Book Review-Older Books 18

Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline.  Published by Harper Collins, June 2004, 358 pgs.

The story begins in the law offices of Rosato & Associates in South Philly.  Mary DiNunzio is one of the associates.  She is a young lawyer, who is also a widow, and everyone she knows is trying to fix her up with someone they know. 

Mary is involved in a case where she is trying to find reparation for an Italian immigrant who was interned during World War II.  This is pro bono work for Mary, and many of her colleagues refer to it as the “History Channel” case.  Amadeo Brandolini had lived in Philadelphia, married, began a small fishing business and raised a son, who was fighting for America in the war.  Yet when the FBI began a mass internment of Italian-Americans Amadeo was taken and kept in a camp in Montana.

Mary starts her investigation with very little to go on.  She has a lock of hair, a sheet of paper with circular drawings and an old wallet.  She also finds out that though Amadeo could not read or write in English, he ran the three boats in his business successfully.   She finds connections between Amadeo, the attorney who referred this case to her, and a friend who was interred with Amadeo.  As these connections build, Mary runs into more and more obstacles to finding the answers of what happened to her long-deceased client.  She has never ventured out of the Philly area and has generally led a sheltered and quiet life.  As she continues to investigate she will draw on strengths of character and determination that even she did not know she was capable of, and that take her on new adventures. 

Lisa Scottoline is a new author for me and she has written other books revolving around the offices of Rosato and Associates.  The associates are vibrant and intriguing, the dialogue is snappy, and this combines with the action and danger, which Mary becomes embroiled in to make an enjoyable book.  It dragged a little at the beginning but picked up quite nicely shortly thereafter.