SIX BILLS

Six Bills
by M. Diane Vogt
332 pages
ISBN:1-932407-02-2
New Millennium Press
2003
$24.95

Wilhelmina Carson is a federal judge who has been asked to assist Harris Steam in getting his mother out of prison for killing his father, Trey Steam. Harris Steam is famous because of his parents’ former rock-group called the Six Bills. All of the members in the band had the name “Bill” somewhere in their names and Harris frequently revives the old group with him singing lead to their old best-selling hits. Wilhelmina successfully assists in the release of Billie Jo Steam only to find her murdered supposedly by her son on her wedding night to another band member.

“'Oh, you do this sort of thing all the time, Willa. You can free Billie Jo. I know you can,’ Leo continued to push me.”

“I wanted to throttle him. But I don’t actually keep my nose out of situations where my help is truly needed, and both Kate and Leo knew it. Sometimes, I do accept these challenges, when I see an injustice that I think is appropriate for me to resolve. That’s why everyone keeps asking. I figure I’m the best arbiter of what will improperly influence me or my decisions, which is not much.”

The previous statement is from the new and not completely trusted husband of her best-friend, Kate. Willa, feeling slightly guilty and already involved in this case, she attends Harris’s arraignment.

"The Harris Steam who entered the room and sat down across the table from me was barely recognizable. Gone was the carefree singer, sexy man, heroic son, and loving father. This guy looked like the men accused of crimes you’d see in news footage any given night of the week. Before I saw him, I’d be sympathetic to his situation. Now, the sadness of the outcome threatened to crush me. I didn’t believe Harris had murdered his mother. I couldn't believe it. Because that would mean I killed her. I got her out of prison. I put her in that house the night she died. I couldn't live with that. Which was why I was here. Harris was innocent. He had to be."

…and she’s off again investigating this family, invading their lives, questioning their friends, and doing what she feels is morally the right thing to do. While encountering the ex-wife with twin daughters appropriately named Willie and Billie who is a practicing physician that all the possible suspects use as their doctor, Willa is spun into more confusion and interrelationships of this delightfully, fast-paced novel.

M. Diane Vogt has developed the character of Wilhelmina Carson into a lovable and believable friend of the reader. There is realistic humor with both her profession of finding an appropriate assistant and hiding from her boss, the chief judge. There is realism of the character in her personal relationship with her husband and with both of them thoroughly overworked and seldom seeing each other, even though they support each other.

Ms. Vogt relies on her experiences as a successful attorney for numerous years as well as a seasoned writer to make Six Bills a wonderful novel. I’m looking forward to future novels by this author.