Misdemeanor Man by Dylan Schaffer
Gordon Seegerman is a lawyer with the Public Defenders Office in Santa Rita, California. He does as few cases as possible, mostly misdemeanor cases. He is also in a band that does its own version of Barry Manilow songs, Barry X and the Mandys. Coming up is a gig that Barry himself might attend, and Gordon is putting his energies toward being prepared for that. He doesn't want another case, but one is assigned to him. It appears to be a simple misdemeanor, a man who has flashed a couple of people, including an eight-year-old girl in a department store. But there seems to be more to the case, and Gordon is up against his ex for the court case. As Gordon digs deeper, he finds interesting connections to prominent community members. Gordon's a smart guy who hasn't really taken his law career seriously until now.
But there's a lot more going on here too. Gordon's dad is a police officer who was forced to retire in disgrace, and who is suffering from a fast-progressing genetic form of Alzheimer's. Gordon is afraid he carries the gene too, but has put off getting tested. He lives with his dad and grandfather and is one of his dad's main caregivers. Gordon came to his love of Barry Manilow from his mother, who died when he was eleven. She loved Manilow, played him constantly, and Gordon grew up loving the songs. He was never close to his father, and yet feels he needs to be there for him now.
Gordan's band is doing well, and the love of playing keeps him sane.
An interesting character, an interesting case, and the promise of more.
Sounds unusual.
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