In the tradition of Kathy Reichs and Jeffery Deaver, a talented novelist introduces a gutsy forensic investigator caught in the middle of an explosive crisis. Early one Thursday morning, forensic scientist Theresa MacLean is called to the scene of a gruesome murder. The body of a man has been found on the front lawn of a house in suburban Cleveland, the back of his head bashed in. Although it's not the best start to her day, Theresa has been through worse. What unfolds during the next eight hours, though, is nothing she could ever have imagined. Downtown at the Federal Reserve Bank, her police detective fiancé is taken hostage with six others in a robbery masterminded by two clever criminals. When she arrives at the scene, Theresa discovers that the police have brought in the city's best hostage negotiator: handsome, high-profile Chris Cavanaugh. He hasn't lost a victim yet, but Theresa wonders if he might be too arrogant to save the day this time around. When her fiancé is injured, she seizes the opportunity to trade places with him. Once on the inside, she will use all her wiles, experience, and technical skills to gain control of the situation. But what initially appears to be a bank heist turns into something far more complex and deadly, and Theresa must decide how much more she is willing to sacrifice in order to save the lives of innocent people as well as her own.

In bestseller Gardner 's first-rate follow-up to Alone (2005), Bobby Dodge, once a sniper for the Massachusetts State Police and now a police detective, gets called to a horrific crime scene in the middle of the night by fellow detective and ex-lover D.D. Warren. An underground chamber has been discovered on the property of a former Boston mental hospital containing six small naked mummified female bodies in clear garbage bags. A silver locket with one of the corpses, which may be decades old, bears the name Annabelle Granger. Later, a woman shows up at the Boston Homicide offices claiming to be Annabelle Granger. Her resemblance to Catherine Gagnon (whose life Bobby saved in Alone) helps stoke a romance between her and Bobby both subtle and sizzling. The suspense builds as the police uncover links between patients at the hospital and long-ago criminal activities. Through expert use of red herrings, Gardner takes the reader on a nail-biting ride to the thrilling climax. *** 'I can't afford to come back from the dead.' Annabelle has had many names in her life – Sally, Cindy, Lucille. Though her father moved her from city to city from the age of ten, changing names, houses, careers and histories every few months, Annabelle never knew what they were running from. Now in her thirties, with both parents dead, she's settled in Boston. But old habits die hard and she still looks over her shoulder when she leaves her apartment, still blends in with the crowd on the subway. Then at the Boston State Mental Hospital a multiple grave is discovered. Six young girls left to die in an underground chamber decades ago, while their captor looked on. When her original name appears in the paper, wrongly identifying her as one of the dead girls, Annabelle finally knows. This was the work of the monster her father fled from. But the killer is still on the loose. And he's looked for her for a very long time. Bobby Dodge has been haunted by the Catherine Gagnon case for years. It nearly cost him his job and his sanity. As a child, Catherine was also held prisoner underground, like the victims in this latest case. But Catherine's captor was in prison when these girls were taken. Yet the similarities are too numerous to be just coincidence…

He knows everything about you – including the first place you'll hide. On a warm summer night in one of Boston 's working-class neighborhoods, an unthinkable crime has been committed: Four members of a family have been brutally murdered. The father – and possible suspect – now lies clinging to life in the ICU. Murder-suicide? Or something worse? Veteran police detective D. D. Warren is certain of only one thing: There's more to this case than meets the eye. Danielle Burton is a survivor, a dedicated nurse whose passion is to help children at a locked-down pediatric psych ward. But she remains haunted by a family tragedy that shattered her life nearly twenty-five years ago. The dark anniversary is approaching, and when D. D. Warren and her partner show up at the facility, Danielle immediately realizes: It has started again. A devoted mother, Victoria Oliver has a hard time remembering what normalcy is like. But she will do anything to ensure that her troubled son has some semblance of a childhood. She will love him no matter what. Nurture him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Even when the threat comes from within her own house. In New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner's most compelling work of suspense to date, the lives of these three women unfold and connect in unexpected ways, as sins from the past emerge – and stunning secrets reveal just how tightly blood ties can bind. Sometimes the most devastating crimes are the ones closest to home.

