Reviewed By: Jeff Kreider - RAM
The Vendetta Defense
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Lisa Scottoline
Class/Genre: Mystery Legal Setting Police Procedural
Series: Rosato and Associates # 5
I did Lisa Scottoline's The Vendetta Defense on audio. Judy Carrier takes on a murder case defending "Pigeon-Tony" Lucia for the murder of Angelo Coluzzi and she accepts because she is endeared to Pigeon-Tony. Tony Lucia and Angelo Coluzzi are both about 80 years old when Coluzzi is killed. The actual problem goes back almost 60 years to Italy when Angelo kills Tony's wife just as World War II was getting underway. It was a good story and Lisa's character, Judy Carrier, is cute, whimsical and salted with light sarcasm. One irritant was that Pigeon-Tony, in his broken English, insisted that he killed Angelo but it "...wassa no murder..." and he wanted to tell the judge. Judy, of course, was trying to tell him that it was the state prosecutor's job to prove he did it and if he'd just say nothing, then his problems would go away. He kept insisting he wanted to "tell the truth" while she kept insisting that he didn't have to and assumed he just didn't understand. My problem was that Judy didn't seem interested in why he wanted to talk to the judge. Nor did she try to be sure that Tony didn't understand rather than had chosen to take this defense strategy. It came up a number of times and each time she seemed to brush it under the carpet.
I really liked the character. I understand, though, that Scottoline's book features different characters from the all-female legal office. If the other characters are as fun, then I'm looking forward to others.
Jeff Kreider - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jeff Kreider - RAM
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