Rose’s sequel to Crackerjack! (2021) tells a tale of bad blood and underhandedness at a law firm in Washington, D.C.

It’s the year 2000, and New Jersey lawyer Alonzo Prier has just relocated to a firm in the nation’s capital. He’s on a mission to help restructure the American health care system, but his relationships with others in the office are causing him some difficulties. He and his executive assistant, Sheri Watson, had a brief relationship at Duke University decades ago, and she still resents him for never reciprocating her love. Senior counsel Roseann Detmeyer thinks that Alonzo, as the new golden boy at the firm, stands in the way of her making partner. Sheri’s indignation affects her workplace demeanor, but Roseann takes a more hands-on approach to complicating Alonzo’s life. She’s determined to discredit him, so she calls up her nephew, who works at a gentlemen’s club, to set a devious plan in motion. Both women have easy access to Alonzo at the firm and one even finds an opportunity to interact with his wife, so they find multiple ways to stir up trouble for him. Rose outfits this sequel with a handful of enthralling subplots. One paralegal at the firm, for example, harbors a secret that could put the kibosh on his engagement to a founding partner’s daughter. The author deftly develops the character of Alonzo, a prominent player in the earlier novel, as well as those of Sheri and Roseann; one woman gradually earns readers’ sympathy, while the other becomes increasingly sinister. Sadly, some underutilized characters barely register, and one plot turn might have wielded a greater dramatic punch if it didn’t unfold so late. Still, although the story delivers few surprises, it’s a treat to watch strong personalities crash into one another. Rose’s smart, descriptive prose enlivens the narrative even as Alonzo regularly discusses Medicare/Medicaid projects: “My thing has always been to look for the smoking guns. And HCFA’s data is full of them.”

A predictable but often sharply written soap opera.

In this novel, a stenographer finds the excitement she craves when she chances on someone’s illicit financial scheme.

Seasoned stenographer Cindy Jack is one of the best in the Eastern U.S. A private firm sends her to transcribe sessions with local government agencies, a boring job for a 29-year-old. She yearns to be “tussled,” though she doesn’t know specifically what that is or even what the word means. It could be she’s looking for Alonzo Prier, the dreamy senior counsel for the Hospital Rate Review Commission. Never mind that he’s married; Cindy tries subtly seducing him when they’re together at HRRC meetings by “striking keys and striking poses.” What catches Alonzo’s attention, however, is her access to transcriptions that may reveal a hospital’s “financial discrepancies” and “extreme irregularities.” When that hospital’s CFO suspects what’s going on, he enlists co-worker Denver Simmons to date Cindy, hoping to distract her from getting close to Alonzo. But will the two men later decide that Cindy knows too much? Rose’s leisurely paced story is driven by a dramatic cast. Cindy, for example, becomes “possessed” by classic Hollywood actor Greta Garbo and sees parallels between their lives, though the intriguing possibility of Garbo’s lesbianism linking them unfortunately leads nowhere. Nevertheless, Cindy is an engaging protagonist. She strives to be more than an invisible stenographer and works to help her older sister recover from her alcoholism. Narrative perspective intermittently shifts to others, most notably Alonzo, whose exciting career sharply contrasts with his drama-free home life. The story picks up considerably in the second half; Denver struggles to keep secrets from everyone (he’s not single). Although there’s no real mystery, a few choices among the cast surprise and culminate in a relatively quiet but gratifying denouement.

A smart, fascinating woman leads this languid, absorbing drama of seduction and lies.