Lisa Gardner, the New York Times bestselling author of Hide and Gone, draws us into the venomous mind games of her most terrifying killer yet. Come into my parlor… For Kimberly Quincy, FBI Special Agent, it all starts with a pregnant hooker. The story Delilah Rose tells Kimberly about her johns is too horrifying to be true-but prostitutes are disappearing, one by one, with no explanation, and no one but Kimberly seems to care. Said the spider to the fly… As a member of the Evidence Response Team, dead hookers aren’t exactly Kimberly’s specialty. The young agent is five months pregnant-she has other things to worry about than an alleged lunatic who uses spiders to do his dirty work. But Kimberly’s own mother and sister were victims of a serial killer. And now, without any bodies and with precious few clues, it’s all too clear that a serial killer has found the key to the perfect murder… or Kimberly is chasing a crime that never happened. Kimberly’s caught in a web more lethal than any spider’s, and the more she fights for answers, the more tightly she’s trapped. What she doesn’t know is that she’s close-too close-to a psychopath who makes women’s nightmares come alive, and if he has his twisted way, it won’t be long before it’s time for Kimberly to…

This is what happened in the last six hours of the world as I knew it…It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding frenzy – a young mother, blonde and pretty, disappears without trace from her South Boston home, leaving behind her four-year-old daughter as the only witness, and her handsome, secretive husband as the prime suspect. But from the moment Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren arrives at the Joneses' snug little bungalow, she senses something off about the picture of wholesome normality the couple worked so hard to create. On the surface, Jason and Sandra Jones are like any other hardworking young couple raising a child. But just under the surface things grow murkier. With the clock ticking on the life of a missing woman and the media firestorm building, Jason Jones seems more intent on destroying evidence and isolating his daughter than on searching for his "beloved" wife. Is the perfect husband trying to hide his guilt – or just trying to hide? And will the only witness to the crime be the killer's next victim?

This thriller has just the right mix of suspense, intrigue, and murder, topped off with a little romance to make it sizzle. Pierce Quincy, hard-boiled FBI agent, and Rainie Conner, ex-cop turned P.I., team up to catch the perpetrator of several ingenious murders. The psychopath staged the death of Quincy 's daughter Amanda, then his ex-wife, and is now going after Quincy 's remaining daughter, Kimberly. Kate Burton's ingenious narration pits sweet women and tough cops against stone cold psychopathic killer. Burton keeps up the heat as she seamlessly switches from romance to murder and back again, taunting the listener with every twist of the plot while Gardner dares you to guess the killer's identity and motives before Conner and Quincy do. *** Gardner brings back the quirky team of FBI supervisory special agent Pierce Quincy and Portland private eye Rainie Conner in a fiendishly well choreographed dance of death. The reader knows from the outset (a seduction scene ending in vehicular homicide) that someone has set out to systematically murder FBI profiler Quincy's loved ones. The question is not why, since Quincy has tracked down many killers, but who. Specifically, who would have the resources of time, money, and psychological acumen to devise and carry out such a sadistic campaign? After the first death, Quincy calls upon Conner to investigate; the plot moves to the clock of the killer's agenda. The weak points of Gardner 's writing are his dialogue and characterization: Conner's overly snappy banter and her hardbitten personality are both overdone. But Gardner knows procedure, FBI behavioral science, and the details of such newly minted crimes as identity theft. Not deep but harrowing. Connie Fletcher

