KILLER SMILE

Mary DiNunzio, Bennie Rosato’s law associate, pursues her claim on behalf of the late interned family friend Amadeo Brandolini (Dead Ringer, 2004) to a rousing courtroom finale.

The problem with pressing a case that’s 60 years old—Amadeo Brandolini died a suicide in 1942 in the Montana camp where he was interned with hundreds of other Italian-Americans—is that so many leads are dead, along with so many potential deponents. Mary can’t interview Amadeo’s wife or his son Tony, her nominal client, or Missoula camp guard Aaron Nyquist, because they’ve all passed on. But when Frank Cavuto, the attorney for Tony’s estate, gets shot in an apparent robbery shortly after telling her she’s off the case, his death sounds like one too many. And when the man she’s become convinced actually murdered Amadeo all those years ago dies hours after she confronts him and the evidence against him is stolen from her office and her pocketbook, the case seems as hopeless as her sex life. After all, the chances of a judge taking her word for an undocumented connection between the illiterate fisherman Amadeo and the powerful firm that’s continued to benefit from his death are about as great as the chances that one of the million blind dates her family and friends force on the young widow will suddenly blossom into true love. But Mary soldiers on, her sense of humor bolstered by some timely assistance from her boss and her best bud Judy Carrier, till a bolt from the blue leaves a most unlikely grin on her face.

No matter who carries the ball at Rosato & Associates, Scottoline keeps it fast, fleet, and funny. Her Philadelphia is both dangerous and aglow with the promise of justice and hot new men who’ll steal your heart—if they don’t kill you first.