Charlie Webb is average as far as attorneys go. His newest client is anything but. Christened Lawrence Weiss at birth, he insists on being called Guido Sabatini. What’s the man accused of? Stealing his own painting that he recently sold to Gretchen Hall, the owner of an Italian restaurant, along with something else from their safe. Why would he do that? Because Gretchen insulted his art by hanging it in her office, not out where it could be shared with all of her customers. And he claims that the other item he stole while “liberating” his painting was for leverage in case he needed something to bargain with.

It’s simple. All Guido wants is for his art to have maximum exposure. He’s actually done this before. Around Portland he’s known as a bit of a kook, but a harmless one. So Charlie shouldn’t have a hard time with this case. Just explain the situation to Gretchen, return the painting and the other item, and secure the assurance that Guido’s art will be displayed in a prominent place inside the restaurant. Everyone is happy. Case closed.

"We all know that sex trafficking takes a toll on lives every day, so spotlighting it in this novel while writing such a readable story is a commendable feat for Phillip Margolin."

Well, of course, it didn’t go quite as planned. It might have, if Gretchen hadn’t been arrested for sex trafficking, along with several other people in very high places. That means the stakes have ramped up --- as in skyrocketed. Gretchen and her codefendants won’t go down without a fight, though. It’ll likely be a very big and dirty fight. And they want whatever Guido took from Gretchen’s safe. It has caused quite a stir --- enough of a stir, in fact, for deadly serious men to come gunning for Guido.

The trouble is, Charlie doesn’t know who to trust in order to protect his client. But he has an ace up his sleeve. His (meager) list of clients includes a biker group called the Barbarians, with whom he has a long-standing relationship. He has helped their members out of legal scrapes many times. So now that he needs their help, they are more than willing to circle the wagons.

However, things have gone from bad to worse. A couple of the accused in the sex trafficking case have turned up dead, and one of Guido’s paintings is left draped over a body. While it may look like a classic setup, the cops arrest Guido anyway. Charlie didn’t count on a murder trial. He’s never handled anything remotely as serious as murder. But Guido won’t let him quit now; he only trusts Charlie. And it’s a good thing he does. Charlie may be inexperienced, but he is very smart, honest to a fault and hard-working. Plus, with his reputation of being a nobody, expectations are low, which makes anyone working against him liable to underestimate him. That will come in handy through the troubles ahead, as Charlie will need to outwit the good guys along with the bad ones to travel this twisty road.

AN INSIGNIFICANT CASE is peppered with a cast of excellent characters. Charlie comes across as self-effacing but not weak. Guido presents as a free spirit; he’s an artist channeling the old masters, putting paint on canvas with incredible results, all while in extraordinary danger. But he’s being protected by God, at least in his fantastical mind. Whatever he believes, it seems to work. And the Barbarians add color, if not a bit of balance, to the dark menace of the criminals.

We all know that sex trafficking takes a toll on lives every day, so spotlighting it in this novel while writing such a readable story is a commendable feat for Phillip Margolin. In short, I loved everything about this book.