“Showing a flair for lip-biting suspense, bestselling novelist Gardner combs out a tangled plot to an engrossing effect… Riveting action… This club is worth the dues.” -People, Beach Book of the Week “Lisa Gardner’s Survivors Club is a high-octane, nerve-jangling tale of suspense.” -Harlan Coben, author of Tell No One “Hot dang, a new Lisa Gardner book! I love her hot, fast thrill rides. I’m always first in line to grab my copy of her newest release the day it arrives in stores. For my money, when it comes to suspense, nobody does it better.” -Jayne Ann Krentz “A book seething with suspense and violence, one that will snatch your attention and attach your emotions to the characters.” – Columbia (SC) State “One cannot read this excellent new novel by bestselling author Gardner without wondering what actors might play these characters… Rocks and rolls right up to a nail-biter ending.” -Publishers Weekly “Her best effort yet in this dynamite tale… Readers are forewarned that they may be up all night finishing this masterfully crafted thriller.” -Booklist “The Survivors Club has it all-provocative plotting, an astute eye for detail, engaging characters, and a razor-sharp emotional edge.” -Stephen White “Another surprise-filled, suspenseful yarn from the gifted Ms. Gardner.” – Denton (TX) Chronicle “Lisa Gardner knows how to produce a hair-raising mystery thriller, and this offering is no exception… Gardner keeps the reader guessing with twist after ingenious twist.” – Charleston (SC) Post and Courier “There’s a whiff of The Silence of the Lambs in this gripping new crime novel… A suspenseful page-turner.” – Toronto Sun “Here’s a winner to keep you on the edge of your beach chair.” – River Falls Journal *** From Publishers Weekly One cannot read this excellent new novel by bestselling author Gardner (The Next Accident) without wondering what actors might play these characters, especially the detectives. (Russell Crowe in his Bud White mode should star as Roan Griffin, and Dennis Franz seems a natural for the rumpled and sarcastic Fitz.) A sensitive but tough Rhode Island state police detective just returned from a bereavement leave (his beloved wife has died of cancer), Griffin encounters a hell of a case: a serial rapist, Eddie Como, is professionally hit in the courthouse parking lot, but whoever set up the kill doesn't want any loose ends: a car bomb results in an extra-crispy assassin. The prime suspects for this crime are Eddie's surviving victims: Jillian Hayes, who was beaten when she nearly caught the man after he raped her young sister, Trisha, who died; Carol Rosen, neglected wife of a successful attorney with a secret, who was raped in her own home; and the first victim, young Meg Pesaturo, who has mob ties but remembers nothing about the attack. But this is only the beginning of the case, for the rapist seems to rise from the dead to strike again and an old nemesis of Griffin 's may have everything to do with it. The three-dimensional characterizations are compelling, and the plot barrels along with surprising new twists that feel inevitable once they occur. Though the plot doesn't jell until our hero meets his match in city cop Fitz, the book then rocks and rolls right up to a nail-biter ending coming perhaps a tad too quickly. Roan Griffin is a triumph: hurt, tightly wound, but holding it together and regaining his compassion and ability to reach out. And the grace-note minor characters, the wily nurse Toppi and Jillian's silent former singer mother, Libby, are gems. Gardner should hit the charts again with this one. From Library Journal These survivors overcame the consequences of rape, but one of them seems to have taken things too far by murdering the accused rapist. A follow-up to The Accident, the best-selling Gardner 's hardcover debut.

From Publishers Weekly A cold case grows hot again in Gardner 's sixth high-octane page-turner, a romantic thriller that features rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy. Kimberly is the daughter of Pierce Quincy, former FBI profiler turned PI, last seen in The Next Accident. She's a tough, troubled young woman still recovering from the murders of her mother and sister six years earlier. During week nine of the FBI Academy 's 16-week training program in Virginia, she discovers the body of a young woman who looks like her late sister. Since the corpse has been dumped on a secured Marine base, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is in charge, but determined Kimberly soon takes a leave of absence so she can team up with Michael "Mac" McCormack, visiting Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent, along with her father and his partner, Rainie Connor, to prevent another death. Mac receives taunting mail and cell phone messages ("planet dying… animals weeping… rivers screaming… can't you hear it? Heat kills") that lead him to suspect a serial eco-killer who last struck in Georgia three years earlier, leaving seven dead women and one survivor. Sparks fly between Kimberly and Mac as they rush to rescue the eco-killer's latest victim, Tina Krahn. Gardner offers riveting glimpses of Tina's struggle to survive in an environmentally hazardous locale. With tight plotting, an ear for forensic detail and a dash of romance, this is a truly satisfying sizzler in the tradition of Tess Gerritsen and Tami Hoag. From Booklist It has been a while since a vicious murderer killed Kimberly Quincy's mother and sister and put a gun to Kimberly's own head, but rage and guilt are Kim's constant companions, isolating her even as they toughen her in the struggle to become an FBI agent. After she literally stumbles on the body of a woman who looks very like her dead sister, her tightly controlled emotions spill into a furious search for a serial killer that compromises her career. In concert with an equally dedicated (and attractive) Georgia law enforcement officer, her estranged father (a former FBI profiler), and a handful of forensics specialists, she pursues clues to solve a deadly game, the prize for which is a kidnapped young woman. The forensic detail is great, and Gardner works in some genuinely creepy moments, especially when she zeroes in on the victim struggling against horrific odds. A tighter focus and a trimmed-down cast of characters would have made the reading smoother, but that won't stop Gardner 's fans. Stephanie Zvirin

Disturbed when a series of women who look exactly like her turn up dead, small-town doctor Kacey Lambert starts looking for connections between the victim's lives and her own. As the body count mounts, Lambert's discoveries lead back to her new boyfriend even though local detectives find no motive that can explain the murders. Striking an uncertain balance between paranoia and legitimate fear, BORN TO DIE offers the deadly suggestion that the more alike we are, the more likely we may be to share a terrible destiny.

