Dead Ringer - Hardcover

Scottoline, Lisa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060514930 ISBN 13: 9780060514938

Publisher: Harper, 2003

Synopsis

Philadelphia lawyer Bennie Rosato has her eye focused firmly on the bottom line, especially since she has three dedicated young associates and a very pregnant secretary on her payroll, and she takes a professional risk, charging into a class action lawsuit that could make -- or break -- her career. Never mind that she's never handled anything like this before. Having won nearly every civil and criminal case she's ever tried, the brilliant and unconventional Bennie has the guts, and she'll do what it takes to succeed. Even if that means wearing pantyhose and putting herself on a curse diet.

Then her wallet goes missing. And Bennie's life goes crazy.

It's not just that one of her associates has dyed her hair pink. Or that another's old-world Italian mother gives Bennie the evil eye. But someone posing as the outspoken, blue-eyed, blond attorney is wreaking havoc around town, apparently determined to destroy everything Bennie loves. Only one person can pull off this double deception -- Bennie's identical twin sister, Alice Connelly. But as far as Bennie knows, Alice left Philly long ago and never looked back.

When events escalate into murder, the maverick lawyer realizes that the stakes are far greater than she feared. But Bennie Rosato refuses to be anyone's victim. To find the killer, she'll plunge head-first into a life-and-death investigation that will bring her face-to-face with evil darker yet more familiar than anything before.

A riveting legal thriller set against the backdrop of a richly emotional family story, Dead Ringer is this author's most intriguing novel yet. According to USA Today, "Scottoline's writing style is sharp, intelligent, funny, and hip. She gives fans of legal thrillers a good, twisty plot, lively characters, and an all-around fun read." With this book, Scottoline delivers a tour de force that is not to be missed.

About this title

About the Author

Lisa Scottoline is a #1 bestselling and award-winning author of more than thirty-two novels. She also co-authors a bestselling non-fiction humor series with her daughter, Francesca Serritella. There are more than thirty million copies of Lisa's books in print in more than thirty-five countries. She lives in Pennsylvania with an array of disobedient but adorable pets.

Reviews

Another bestseller is on the docket for Scottoline (Courting Trouble; Rough Justice; The Vendetta Defense), with a new legal caper featuring the lady lawyers of series heroine Bennie Rosato's Philadelphia law firm, Rosato and Associates. This time out it's Bennie playing the lead role, as she fights to save her financially sinking firm; mother her lovable partners, Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier; solve the murder of a valuable client; and battle her evil twin, Alice. The eviction notice is on the door when suave Frenchman Robert St. Amien steps in with a class-action suit that promises not only to stave off Bennie's landlord but to shovel millions of dollars into the firm's bottomed-out bank account. The fact that our heroine has never handled a class-action suit doesn't faze her for more than a nanosecond. Bennie has her wallet stolen and soon becomes the target of increasingly sinister attacks, until it becomes clear that Alice (last seen in Mistaken Identity) is back in town and bent on revenge. When the stakes are upped to murder, Bennie realizes she's in big trouble. Fortunately, hunky SEAL David Holland shows up to save her dog, act as bodyguard and supply the love interest. Of course, he has a dark secret, but this just makes him more appealing and sympathetic when it is revealed. Occasional awkward writing intrudes ("Anger bubbled like lifeblood to her cheeks"), there are too many pantyhose jokes, and the solution to the mystery is a clunker, but readers caught up in the fast and furious wordplay will hardly notice. Bennie grows on you, and soon enough you're rooting for the home team and laughing at her corny jokes.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bennie Rosato's all-female Philadelphia law firm has seen better days so it's no surprise when Bennie jumps at the chance to represent Robert St. Amien, a debonair European businessman whose U.S. interests are being stolen by a naive trade association's collusive practices. Though Bennie sees dollar signs, there is a group of similarly situated foreign businesses also seeking damages, which brings the case to class-action status, something about which neither Bennie nor her associates possess much expertise. Bennie is game to learn as she goes, but her learning curve is slowed by other distractions, mainly the reappearance of her estranged identical twin sister (from Mistaken Identity, 1999), who is impersonating Bennie and causing no end of trouble. This episode is a bit short on thrills, but it's nice to have Bennie back in the spotlight in a series whose focus jumps among the four partners. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060514930
• ISBN 13: 9780060514938
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352