prey to

*How we can ensure our retirement with only one decade's earnings

*How we can face the costs of HIV and safeguard our assets against financial ruin.

Your guide to turning financial reality into your personal dreams, Gay Money is a long-awaited asset for your own gay balance sheet.

Customer Reviews:

A good starter book.......2001-08-15

I liked this book in general and I learned a few things. If you are very sophisticated about financial matters, you may not learn anything new here except, perhaps, the need for special protections for gay persons with regard to estate planning and estate management. Gay money is, after all, still just money. But here you can see it in a context where it can be the target of intolerance, greed, dishonesty, and the bigotry of ignorant and uncaring homophobes. The protection of assets in such a hostile social context is challenging. It's good to know where to start.

not for lesbians or gay men not on the party circuit.......2001-02-25

he makes many inappropriate assumptions about the gay community which made it even harder for me to trust his advice. he assumes that no gay or lesbians have children, have parents or relatives, and all have a drug problem. Therefore we are all well ahead of the game financially without children, we shouldn't buy homes because we have no family or ties to an area so we can all move at the drop of a hat to further our careers, and that if we just stopped our drugs we'd be all able to save more money. never once did i see any concrete advice. the whole book is about the psychology behind gay spending and lack of savings on the party circuit.

Book Description

They’re the legal world’s oddest couple—a shorts-and-sandals beach bum and a Coral Gables blue blood. Maybe the only thing keeping them from killing each other is that they’re on the same side.…

It starts with a 300-pound marlin stuck in his front door. Even by South Florida standards, where murderers outnumber mosquitoes, this registers as weird. And it’s not long before Steve Solomon figures out who’s making the bizarre threats. But how can he explain to his partner why an ex-client wants him dead? Victoria Lord was used to Steve’s cutting legal corners to win, but breaking the law to lose was downright unethical, even for Steve. Now Solomon & Lord is being bashed on local radio and a celebrity shrink with a homicidal me-first philosophy wants to be Steve’s new best friend. With a killer on the loose and legal disaster looming, is Steve’s lover and law partner about to walk out on him? Is this the end of Solomon & Lord?

Customer Reviews:

Hilarious but also a bit predictable in spots.......2007-04-25

I have enjoyed the previous two books in this series, and I enjoyed this one as well, but I did find that at times I could almost predict the dialogue and action in this one.

This is book three in the Solomon and Lord series, and it picks up with Steve and Vickie engaged but struggling to find common ground when it comes to making choices about their future as a couple. That's not surprising, considering how different their respective characters are, but it's not as hilarious a conflict as I'd have expected it to be.

Steve is Steve. He wears t-shirts that make you laugh sometimes and want to kick him in the toches others. He's still the kind of guy who acts like the law is a bit more flexible than Vickie thinks it is, and he's still the loving parent to his nephew, who creates really wicked anagrams in a nanosecond or two.

Vickie is still stuck in the pattern of expecting Steve to be someone he's not, and Steve is still stuck in the pattern of expecting to be accepted precisely as he is without having to make changes to accomodate a romantic partnership.

That stuff is very predictable, as is some of the mystery itself.

What's good about this particular book in the series is the way that Steve's sister gets brought in, her act fairly cleaned up, and Steve's dad becomes the source of much humor as he becomes ultra-Jewish, much to Steve's consternation. The mystery is okay--one of Steve's ex-clients is after him because Steve basically broke all sorts of attorney-client rules in order to get him found guilty a few years back. In the course of dealing with his now-free ex-client, Steve must solve a mystery involving pedophilia, and this part of the book is fairly decently done.

The ending is a bit pat for my taste, but it was funny enough.

Overall, this is an enjoyable read.

Victoria Vacillates...Again.......2007-04-04

The mismatched pair of Solomon and Lord is back for their third installment, this time dealing with a murderous ex-client of Steve's. Years ago when Steve was representing Dr. Bill Kreeger on a murder charge, he found evidence of just how cold and sociopathic the doctor was, and did something a little unethical to get him put away. Now Dr. Kreeger is a radio shrink, and keeps lambasting Steve on the air, when he isn't going out of the way to be Steve's best buddy. Steve's partner in law and life, Victoria Lord, is disgusted with Steve's lack of ethics and starts to worry she may be doing the wrong thing moving in with him. Plus, Steve's nephew Bobby is hitting puberty, and along with his interest in girls, Bobby also wants to rekindle a relationship with his drug-addled, abusive mother. While Steve does mental battle with Dr. Kreeger, he keeps getting arrested for assault--on the radio. Will he be able to hold it all together and put Dr. Kreeger back behind bars, or will he wind up there himself?