MALICE opens with New Orleans Detective Rick Bentz in the hospital. He thinks he smells his first wife's perfume, and sees Jennifer in the doorway; but she's been dead for 12 years. Rick begins to see Jennifer regularly, as if she is haunting him. It was Bentz who identified her body after her car wreck…which he never doubted, until now. He hasn't told his new wife, Olivia; but she is also hiding a secret from Bentz. A series of murders begin, and each victim was a part of Jennifer's past, making Bentz the prime suspect. MALICE is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat tale of deception and betrayal, where Rick Bentz is forced to confront the ghosts of his past…and a killer's twisted vengeance.

An omnibus of novels New York Times bestselling authors Lisa Jackson, Beverly Barton, and Wendy Corsi Staub join forces to create a thrilling novel about love, revenge, and the dark secrets three women hold to a terrifying murder… A KILLER WHO GETS AWAY WITH MURDER ONCE… It's been twenty years since the night Jake Marcott was brutally murdered at St. Elizabeth High School. It's a night that shattered the lives of Lindsay Farrell, Kirsten Daniels, and Rachel Alsace. It's a night they'll never forget. A killer will make sure of that… FINDS IT EASIER TO KILL AGAIN A 20-year reunion has been scheduled for St. Elizabeth's. For some alumni, very special invitations have been sent: their smiling senior pictures slashed by an angry red line… AND AGAIN…AND AGAIN… Three women have been marked for death. Tonight, as the music plays, and the doors of St. Elizabeth are sealed, a killer will finish what was started long ago, and the sins of the past will be paid for in blood…

Twenty years ago, wild child Jessie Brentwood vanished from St. Elizabeth's high school. Most in Jessie's tight circle of friends believed she simply ran away. Few suspected that Jessie was hiding a shocking secret – one that brought her into the crosshairs of a vicious killer…Two decades pass before a body is unearthed on school grounds and Jessie's old friends reunite to talk. Most are sure that the body is Jessie's, that the mystery of what happened to her has finally been solved. But soon, Jessie's friends each begin to die in horrible, freak accidents that defy explanation…Becca Sutcliff has been haunted for years by unsettling visions of Jessie, certain her friend met with a grisly end. Now the latest deaths have her rattled. Becca can sense that an evil force is shadowing her too, waiting for just the right moment to strike. She feels like she's going crazy. Is it all a coincidence – or has Jessie's killer finally returned to finish what was started all those years ago?

His kisses left hot imprints on her skin as she moved even closer to him, wanting him, aching, moaning his name…Addie was drawn as if by an all-powerful magnet to Ben Hunter from the moment she met him. This strong and handsome man was different from the other ranch hands on her father's vast Texas spread, as different as Addie was from the meek and mild women around her.

Kev Merripen has longed for the beautiful, well-bred Winnifred Hathaway ever since her family rescued him from the brink of death when he was just a boy. But this handsome Gypsy is a man of mysterious origins – and he fears that the darkness of his past could crush delicate, luminous Win. So Kev refuses to submit to temptation.and before long Win is torn from him by a devastating twist of fate. Then, Win returns to England.only to find that Kev has hardened into a man who will deny love at all costs. Meantime, an attractive, seductive suitor has set his sights on Win. It's now or never for Kev to make his move. But first, he must confront a dangerous secret about his destiny – or risk losing the only woman he has lived for.

“Baffling, shocking, awesome-and incredibly suspenseful describe this mystery.” -The Oklahoman on Angel Fire The bloody murder of her mother when she was a teenager made Lydia Strong into a woman obsessed with bringing brutal killers to justice. Now thirty years old, she is a reclusive bestselling true crime writer and investigative consultant whose intuitions never lie. The latest case to capture her attention is the disappearance of three adults, each the kind of loner whose sudden absence isn't missed-they have no family, few friends. The Santa Fe Police don't see a pattern, just three people who left their empty lives behind. But when another woman turns up missing, her apartment streaked with blood, even the police have to admit that something is wrong in their usually quiet town. Lydia and P.I. Jeffrey Mark, the ex-FBI agent who solved her mother's murder, begin a relentless investigation. But it is only when the killer ups the ante and goes after Lydia herself that, just like fifteen years ago when she put the FBI on the trail of her mother's killer, the real hunt begins…

