Lady Killer (by Lisa Scottoline)
I became a fan of Lisa Scottoline when I met her in 2018 on her book tour for After Anna. I was immediately drawn to her warm, excitable personality. She tells great stories, in person and her writing. I love all her books I’ve read. Sadly, Lady Killer is my least favorite. ☹️
Lady Killer is the 10th installment of the Rosato and Associates series. This series is about an all-woman legal firm and their adventures helping clients. It’s entertaining how the books primarily focus on one member of the legal team when investigating a crime. In Lady Killer, Mary DiNunzio is one of the characters who appears most consistently in the series. Mary is visited by a former high school rival, Trish, asking for her help to escape an abusive, drug-dealing, mob-guy boyfriend. Mary knows the boyfriend, who she had a crush on in high school, thus complicating the situation. Later, Trish vanishes and a dead body is found in an alley. Mary gets tunnel vision in her quest for answers, jeopardizing her job and a chance at a new love.
The story started kind of dry. Mary’s father wanted to sue a woman in the neighborhood for disrespecting Dean Martin. I didn’t find this opening to the novel entertaining or engaging. Nor did I care for the character, Trish, and her group of Mean Girl friends. I found them obnoxious and unlikeable. I seriously considered bailing on this book and put it aside for a little while in case I was not giving it the mental attention it deserved. I picked it back up and found the murder mystery interesting and kept reading. My opinion of the characters didn’t change, but I was intrigued to learn the outcome of Mary’s new love interest and her role in the law firm. The ending was surprising and I ended up liking the book well enough to be glad I finished it.
At the end of the audiobook, there’s an interview with Lisa who explained there was a five-year gap between books nine and 10 because her father died of cancer. Mary’s father closely resembles Lisa’s dad so it was hard for her to get back to this series. In addition to feeling bad about not loving this book, it helped me understand why this book may have fallen a bit flat. I’m glad writing it helped her learn how to write about Mary and her family again. It seems like it might have helped her grieve. Regardless of how little I enjoyed this book, I fully intend to read the last book in this series and continue with the next series, Rosato and DiNunzio.
I borrowed the audiobook of Lady Killer from my local library with the Hoopla app. Pleasant narration performed by Barbara Rosenblat.
You’re welcome to read my other reviews for books by Lisa Scottoline, which are linked below. Also linked is her author event I attended at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Kentucky.
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