While it has its share of chuckles and great, quotable lines (I love Solomon's Laws), the main story about Steve's struggle with Dr. Kreeger takes a backseat to matters between Steve and Victoria. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, except it's just a rehash of exactly what went on between Victoria and Steve in their last book, The Deep Blue Alibi. Victoria vacillating over whether being with Steve is the right thing or not wasn't all that entertaining the first time around, and this time it really made the book drag. Steve's fears over losing Bobby are getting a little stale, too. It was hard to enjoy the author's wit while hoping the story would move along already. Steve is not the typical male lead, behaving irresponsibly and sometimes childishly, but that's his charm. Somehow, this guy who does everything the wrong way manages to get it right. In this book, however, Steve seems to be at a loss as to what's going on around him, and it just doesn't fit with his character. When things work themselves out in the end, it's more dumb luck than any planning on Steve's part.

This is a series definitely worth reading...so far. However, the author really needs to move things along between Steve and Victoria. Surely there must be some way to make the differences in the way they operate into a good plot, without having them wonder if they belong together...again. There is a good cast of eclectic characters here, between Steve and Victoria, Steve's dad, Victoria's mother, and Bobby, not to mention the colorful side characters. It's a shame they keep rehashing the same story, but I'll read at least one more Solomon vs. Lord novel before I give up.

Not quite as good as its predecessors.......2007-02-03

Steve Solomon is beset on a number of fronts in Kill All the Lawyers, the third installment in Paul Levine's series of legal whodunits. The most worrying of his concerns is that a certain Dr. William Kreeger--former client, celebrity psychiatrist, and sociopath--is out of prison and out to punish Steve for having lost his case. Meanwhile, Steve's father, disgraced judge Herbert T. Solomon, has gone Orthodox. Steve's sister Janice has found Jesus in rehab. And Steve's nephew Bobby has found the "harlot-in-training" down the street. To top it off, Victoria Lord, Steve's law partner and lover, is having doubts about their relationship. She spends most of this book agonizing over her decision to move in with him.

Steve has found a worthy nemesis in his Dr. Phil-ish celebridoc, whose motives remain a mystery for the better part of the book. Ultimately Kreeger's story merges nicely with those of Bobby and Bobby's mother--who has shown up in Miami with her own brand of menace, the threat of removing Bobby from Steve's care. But it's unfortunate that Victoria takes a back seat in this one. Her relationship with Steve is less interesting here than in previous outings. Too little is made of Herbert Solomon, too, who shows up now and again to spout some Yiddishism and then exits the story. On a brighter note, there is some nice development in the relationship between Steve and Victoria's mother Irene, a woman at once magisterial and tawdry--and with a penchant for naked display. We watched Irene cavort naked poolside in Deep Blue Alibi. This time around, alas, we are made to look on as she splays her legs for an intimate waxing. The scene falls short of funny and into the realm of the shudder-inducing.

Kill All the Lawyers seems a little stale in comparison with the first two books in the series, the characters often more cartoonish than not. I'm hoping the next outing finds them a bit more nuanced than they were allowed to be here.

Isn't it romantic?.......2007-01-22

Though I've not really researched the topic, my guess is that the first mystery solving couple appeared in Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man. Subsequent to Nick and Nora Charles, there have been all sorts of mysteries featuring couples; probably the most popular one currently going is Faye Kellerman's series with Peter and Rina Decker. Kellerman should watch out, however: Paul Levine's series featuring Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord is good enough to give the Deckers a run for their money.

Kill All The Lawyers is the third in the "Solomon vs. Lord" series. In this novel, an old misdeed of Steve's has come back to haunt him. There was one time when he purposely lost a case; victory would have been simple, but he knew his client was guilty of multiple murders. Now, six years later (after serving a sentence for involuntary manslaughter), William Kreeger is out of prison and out for revenge.