“Dark, disturbing, and hideously exciting. I will have to take my teddy bear with me to bed tonight, and doubt I will get this frightening set of twisted characters and the malign gothic town they come from out of my head for days.” – Perri O’Shaughnessy, New York Times bestselling author “Lydia is a refreshingly down-to-earth character… Miscione draws convincing parallels between Lydia and Julian, an overlapping of characters that gives Twice an added edge.” – St. Petersburg Times “Gothic horror, hints of incest, and the isolated denizens of those tunnels combine to make this a compelling and creepy suspense novel.” – January Magazine “A steadily developing series… with a strong central character.” – Booklist “Readers can tell that author Lisa Miscione has been steeped in the classic formula of mysteries-Agatha Christie, P. D. James, and even Arthur Conan Doyle. Underlying her fresh writing style and modern, real characters is the outline of the classic whodunit.” – Mystery Scene magazine “Real page-turner.” – Tampa Bay Illustrated “Lydia Strong and Jeffrey Mark are back in Miscione’s third outing featuring this vibrant NYC PI team… in this enthralling and gritty thriller… Definitely a tale that will easily hold the reader’s interest, this comes highly recommended.” – New Mystery Reader “Another assured outing in this solid, highly readable series… Again in Twice and seen before in The Darkness Gathers and Angel Fire, Miscione succeeds in the strength of the character development. She has allowed a dark, haunted Lydia the ability to grow and find a peace within herself… all the while remaining true to her character’s tough, smart, bitchy, focused self. I enjoy and admire this author’s refreshing and gutsy character development choices.” – I Love A Mystery Newsletter *** Lisa Miscione's first two mysteries featuring Lydia Strong, Angel Fire and The Darkness Gathers, received praise for their lyrical prose and achingly suspenseful plotting. Now Miscione delivers her best novel to date: Lydia and her partner, P.I. Jeff Mark, must confront not only a brutal murderer but the demons from their own past. Julian Ross, a brilliant and acclaimed New York City artist, has been charged with brutally killing her second husband. She was found at the scene, hysterical, over his bloody, lifeless corpse. She maintains her innocence, but the cops are having trouble believing her: Ten years ago Julian was indicted and acquitted of murdering her first husband in exactly the same way. Julian's mother, Eleanor, is convinced of her daughter's innocence and hires Lydia and Jeff to clear her name. A cold woman, Eleanor nonetheless seems dedicated to her family, even looking after Julian's five-year-old twins. But Lydia and Jeff, who are still dealing with the aftermath of a confrontation with Lydia's mother's murderer, dive into the case only to discover that little about the family is what it seems to be. In a gripping, tense and surprising thriller, once again the talented Lisa Miscione delivers a complicated novel about the nature of evil, and the redemption of survival.

Nothing has been the same for Will ever since what happened last summer. One day, on an ordinary sailing trip with his brother, there is a strange accident. When Will wakes up, he learns his brother has disappeared, presumed drowned. Worst of all, Will can't remember what happened – his family finds him unconscious, with no memory of the accident. Now Will and his best friend and neighbor, Gretchen, are starting a new summer. Gretchen seems troubled – her sleepwalking habit is getting worse, and she keeps waking up closer and closer to the water. Will is drawn to Asia, the exotic new girl in town. Nobody knows where she's from – all Will knows is that her beauty and her mesmerizing voice have a powerful effect on people. Then there is another mysterious drowning, and Will and Gretchen begin to wonder: Is Asia just another beautiful, wealthy summer resident? Or is she something entirely more sinister… and inhuman?

Natalie Greco loves being a law professor, even though she can't keep her students from cruising sex.com during class and secretly feels like Faculty Comic Relief. She loves her family, too, but as a bookworm, doesn't quite fit into the cult of Greco football, headed by her father, the team captain. The one person she feels most connected to is her colleague, Angus Holt, a guy with a brilliant mind, a great sense of humor, a gorgeous facade, and a penchant for helping those less fortunate. When he talks Nat into teaching a class at a local prison, her comfortably imperfect world turns upside down.A violent prison riot breaks out during the class, and in the chaos, Nat rushes to help a grievously injured prison guard. Before he dies, he asks her to deliver a cryptic message with his last words: "Tell my wife it's under the floor."The dying declaration plunges Nat into a nightmare. Suddenly, the girl who has always followed the letter of the law finds herself suspected of a brutal murder and encounters threats to her life around every curve. Now not only are the cops after her, but ruthless killers are desperate to keep her from exposing their secret. In the meantime, she gets dangerously close to Angus, whose warmth, strength, and ponytail shake her dedication to her safe boyfriend.With her love life in jeopardy, her career in the balance, and her life on the line, Nat must rely on her resources, her intelligence, and her courage. Forced into hiding to stay alive, she sets out to save herself by deciphering the puzzle behind the dead guard's last words… and learns the secret to the greatest puzzle of all-herself.Filled with the ingenious twists, pulse-pounding narrative drive, and dynamic, flesh-and-blood characters that are the hallmarks of her bestsellers, Daddy's Girl is another wild, entertaining ride about love, family, and justice from the addictively readable Lisa Scottoline.

