Title: Sam and James
Subtitle: A Test of Will
Author: A. A. Freda
Publisher: iUniverse
Pages: 278
Genre: Fiction/ Crime / Thriller
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop

Read Book Review

Husband and wife teams have a long and storied history of having fun, pitching woo, and solving crimes together. The Thin Man was just one of a number of Nick and Nora Charles adventures that featured sophisticates slumming in sometimes-sordid adventures on the silver screen. Rock Hudson and Susan St. James carried on the tradition as McMillan and Wife, as did Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers in Hart to Hart on television. Now, via the pages of popular literature, another couple has been added, Sam and James. This is their third crime chronicle and it’s a doozy.

Sam (Samantha) is a recent mom once again, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing her down. She’s still taking part in equestrian competitions, becoming the face and figure of a fashion line, and involuntarily taking on the role of a spokesperson for women’s rights. The latter emerges when (through no fault of her own) she winds up decking a Senator who gets a little too handsy for his own good. Sam has no trouble standing up for herself regardless of who’s involved.
James is the head of his own international company with multiple offices around the world. His team checks out potential white-collar crime, brokers geo-political financial operations, pursues real estate interests, and even becomes involved in new ventures such as a clothing line and golf course design and construction. That should be enough to keep anyone busy, but when one particular request comes up to get involved in a murder investigation, James is simply emotionally unable to turn it down.

A young man has been killed in Washington D. C. The police conclude it was simply a robbery that went bad and show little interest in delving deeply into it. The man’s parents approach James to take on the case. When he learns that the mother of the victim only has a short time to live, he agrees to take on the case—for an appropriate fee, of course. During the course of the investigation, certain secrets come to life that threatens to cause havoc in some of the highest offices in the land. Before he knows it, James himself is being brought up on charges by the FBI, dealing with the presence of a traitorous mole within his own company, and getting involved in an affair that threatens to destroy everything he and Samantha have built.

Author Freda is an energetic storyteller who manages to include all sorts of contemporary flashpoints in this tale. From the abortion debate, to political conspiracies, to women-in-the-workplace issues, and more. Freda’s narrative sweeps timely conundrums into a tale that goes far beyond a simple one-off murder mystery. Can Sam and James solve the crime, stay out of harm’s way, and manage to keep their marriage together? Find out in A Test of Will.