Kreeger was a popular psychiatrist who was a darker version of Dr. Phil. Preaching a philosophy of selfishness (that even includes a very loose definition of justifiable homicide), he had parlayed his fame into big bucks and even after his prison time, he is able to have a radio show, which he uses to verbally attack Steve. Steve knows that Kreeger wants revenge, but even he can't guess at how sinister Kreeger's scheme will be, nor the depths of evil that Kreeger is capable of.

Meanwhile, Steve's lover and law partner Victoria is forced to question both Steve's ethics and his commitment to their relationship. Steve can be a great guy, but he's also a big-time flake, and their personalities definitely are opposites. Uptight Victoria needs to loosen up and ultra-casual Steve needs to be a little more dependable. As Steve watches his life unravel through Kreeger's manipulations, even Victoria begins to question Steve's approach to things.

One of the strengths of these books is that Levine realizes that - although these are books about a couple - he doesn't need to balance things equally between the two. Steve Solomon is the more interesting character (in some ways, an updated version of Levine's previous series character Jake Lassiter), so Levine writes more about him than Victoria. Although I felt that Levine fell off his stride a bit in his previous book (the good but not great Deep Blue Alibi), he is back to his full excellence here with a novel that is both suspenseful and quite funny and a good recommendation for fans of crime fiction.

Better than Good.......2007-01-19

As usual, I wasn't disappointed by Paul Levine. I can't wait for his next Solomon v. Lord book to be published, so I stared reading his earlier Jake Lassiter novels. Very entertaining!

First, Kill All the Lawyers: First, Kill All the Lawyers

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First, Kill All the Lawyers: First, Kill All the Lawyers
Sarah Shankman
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671748939

Kill All the Lawyers?: Shakespeare's Legal Appeal

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The Wrong Lawyer
Kornstein's approach is original and relevant.

Kill All the Lawyers?: Shakespeare's Legal Appeal
Daniel Kornstein
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Law | Subjects | Books

Jurisprudence | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0803278217

Book Description

Two-thirds of Shakespeare’s plays have trial scenes, and many deal specifically with lawyers, courts, judges, and points of law. Daniel Kornstein, a practicing attorney, looks at the legal issues and aspects of Shakespeare’s plays and finds fascinating parallels with many legal and social questions of the present day. The Elizabethan age was as litigious as our own, and Shakespeare was very familiar with the language and procedures of the courts. Kill All the Lawyers? examines the ways in which Shakespeare used the law for dramatic effect and incorporated the passion for justice into his great tragedies and comedies and considers the modern legal relevance of his work.

This is a ground-breaking study in the field of literature and the law, ambitious and suggestive of the value of both our literary and our legal inheritance.

Customer Reviews:

The Wrong Lawyer.......2000-06-21

This is an exceptional book that should be read by any serious student of Shakespeare. It provides an insightful look at Shakespeare's legal knowledge and insightful looks at how Shakespeare saw the larger issues of truth, justice, law and equity in the dramas. His analysis of the Merchant of Venice is especially pithy and noteworthy.

The major fault of the book is Kornstein has the wrong man as the author. His attempts to explain how the man from Stratford acquired this deep, profound and technial legal knowledge are woefully inadequate. Kill All The Lawyers? maintains that the man from Stratford acquired his knowledge by hanging around the Courts of Law and in "Legal London" is woefully inadequate. I suppose by the same token, the author acquired his legal knowledge by hanging out in coffee shops in Harvard Square.

Kornstein is aware that the legal knowledge of Shakespeare have been a long running dispute since the beginning of the Century. The case that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was a lawyer, sat in Parliament, sat as a juror in the trial of Mary Queen of Scots and sat as a judge in other civil matters is ignored by the Author as he seeks to avoid the entire Oxford vs. Shakspere contretemps.

With this caveat aside, it is a book well worth reading.

Paul Streitz Member Shakespeare Oxford Society

Kornstein's approach is original and relevant........1997-08-13

Though perhaps defensive about his title and possibly a little hard on Portia, Kornstein, in true attorney style, effectively demonstrates Shakespeare's interest in and knowledge of legal problems that still are of concern today. He makes the reader aware of Shakespeare's multi-faceted view of human nature--a characteristic easily overlooked in a superficial encounter. Weakest is his theory concerning Midsummer Night's Dream, strongest is his concluding chapter with its brilliant appreciation of Shakespeare. This is an author worth knowing, a book worth reading. --Margaret Demores

The First Thing is Kill all of the Lawyers

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The First Thing is Kill all of the Lawyers
Jeffrey Morrison
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
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ASIN: 142593630X

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When the town of Savannah, Georgia was founded, the town banned all lawyers. Unfortunately, the cancerous growth known as lawyers are allowed all through our country, even in Savannah. When a the corrupt system conspires to keep a honest young lawyer from success through the conventional means, one must resort by the unconventional and often amusing means. This book documents the true adventures of such unconventional means and allows a revelation of the corrupt system. From these teaches how to navigate through the legal system and describes the true motive of those who wish to remove lawyers from our society.