When prosecutor Vicki Allegretti arrives at a rowhouse to meet a confidential informant, she finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time – and is almost shot to death. She barely escapes with her life, but cannot save the two others gunned down before her disbelieving eyes. Stunned and heartbroken, Vicki tries to figure out how a routine meeting on a minor case became a double homicide. Vicki's suspicions take her to Devil's Corner, a city neighborhood teetering on the brink of ruin – thick with broken souls, innocent youth, and a scourge that preys on both. But the deeper Vicki probes, the more she becomes convinced that the murders weren't random and the killers were more ruthless than she thought. When another murder thrusts Vicki together with an unlikely ally, she buckles up for a wild ride down a dangerous street – and into the cross-hairs of a conspiracy as powerful as it is relentless.

From Publishers Weekly Rookie federal judge Cate Fante's early days on the Philadelphia bench rapidly descend into nightmare in this compelling stand-alone legal thriller from bestseller Scottoline (Devil's Corner). Fante is the presiding judge in an intellectual property case in which Richard Marz, a former Philly prosecutor, is suing Art Simone, a powerhouse Hollywood producer, for stealing his idea for a TV series about a team of prosecutors called Attorneys@Law. The day after Fante dismisses the lawsuit, someone plugs Simone in the forehead with a.22 outside the restaurant where he was dining with his attorneys. Marz is the chief suspect, and the authorities believe Fante could be his next victim. But her troubles really begin after Marz's crooked police partner discovers her secret vice of picking up nameless strangers in seedy dives for one-night stands. While some may be dissatisfied by the out-of-left-field solution to the mystery and the limited efforts to explain the judge's motives for her reckless behavior, the fast pace and ever-increasing tension will keep readers turning the pages.

“Lisa Scottoline has done the impossible: creating a first novel that is an irresistible page-turner and is also teeming with unforgettable characters.” – Eric Lustbader “Scottoline has made a stunning literary debut with this page-turner.” – Philadelphia Bar Reporter “Engaging.” – Publishers Weekly “Grabs you with its intelligence, wit, and energy and doesn’t let go.” – Susan Isaacs “One of the books you can’t stop reading. Run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore.” – Mystery News “A gripping novel embracing a wide range of characters and human emotions. Humor is one of the novel’s strongest elements…A pleasant surprise as the heroine is confronted with a situation of primal terror.” – The Philadelphia Daily News “The narrative and characters sparkle.” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine *** Amazon.com Review An Edgar Award nominee (for her first legal thriller, Everywhere That Mary Went), Lisa Scottoline actually won the Edgar for her follow-up, Final Appeal. With five legal thrillers behind her, Scottoline-a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School-has joined the league of lawyers-turned-literaries. Her voice in Final Appeal is crisp and wry; of the law clerks in her office, the narrator declares that she's got "pantyhose with more mileage… and better judgment." Lawyer and single mom Grace Rossi has taken a part-time job in a federal appeals court. Her lover and boss, the chief judge, is found dead, and Rossi plays the sleuth. As her previous bestsellers, Scottoline can create feisty female characters who struggle with a variety of issues, producing a fast-paced, well-structured read. From Publishers Weekly This tale of corporate intrigue centers on Mary DiNunzio, a lawyer on the partner track at one of Philadelphia's top law firms, and her secret admirer/stalker. Mary, stressed by nature of her occupation, first shrugs off silent phone calls to her home and office that are eerily in sync with her comings and goings. Soon, however, when she starts getting personal notes, too, she starts to suspect her co-workers. When Brent Polk, her good friend and secretary, is killed by a car that's been following Mary around, she goads police detective Lombardo to check for similarities between his death and that of her husband a year earlier. Soon follows a chain of strange discoveries: after sleeping with friend and associate Ned Waters, she finds anti-depressants in his medicine chest; Ned's wife-beating father manages a rival law firm; a partner has been tampering with her files. An increasingly paranoid Mary cuts off relations with Ned, whom she suspects of being her stalker. But she doesn't act on her suspicions until it's nearly too late and she must fight for her life. Lawyer Scottoline's first novel is an engaging, quick read, sprinkled with corny humor and melodrama in just the right proportions.

