Novel Blog - Writing The Great American Novel

Photo of Ms. Scottoline courtesy Sheri Manson.

If you haven't yet discovered Lisa Scottoline's series of legal thrillers, you're missing out. I recently finished Dirty Blonde and loved the twist at the end.

Here's a press release from LisaScottoline.com

DIRTY BLONDE
By Lisa Scottoline

Newly-appointed Federal Judge Cate Fante's hard work has finally paid off—escaping her working-class, mining roots; battling the sexism that comes with a woman striving for the bench; and achieving it all before the age of 40. But, her perfect world threatens to come crashing down when her secret sex life becomes front-page news after her ruling in a high-profile case.

Set in the federal courts and gritty back alleys of Philadelphia comes DIRTY BLONDE (HarperCollins; MARCH 14, 2006; 0-06-074290-9), the latest from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, a timely thriller that challenges the role a judge plays in upholding and creating the law, the question of how private life impinges public, and the perils of and lasting effects on one Pennsylvania mining community.

When famed TV producer, Art Simone, is brought before Cate by a young prosecutor who claims that Art stole his idea for the wildly successful show Attorneys@Law, the law is clear in the case, but Cate feels compelled to voice her own distaste for the sleazy producer in her ruling. Later that night, Art is murdered and the prosecutor is the lead suspect... but when he is found dead too, the prosecutor's partner thinks Cate is somehow involved.

The partner, a detective in the Philadelphia police department, begins to blackmail Cate. A videotape found at the scene of another murder features the body of a woman he is sure is Cate and he believes that she was paying off the young prosecutor's murderer. As he delves further into her life, he discovers further trysts with unknown men and splashes her exploits on the front page of the newspaper, threatening her job and current relationship.

But, with the real murderer still on the loose, her job hanging in the balance and a crazed detective on her trail, Cate must defend herself and find out what really happened before it is too late.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lisa Scottoline, a New York Times bestselling author, is a former trial lawyer and judicial law clerk. She won the Edgar Award for crime fiction and teaches Justice and Fiction at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Philadelphia.