Killer Smile

Note: This review appeared in my monthly newsletter (May 2005). Apologies to those who have already read it.



Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline
Thriller/Mystery
Rating: A (5/5 Excellent)
Top Ten List for 2005




Look out, Stephanie Plum! Mary DiNunzio may not have a gun-toting grandmother (or two hunks to vascillate between), but she's a tough cookie with a keen sense for solving a mystery, not to mention a wonderfully dry sense of humor. I enjoyed the mystery while learning a bit about the Italian-Americans who were interned during World War II. Will definitely read more by this entertaining author.

Favorite passage:

I believe in justice. And in love. And in *not* getting over it, because that's too much to ask of a human being." Mary collected her thoughts. "Getting over it is the wrong thing to want, anyway. You should never expect to get over it, the best you can hope is to live past it. And you go on. Your past becomes a part of you, you just fold it into the gnocchi dough and keep rolling.

From Booklist:

In the latest installment of Scottoline's best-selling series starring the all-female Philadelphia law firm of Rosato & Associates, young Mary DiNunzio takes center stage. Mary has taken on a pro bono case representing her "peeps"--an Italian American business group (the circolo) working on behalf of the estate of Amadeo Brandolini, who committed suicide while interned during World War II. The estate seeks reparations, and Mary feels drawn to the case, so much so that others fear she's obsessed with it. Under the guise of taking a vacation, Mary visits the site of the internment camp in Montana where Amadeo killed himself and finds herself with still more unanswered questions. Interesting author's notes at the end of this engaging drama disclose Scottoline's own discovery of her grandparents' internment, lending this unusual story a welcome authenticity. Expect another hit from Scottoline, who has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that legal thrillers are not a male-only subgenre.