From Publishers Weekly Scottoline's previous thrillers (Dead Ringer; Courting Trouble; etc.) have featured the women of the all-female Philadelphia law firm Rosato and Associates, and have concerned the usual elements of murder, stalking, bribery and corruption. This novel by the former trial lawyer and Edgar Award winner, while embracing the requisite ingredients, is especially engaging because of its personal angle: growing out of Scottoline's discovery of her own grandparents' alien registration cards, the book involves the case of an Italian-American who was interned during WWII. Amadeo Brandolini emigrated from Italy to Philadelphia, where he started a family and worked as a fisherman. When the war broke out, the FBI arrested and imprisoned him (along with 10,000 other Italian-Americans). He lost everything and wound up committing suicide in the camp. Rosato and Associates' young star, Mary DiNunzio, steps up to represent Brandolini's estate as it sues for reparations. Mary "grew up in South Philly, where she'd learned to pop her gum, wear high heels, and work overtime" and silently prays to saints when she can't find things. This case, a pro bono one, means a lot to her; the local small business owners and family friends she grew up with want retribution for Brandolini as much as she does. Mary puts all of her energy into the job, and when clues suggest Brandolini's death may have been a homicide, she becomes even more enthralled. As Mary learns more, the enemy camp (another Italian-American family, the Saracones) turns its murderous eye on her. Scottoline skillfully weaves a complicated, gripping and fast-paced tale, at turns comical, nerve-wracking and enlightening.

Amazon.com Review Philadelphia lawyer turned novelist (what a concept!) Scottoline has already won a best original paperback Edgar for Final Appeal. Now she might just nail down a hardcover one for her latest book – a lovely combination of high energy, imagination and nasty good humor mostly directed against lawyers. Her central character this time out is a definite keeper: Benedetta Rosato, "Bennie" to everyone but her mother, a towering blonde who rows to keep her body in shape and duels with the police on a daily basis to keep her legal talents sharp. Most of Bennie's clients have a gripe against the cops, so Philadelphia's finest are less than sympathetic to her cause when she becomes the chief suspect in the murder of her ex-lover and soon to be ex-law partner. Hiding out in a truly original way, Bennie uses (and abuses) a big law firm to help find the real killers; you'll find yourself laughing and gasping all the way. From Publishers Weekly The heroine of Scottoline's rambunctious fourth legal thriller (after Running from the Law) may change the way readers think about lawyers. Benedetta ("Bennie") Rosato, who narrates, is a ravishing six-foot blonde, one of two partners in a thriving law firm. In quick order, the foundations of her world come crashing down. Her partner and ex-lover, Mark, turns up murdered shortly after he tells Bennie that he is planning to dissolve the partnership. It's not surprising that she then becomes the cops' prime suspect. When the murder weapon is found in her apartment, Bennie goes underground. Then a drug company CEO is killed, and she is falsely accused of that death, too. A hilarious caper ensues as Bennie disguises herself as, variously, a hooker, a bag lady and a lawyer "from the New York office" of a staid old white-shoe firm. In the midst of all her woes, she must also deal with a new boyfriend and a mother who's facing electroshock therapy. The Perry Mason-like ending is a bit strained but doesn't spoil the fun. Bennie, a delightful heroine, deserves an encore; and, again, Scottoline merits a big round of applause. $200,000 combined ad/promo for Legal Tender and the simultaneous HarperPaperbacks edition of Running from the Law; simultaneous HarperAudio; author tour; U.K. and translation rights: Columbia Literary Agency; dramatic rights: Linda Hayes.

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline enthralls millions of readers with her unforgettable characters, her keep you-guessing plots, and her exploration of emotional justice. Look Again begins with a single moment that changes one woman's life forever. When reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a "Have You Seen This Child?" flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away. But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops, the child in the photo is identical to her adopted son, W. Her every instinct tells her to deny the similarity between the boys, because she knows her adoption was lawful. But she's a journalist and won't be able to stop thinking about the photo until she figures out the truth. And she can't shake the question: if Will rightfully belongs to someone else, should she keep him or give him up? She investigates, uncovering clues no one was meant to discover, and when she digs too deep, she risks losing her own life, and that of the son she loves. In this emotionally charged, heart-pounding thriller, Lisa Scottoline has broken new ground. Look Again questions the very essence of parenthood and raises a moral quandary that will haunt readers long after they've finished the last page, leaving them with the ultimate question: What would I do?

