After her divorce, December Vaughn leaves her job at a big corporate law firm in Ohio and heads south. She liquidates her savings, rents a house from relatives and opens a solo law practice in Orange Grove, Florida. Although her moving truck of furniture takes an inconvenient detour, December opens her office anyway and waits for clients to arrive. Her best friend, Max, is a beautiful former-pageant winner and also her efficient office manager. December's first clients are referrals from her Aunt Celia or pro-bono work from the local Legal Aid office.

Business gets interesting when she takes on Charlie Deaver's case. He wants to sue the manufacturer of the tainted insulin that killed his young wife, and his first lawyer has abruptly retired. December used to work on pharmaceutical cases, but she isn't confident about how big this case could become. When other lawyers try to intimidate her and steal her client, she stubbornly refuses to back down.

December is determined to focus on her new clients, and gorgeous private investigator and former Navy SEAL Jake Brody is the kind of distraction she doesn't need right now. With just a few cases and clients, December has already made several enemies. When her car, her professional character, her office, her home and her body are all attacked in seemingly unrelated incidents, the coincidences point to a bigger problem. Jake keeps offering to be her knight in shining armor, if only December could figure out who wants to kill her!

Alesia Holliday gets her new chick-lit mystery series off to a terrific start. It stars a lawyer with a big heart and is funny and smart. Her story is populated with likable, high-interest secondary characters who deserve more attention in future novels. Jake Brody reminds me of Stephanie Plum's Ranger in all of the best ways -- he's sexy and mysterious and he doesn't operate within the law when people he cares about are in danger. December is supposed to be an airhead, but except for a few bad blonde jokes, this novel portrays her as a capable, hardworking and honest lawyer. I will definitely watch for the next December Vaughn mystery in October 2006.