Copyright 2014 by Smart Blonde LLC. Published bySt Martin’s Press, New York.
You all know about “chick flicks.” This is a “chick mystery.” Yes, it is a whodunit but it is also about feelings and relationships. You know – chick stuff. This is a book with very little testosterone.
The is one of Scottoline’s many books about the Rosato & DeNunzio law firm (though in the earlier books it was just Rosato). The main character in this book, however, is neither Rosato nor DeNunzio but rather Judy Carrier, the senior associate in this all-female Philadelphia law firm. It begins with the firm taking on a huge 75-case workload defending an asbestos manufacturer. This is a big deal for the law firm and a ready-made path to partner for Judy, but she hates the work. It seemed, early on, that the book would be all about these cases.
Not so. Personal problems intervened. She got a call informing her that her beloved Aunt Beth had breast cancer and was to undergo a radical mastectomy on Monday, just a weekend away. Judy heads to her aunt’s home, just over an hour away, to comfort her, joining her mother who has flown in from the west coast.
The three women are joined, briefly, by Iris, an illegal Mexican immigrant who is a gardening partner of Beth’s. Beth speaks very highly of Iris and it is clear she has grown very fond of this young 40ish woman.
So it is quite a shock when Iris turns up dead that very afternoon, the victim of a heart attack. Or so the medical examiner rules. But things don’t seem quite right to Beth and Judy agrees. She quietly starts to investigate Iris’ life.
Things quickly spiral out of control. Over the course of the weekend and the following Monday, Judy experiences an amazing variety of traumas, both physical and emotional. She is assaulted, chased by gunmen intent on murdering her, hides in a pile of manure, watches her VW and an informant being blown up, finds a large sum of money secreted in Beth’s home, dumps her boyfriend, loses control in a deposition and is slapped with what amounts to a malpractice complaint and learns that her Aunt Beth is not her aunt. That is what I call a busy few days. And none of it has anything to do with asbestos.
That probably sounds more exciting than it was. And more exciting than it should have been. The assaults and the car bombing really lacked motive. Why was it necessary for the bad guys to take this drastic action? She really knew very little and the whole nefarious scheme probably would have survived and continued to thrive if they had just ignored her. They brought the law down on themselves by attacking her. So I have a problem with the motive.
I also have a problem with the murder/assaults/car bombing being about 40% of the book – the rest is a recitation of Judy’s personal issues. Cancer, boyfriend, an aunt who is not an aunt. All interesting, but not a mystery. Chick stuff.
4 out of 10.