Just Jennifer

Accused: A Rosato & Associates Novel by Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin’s Press, October 29, 2013)

Mary Dinuzio has just been promoted to partner at her Philadelphia law firm and for her first case is presented with a very unusual client with a very unusual request.  Precocious thirteen-year-old Allegra Gardner, daughter of one of Philadelphia’s most powerful families has come to Rosato and Dinuzio to hire them to prove that the man in prison for her sister’s murder six years earlier is innocent.  Lonnie Stall, who was rumored to have been stalking Fiona and was seen fleeing the cocktail party where Fiona was killed, covered in blood.  Allegra’s parents are against the investigation and do everything they can to stop her from hiring the law firm, but Rosato & Associates have always taken the cases of the underdog, and Allegra has access to a trust fund and Mary Dinuzio is willing to take on one of the most powerful families as her first opponents as a partner, she just hopes this decision will not make it her last.  Fast-paced and fun, Accused is filled with wonderful characters from Mary’s very Italian extended family to the upright and proper to the women with attitude at Rosato and Associates.  The plot is breezy and fast-paced with just the right amount of twists and turns and humor to make a quick, enjoyable read with a surprise ending.