Amazon.com Review When confronted with the most challenging and the most personal case of her legal career, Bennie Rosato-an expert on police corruption-questions everything she has learned as a criminal attorney, and everyone she considers to be family. During a visit behind the bars of Philadelphia 's Central Corrections facility, Bennie is shocked to discover that an inmate bears a striking physical resemblance to herself. The prisoner, Alice Connolly, stands accused of murdering her cop boyfriend Anthony Della Porta, and the case reeks of a police conspiracy. Connolly convinces Bennie to defend her in court. Bennie feels confused, intrigued, and even somewhat elated by this clone of herself, and dives head first into a bubbling cauldron of corruption, drugs, murder, and assault-mixed in with a thought-provoking subplot that questions the intricacies of legal ethics. Mistaken Identity is Lisa Scottoline's sixth and tastiest dish yet. The book is gripping and smart, and it brings into bloom the highly likable character of Bennie Rosato, who made her debut appearance in Legal Tender. Bennie has her vulnerable moments-we witness this when, in some emotional scenes, she doubts the authenticity of her twin. Still, Ms. Rosato is no shrinking violet, especially when it comes to exposing the questionable goings-on of Philadelphia 's Eleventh Precinct. Scottoline keeps us in a bubble of suspense-is Connolly really Bennie's twin? Did she murder Della Porta? If not, who did and why? The author neatly ties all our unanswered questions together into a perfectly formed bow, and keeps us frantically turning pages until the very end. From Publishers Weekly Double jeopardy is more than just a legal term in this taut and smart courtroom drama by Edgar Award winner Scottoline. Bennie Rosato, the irrepressible head of an all-female Philadelphia law firm, moves to center stage after playing a supporting role in the author's previous novel, Rough Justice. Bennie's client is tough, manipulative Alice Connolly, charged with murdering her police detective boyfriend, who may or may not have been a drug dealer. Complicating matters is Alice 's claim to be Bennie's identical twin sister and to have been visited by their long-lost father. Despite her wrenching emotional reaction to this revelation and her mother's deteriorating health, Bennie puts her personal and professional life on the line, immersing herself in the case. She enlists the aid of her associates, Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier, as well as Lou Jacobs, a cantankerous retired cop she hires as an investigator. They discover that a web of corruption may have enveloped the prosecuting attorney and judge who are now trying Alice 's case. Scottoline effectively alternates her settings between prison, law office, courtroom and the streets. Readers familiar with her previous work will enjoy the continuing evolution of the characters' relationships. Judy is still the bolder of the two associates, her experiences highlighted this time by an amusing venture into the seamy world of pro boxing. But Mary, until now a timid and reluctant lawyer ("Maybe I could get a job eating"), emerges from her shell. Scottoline falters occasionally by resorting to ethnic stereotypes, particularly in her dialogue, but generally succeeds in creating a brisk, multilayered thriller that plunges Rosato Associates into a maelstrom of legal, ethical and familial conundrums, culminating in an intricate, dramatic and intense courtroom finale. Agent, Molly Friedrich. Major ad/promo; author tour. (Mar.) FYI: Mistaken Identity is one of the six books excerpted in Diet Coke's marketing campaign.

When Jack Newlin comes home to find his wife dead on the floor of their elegant dining room, he's convinced he knows who killed her – and determined that the murderer should escape detection. Making a split-second decision, he sets about doctoring the evidence in order to frame himself for the crime. And to hammer the final nail in his coffin, he hires the most inexperienced lawyer he can find: Mary DiNunzio of Philadelphia law firm Rosato and Associates. Unfortunately for Jack, hiring Mary could turn out to be a big mistake. Inexperienced she may be, but Mary soon discovers that instead of defending a guilty client who claims to be innocent, she has an innocent client falsely proclaiming his guilt.

Rita Morrone is one of the toughest trial lawyers in Philadelphia. When a distinguished federal judge (and her prospective father-in-law) is accused of sexually harrassing his young secretary, Morrone takes on the defence of what becomes one of the most high-profile cases in the country.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Think Twice and Look Again comes an emotionally powerful novel about a split-second choice, agonizing consequences, and the need for justice Susan Pressman volunteers as a lunch mom in her daughter Melly's school in order to keep an eye on Amanda, a mean girl who's been bullying her daughter. Her fears come true when the bullying begins, sending Melly to the bathroom in tears. Just as Susan is about to follow after her daughter, a massive explosion goes off in the kitchen, sending the room into chaos. Susan finds herself faced with the horrifying decision of whether or not to run to the bathroom to rescue her daughter or usher Amanda to safety. She believes she has accomplished both, only to discover that Amanda, for an unknown reason, ran back into the school once out of Susan's sight. In an instance, Susan goes from hero to villain as the small community blames Amanda's injuries on her. In the days that follow, Susan's life starts to fall to pieces, Amanda's mother decides to sue, her marriage is put to the test, and worse, when her daughter returns to school, the bullying only intensifies. Susan must take matters into her own hands and get down to the truth of what really happened that fateful day in order to save herself, her marriage and her family. In the way that Look Again had readers questioning everything they thought they knew about family, Save Me will have readers wondering just how far they would go to save the ones they love. Lisa Scottoline is writing about real issues that resonate with real women, and the results are emotional, heartbreaking and honest.