Scottoline's "Lady Killer"

I just completed Lisa Scottoline's "Lady Killer." Scottoline is a very consistent writer in the crime-fighting genre.

In this book is the first in five years to reinstate her character, Mary DiNunzio, associate attorney in the office of Bennie Rosato, in Philadelphia. Scottoline says that Mary's father reminds her of her own. Since her father died shortly after her last DiNunzio book she put this fictional family aside until the pain of her own dad's death subsided a little.

Mary DiNunzio is a south Philly girl who made good. The pisanos from the neighborhood alternatively love her and hate her alternatively, depending on who she is defending and how well she does at settling impossible neighborhood feuds. She's a rainmaker for her law firm, but what comes down is often damaging like hail, and sometimes comes down too fast like flood waters.

In "Lady Killers" DiNunzio is defending a high school friend who has been abused by her boyfriend, a guy with connections to the Mob. DiNunzio dated the same guy in high school. Through most of the book both Trish and Bobby, the friend and her boyfriend have disappeared and DiNunzio has vowed to track them down and save her friend. She is torn between loyalty to the neighborhood and old friends, and her boss, who wants her to settle down and help with high profile cases.

This was a fast and good read. I didn't identify with the heroine as much as I often do in mysteries with strong female lead characters, but then, I didn't grow up in South Philly. The story seemed believable to me-- something right out of "48 Hours," so it felt like I was following a real crime investigation that had its share of eccentrics thrown in for comic relief. I look forward to the next Mary DiNunzio book, and hopefully we won't have to wait 5 years for it.

Liz Nichols
ednenterprises(at)gmail.com