title: Not Too Shabby (Barrister Tales From Ed's Breakfast Emporium): Barrister Tales From Ed's Breakfast Emporium
author:  Ken Behar 
description: Every Sunday, Carpenter (the reader never learns his first name) meets fellow attorneys, Delaney, Fish, Morton, Steinberg and Weiskoff for coffee, eggs and a sizable helping of good conversation at the same two tables pushed together near the front window of Eds Breakfast Emporium. Prickly proprietor Ed has dubbed the group of regulars the Barristers, while the men have affectionately adopted the name for their end-of-the-week ritual. Told through a series of vignettes, the novel limns a handful of these breakfasts over the course of five summers as the group discusses politics, the Red Sox and cases on which they have recently toiledwith names judiciously changed, of course. The cases discussed range from heartbreaking ones of broken families without happy endings to more unusual fare, including one involving two Wiccans, a love spell and a restraining order. While the cases may differ, the breakfasts play out with a careful repetitiveness that deliciously captures the routine of everyday life. Weiskoff is always good for an out-of-the-blue comment. Delaney hardly ever fails at steering the conversation back on track. Ed can be relied upon to drop in on the middle of a story, orders in hand, and inject a stinging dose of blue-collar criticism into the white-collar chitchat. Its not hard to imagine running into these aging, overweight and admittedly unextraordinary characters in real life, yet they remain completely absorbing. Between the witty zingers and moments of lightheartedness, the Barristers each struggle with bouts of dissatisfaction, uncertain about their present lot in life, and readers cant help but relate.<br /><br />A poignant, delightful take on morality, friendship, growing older and the legal profession.Kirkus Reviews
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  Table of Contents
  
  
  [Cover](9781448304509_epub_cvi.xhtml)
  
  
  [Also by Matt Hilton](9781448304509_epub_alb.xhtml)
  
  
  [Title Page](9781448304509_epub_tp.xhtml)
  
  
  [Copyright](9781448304509_epub_cop_split_000.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter One](9781448304509_epub_chap001.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Two](9781448304509_epub_chap002.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Three](9781448304509_epub_chap003.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Four](9781448304509_epub_chap004.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Five](9781448304509_epub_chap005.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Six](9781448304509_epub_chap006.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Seven](9781448304509_epub_chap007.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Eight](9781448304509_epub_chap008.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Nine](9781448304509_epub_chap009.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Ten](9781448304509_epub_chap010.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Eleven](9781448304509_epub_chap011.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Twelve](9781448304509_epub_chap012.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Thirteen](9781448304509_epub_chap013.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Fourteen](9781448304509_epub_chap014.xhtml)
  
  
  [Chapter Fifteen](9781448304509_epub_chap015.