Reviewed by Lee Ashford for Readers' Favorite

Lady Justice and the Sting by Robert Thornhill provides another dose of the author’s trademark mystery/comedy entertainment. There is a bittersweet aspect to this one, however. While the story itself is fiction, the premise on which it is based is all too real. The story is good entertainment, but the reality is tragic and scandalous. Walt Williams finds himself involved in a multiple homicide which quickly illuminates a far deeper crime of widespread avarice in seemingly unlikely places ... at least to Walt’s way of thinking. Our intrepid patrolman has some of his most fundamental beliefs shaken to the core, as an intricate web of deceit, greed and pervasive malfeasance is unveiled during the investigation. Readers of this well-written and well-researched story likely will also find themselves rethinking a lot of things they’ve assumed throughout their lives.

Lady Justice and the Sting superbly demonstrates Robert Thornhill’s talent for cleverly fusing mystery and comedy into a delightfully entertaining experience. Thornhill seems to know exactly when to insert a bit of humor into an otherwise distressing sequence of events. He also seems to know how to insert that levity without breaking the continuity of the story, and that is a much-appreciated skill, as far as this reader is concerned. There are many reasons a person should read Lady Justice and the Sting. The story is engaging. The writing is impeccable. The characters are easy to like, warts and all. The action is spontaneous, if just slightly beyond the realm of strict believability – as it should be. But perhaps the most compelling reason to read this book is to enlighten oneself to some very serious breaches of human decency, which we seem more comfortable ignoring than confronting.