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First Kill All the Lawyers
Alice Storey
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRIC3E

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First Kill All the Lawyers

Manufacturer: Pocket Books
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000EOJ328

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First Kill All The Lawyers
Alice Storey
Manufacturer: Chivers P
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0862206634

"First thing we do-- let's kill all the lawyers"

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"First thing we do-- let's kill all the lawyers"
Gary Alderdice
Manufacturer: G. Alderdice
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First, Kill All the Lawyers: Legal Proverbs, Epitaphs, Jokes and Anecdotes

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First, Kill All the Lawyers: Legal Proverbs, Epitaphs, Jokes and Anecdotes
Bill Adler
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ASIN: 0806515872

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a strong novel one that is worth a second look.
A Brilliant Drama
Don't Kill All The Reviewers

Kill All the Lawyers
William Deverell
Manufacturer: Random House of Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0394224035

Book Description

Arthur P. Besterman, criminal lawyer and reformed alcoholic, was the first to go. Counsel to Vancouver's assorted shifters and grifters, Besterman almost always lost his cases. But a recent victory defending a low-life client might be a clue as to why he as bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. Then someone takes a pot shot at philandering lawyer Brian Pomeroy after he successfully defends a group of controversial eco-terrorists. All of a sudden lawyers whose clients are less than savoury start second-guessing the ethics of their profession, and going to court becomes possible bloodsport.In a cat-and-mouse game involving the better part of Vancouver's legal community, Pomeroy's firm (the famous Pomeroy, MacArthur, Brovak and Sage from the best-selling Dance of Shiva) pieces together some very disturbing truths about lawyers and the law. As one sleazy lawyer after another disappears, the reader can't help but ponder the wisdom of Shakespeare's famous dictum, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

Customer Reviews:

a strong novel one that is worth a second look........2000-10-25

A great novel written by a great author easily can be compared to any of John Grisham's works. storline is about down on their luck lawyers at a Vancover Law firm who are second guessing their profession when it seems that after one of the firm's lawyers are bruttally beaten to death because he defended a low life client and this mysterious "excutioner's list". Unforgettable Characters the author takes aim at the world's most hated profession and makes the reader understand the dangers and the high handed trechery that goes along with the "business as usual" attitude. One great story will keep the reader turing pages right to the very end.

A Brilliant Drama.......2000-06-17

This is one of the best books I've read in ages. I highly recommend it. William Deverall's characters are real and his characterization is insightful. This book grabs you from the beginning and keeps you hooked - Deverall's storytelling is exceptional.

The law office of Pomeroy, Macarthur, Brovak and Sage is a dysfunctional one at best. These young laywers are learning their lessons the hard way - by trying not to get killed! Someone is killing lawyers that are taking on "morally questionable" clients - and Deverall keeps you on the edge, guessing whodunit and who's the next victim.

Deverall's collection of characters is diverse. They range from Brian Pomeroy - a hardworking, intense lawyer, who's working hard to keep his extra marital affair a secret. Max Macarthur is the lawyer that's holding the firm together by sheer willpower, while John Brovak is a crass man whose life is on the fast track - fast cars, loose women and copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. Augustina Sage is a strong, determined woman of Metis descent whose need for a strong stable man leads her to the not-so-straight edged Judge Russell. The final addition to this interesting group of laywers is Wentworth Chance - a bright naive articling student.

Read it - you won't be disappointed!

Don't Kill All The Reviewers.......2000-05-24

I thought that Deverell did an excellent job of maintaining the reader's interest throughout the book, although his choice of method to reveal the killer was cliche and really quite unsupported. Deverell's style of letters from Pomeroy mixed with sections of story was quite well used. Generally good, a few weak points, including miscellaneous love interests, but a pleasant read.

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