Legal Tender

Starred review from October 2, 1996
The heroine of Scottoline's rambunctious fourth legal thriller (after Running from the Law) may change the way readers think about lawyers. Benedetta ("Bennie") Rosato, who narrates, is a ravishing six-foot blonde, one of two partners in a thriving law firm. In quick order, the foundations of her world come crashing down. Her partner and ex-lover, Mark, turns up murdered shortly after he tells Bennie that he is planning to dissolve the partnership. It's not surprising that she then becomes the cops' prime suspect. When the murder weapon is found in her apartment, Bennie goes underground. Then a drug company CEO is killed, and she is falsely accused of that death, too. A hilarious caper ensues as Bennie disguises herself as, variously, a hooker, a bag lady and a lawyer "from the New York office" of a staid old white-shoe firm. In the midst of all her woes, she must also deal with a new boyfriend and a mother who's facing electroshock therapy. The Perry Mason-like ending is a bit strained but doesn't spoil the fun. Bennie, a delightful heroine, deserves an encore; and, again, Scottoline merits a big round of applause. $200,000 combined ad/promo for Legal Tender and the simultaneous HarperPaperbacks edition of Running from the Law; simultaneous HarperAudio; author tour; U.K. and translation rights: Columbia Literary Agency; dramatic rights: Linda Hayes.

June 15, 1996
In this latest from Edgar Award winner Scottoline (for Final Appeal as best original paperback), a woman who crusades against police brutality is framed for the murder of her ex-partner (in love and law) and his new flame.

July 1, 1996
In this galloping legal thriller, Edgar-Award-winning author Scottoline (Running for the Law, LJ 10/1/95) unleashes an irresistible protagonist in Bennie, a big-boned golden retriever of a girl, a Philadelphia lawyer who stands by her friends even when falsely accused of three soul-chilling murders. As heartsick but gutsy Bennie rows her scull on the Schuylkill River in the middle of the night to find her rhythm, she's more appealing than a Grafton or Grisham heroine. Scottoline deftly delineates her characters using true-to-ear bantering dialog, irreverent humor, and the revelatory detail: her gay friend Sam's being "so fashionably thin," her mother's "belligerent" nose, and Hattie the savvy glitter T-shirted caretaker. The pacing in this full-focus story never flags, and there are a few gasping surprises, but her stick-to-the-ribs characters (except for the ex-lover, oddly stock with his "gorgeous brown eyes") are more compelling than the complicated plot. Recommended for most collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/96.]--Molly Gorman, San Marino, Cal.