"Jerry Kennedy has been aptly described by his ex-wife as 'the classiest sleazy criminal lawyer in Boston.' Now, Jerry must defend the man that no one else will: Billy Ryan. The longtime commissioner of public works has cut one shady deal too many. Even Jerry harbors no illusions about the man's corruption. 'If they didn't have Billy for selling the apple to the serpent who peddled it to Eve,' he figured, 'it was because the serpent refused to testify against him. Professional courtesy and all that.' Jerry also knows that the government can always get a public official if it really wants to—particularly when a plea-bargaining crooked state legislator named Jack Bonaventre is in good voice. The drama that follows in and around the courthouse is vintage Higgins, suffused with the stylish prose and sparkling dialogue for which he is known."
"Beginning in 1946, a then eight-year-old George Higgins, accompanied by father and grandfather, began taking the long train ride out to Fenway Park to find some truth in immortals like Doerr, DiMaggio, York, and Williams, and later, Yastremski, Marty Barrett, and many more. This is a book about baseball and about the Boston Red Sox; but that is only part of the story. Beyond the games, the book turns on thoughts about family and continuity and, of course, the progress of the seasons. There's a magical moment when Higgins calls on his own mythic Emily to check the all-time lineup with his deceased forebears. By then, you've come to know what the author's values have in common with those in Our Town, and why certain professional athletes achieve immortality and others don't. The Progress of the Seasons confirms what admirers of the author's sparkling accurate prose already know: Higgins is to writing what Ted Williams was to baseball, an all-star."
"For court clerk Ambrose Merrion, life was about people taking care of one another. For Danny Hilliard, politics was a matter of acquiring the power to make sure that society did just that. With Merrion shrewdly managing Hilliard's campaigns as a rising politician, the two friends made an excellent team.
But trouble starts brewing when Merrion unexpectedly inherits ill-gotten gains from a corrupt predecessor, enabling him to indulge with Danny in the finer luxuries. To Merrion's dismay, Hilliard begins to show a streak of mischief that quickly flares into a scandal. And a federal prosecutor on a mission believes he has found an the perfect way to put Hilliard in jail-forcing Merrion to incriminate him. For the rules have changed while the friends weren't looking, and what was once just common wickedness has become a felony."
