Review of KILLER SMILE by Lisa Scottoline (see her website)

HarperCollins, June 2004

Philadelphia attorney Mary DiNunzio is obsessed with the case of a World War II Italian intern who died way back in 1942. She spends so much time on the pro-bono case that she puts her job in jeopardy and ruins her social life (not that she wants a social life--she finds a reason not to like any of the blind dates she's set up with). But when her office is vandalized and critical evidence of the old case is stolen, Mary knows that she's uncovered something serious and something a lot more immediate than bringing overdue justice to a man whose government panicked into holding him without trial so many decades before.

Mary ignores her boss's order to take a vacation and get away from the case, thowing herself into it even more obsessively. And what she finds doesn't match the stories she's been told. Someone is lying--and those lies start looking like a long-ago murder. Still, even if Amadeo Brandolini had been murdered, the killer is hardly likely to be active enough to be a threat to Mary. And no matter how hard she digs, Mary knows that the critical piece of evidence, the one that will pull everything into perspective, continues to elude her. Of course, staying alive long enough to find it just may be a problem as well.

Author Lisa Scottoline (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by Scottoline) combines great action, clever courtroom lawyering, and really fascinating and heart-felt characters to build a powerful and moving story. Mary's obsession with Amadeo begins a bit over the top--her's a beautiful woman who's throwing her life away for a bankrupt estate. But I found my obsession growing over the book as Scottoline hooked me and drew me into the story. Scottoline's blend of humor and suspense made the story even more page-turning.

KILLER SMILE is the real thing. I recommend this one highly.

Four Stars

Reviewed 4/23/04

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