Killer Smile

✍ Scribed by Lisa Scottoline

• Tongue: English
• Weight: 205 KB
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

Scottoline's previous thrillers (Dead Ringer; Courting Trouble;
etc.) have featured the women of the all-female Philadelphia law firm
Rosato and Associates, and have concerned the usual elements of murder,
stalking, bribery and corruption. This novel by the former trial lawyer
and Edgar Award winner, while embracing the requisite ingredients, is
especially engaging because of its personal angle: growing out of
Scottoline's discovery of her own grandparents' alien registration
cards, the book involves the case of an Italian-American who was
interned during WWII. Amadeo Brandolini emigrated from Italy to
Philadelphia, where he started a family and worked as a fisherman. When
the war broke out, the FBI arrested and imprisoned him (along with
10,000 other Italian-Americans). He lost everything and wound up
committing suicide in the camp. Rosato and Associates' young star, Mary
DiNunzio, steps up to represent Brandolini's estate as it sues for
reparations. Mary "grew up in South Philly, where she'd learned to pop
her gum, wear high heels, and work overtime" and silently prays to
saints when she can't find things. This case, a pro bono one, means a
lot to her; the local small business owners and family friends she grew
up with want retribution for Brandolini as much as she does. Mary puts
all of her energy into the job, and when clues suggest Brandolini's
death may have been a homicide, she becomes even more enthralled. As
Mary learns more, the enemy camp (another Italian-American family, the
Saracones) turns its murderous eye on her. Scottoline skillfully weaves a
complicated, gripping and fast-paced tale, at turns comical,
nerve-wracking and enlightening.