Automatic Stay is the second book in the 3J Mystery series by Mark Shaiken. The story of bankruptcy lawyer Josephina Jillian Jones (3J) and her partner Bill Pascale continues as they tackle yet another high-profile case. Their current clients are Adam and Bey Rapinoe who want to file for bankruptcy for their 6 jazz clubs in Kansas City even after surviving the disastrous COVID-19 pandemic. The case should be easy, but it isn’t. An unknown enemy of Adam and Bey is doing everything in his power to destroy their business. Running a disinformation campaign, their enemy is ready to take over their lives. It is now up to 3J and Pascale to figure out who this person is and stop him before it is too late.

Action-packed and fast-paced, author Mark Shaiken has written an adrenaline-inducing legal thriller. While I didn’t read the first novel in the series, I had zero issues with catching up. 3J is a reliable protagonist who keeps readers engaged and invested in the story. She is intelligent and cunning, a perfect combination that stops her from becoming insufferable or too good to be true. I won’t reveal the name of the antagonist, but readers will love to hate him. Mark Shaiken put a lot of thought into creating and developing the antagonist, and it shows how well-rounded he is. 3J and Pascale work well together. The narrative is fun and very entertaining. The mystery stays alive until the very last moment, and I enjoyed how 3J and Pascale had to work their butts off to win their new case. There is depth to the story, and I loved unraveling each new piece of information as it was revealed. Highly recommended!

Automatic Stay by Mark Shaiken is a legal thriller built around two fictional Kansas City, Missouri lawyers and is the sequel to the first book in the 3J Mystery series, Fresh Start. The book begins after the worst of the global COVID-19 pandemic has passed and, once more, in-person and hospitality businesses are beginning to reopen. At least the ones that kept afloat during the lockdown, which were few. Among the businesses hoping to restructure and get some breathing room by way of a bankruptcy filing and the automatic stay it affords are the Rapinoes, owners of a chain of jazz clubs in Kansas City. Their private lender, Philip Dewey, to whom the Rapinoes owe a substantial amount of money, is not having it, and bankruptcy lawyer 3J—Josephina Jillian Jones—is about to find out just how serious Dewey is in his threat to the Rapinoes to extract from them every single penny owed.

In the interests of full disclosure, I love a good legal thriller but I've never read one that revolved around bankruptcy lawyers. I mean, come on. What the heck kind of hair-raising reading experience can professionals with their photographs on grocery store carts offer me? Hellloooooo, Mark Shaiken and his—yes, very thrilling—novel Automatic Stay. Two things make this a genuine delight to read. The first is a first-person narrative from the king of character quirk himself, Phillip Dewey, a guy whose raspy breath and bow ties can probably be characters themselves. He is developed so well and his backstory and ticks are so incredibly fleshed out that he is impossible not to root for. You don't want him to win because if he does there won't be another stealthy bankruptcy 3J book, but you kind of do because how great would THAT be? The second is 3J herself, who is somehow able to have lengthy monologues on the law without forcing a reader to skim. This is an intriguing story with exceptional casting and, my gosh, if you do not look at another bus station sign and think 3J should be on it, you're absolutely hopeless. Very highly recommended.