The vendetta defense

Is it murder or simply eye-for-an-eye justice if you kill someone who has killed members of your family? That moral conundrum lies at the heart of Scottoline's (Moment of Truth; Mistaken Identity) latest legal yarn, which gives top billing to yet another lawyer from the all-female Philadelphia firm of Rosato & Associates. The star here is the somewhat manic Judy Carrier, who has played supporting roles in the past. The story, however, revolves around Anthony "Pigeon Tony" Lucia, a lovable septuagenarian who killed his longtime rival, Angelo Coluzzi, who murdered Lucia's wife in their native Italy 60 years ago. Coluzzi, the wealthy, mob-connected owner of a big construction firm, always seems to get the upper hand until Pigeon Tony breaks his neck during a showdown at the pigeon-racing club where they're both members. Pigeon Tony freely admits he killed Coluzzi, but maintains he was justified because of the long-standing Italian tradition of vendetta; Carrier knows it will be a big stretch to make that argument fly before a 21st-century American jury. Aided, however, by Tony's many friends in South Philly's Italian neighborhoods, Carrier mounts a sparkling defense while dodging innumerable attempts on her life from Coluzzi's gang and trying to keep in check her amorous feelings for Pigeon Tony's ruggedly handsome grandson, Frank. Scottoline shows once again her knack for building a highly entertaining plot around an intriguingly simple legal issue and a cast of likable eccentrics. Her touch is light, and her satisfying mix of mischief, sex appeal, action and legal analysis justifies her wide following. (Feb. 27) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Lawyer Judy Carrier gets more than she bargained for when she defends an elderly Italian pigeon keeper who freely admits to having murdered because of a generations-old vendetta. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The latest criminal defendant for Bennie Rosato's all-female law firm (Moment of Truth, 2000, etc.) is an elderly Italian-American who's killed another elderly Italian-American with his bare hands. Moreover, insists Tony Lucia, he'd meant to kill Angelo Coluzzi; he was happy to kill him; after all, Angelo had had it coming to him for 60 years, ever since he'd murdered Tony's bride Silvana back in Italy after she left him for Tony, and Angelo's fellow-Blackshirts declined to prosecute him despite Tony's howls of rage. But Tony hasn't just been nursing an ancient grievance, he tells his lawyer, Judy Carrier; he'd struck out at Angelo after his old enemy had gloated that the deaths of Tony's son and his wife last year in a fiery car crash were no accident, because Angelo himself had been nursing his own grudge against gentle pigeon-breeder Tony. But although vendettas may be a fact of death back in Palermo, they can't be used to justify homicide in Philadelphia. So Judy, aided by Tony's sexy stonecutter grandson Frank, hunkers down to the impossible task of digging up exculpatory evidence. At the same time, she sees no harm in continuing the vendetta she can't drag into court by launching a brace of civil suits against Coluzzi Construction—tossing in another suit against Angelo's son John for planting a bomb under her car. It's not until she's succeeded in setting John Coluzzi against his brother Marco, the firm's heir apparent, that she realizes she's trapped herself in the crossfire, and she'll have to go back to court in search of the legal victory that will clear the way for her romance with Frank Lucia—a victory that would have looked a lot less anticlimactic a hundred pages earlier. Generously plotted and emotionally wide-ranging, though readers less dewy-eyed than Judy will see cracks in the structure that a pro like Frank would never let by.

Lawyer Judy Carrier gets more than she bargained for when she defends an elderly Italian pigeon keeper who freely admits to having murdered because of a generations-old vendetta. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Is it murder or simply eye-for-an-eye justice if you kill someone who has killed members of your family? That moral conundrum lies at the heart of Scottoline's (Moment of Truth; Mistaken Identity) latest legal yarn, which gives top billing to yet another lawyer from the all-female Philadelphia firm of Rosato & Associates. The star here is the somewhat manic Judy Carrier, who has played supporting roles in the past. The story, however, revolves around Anthony "Pigeon Tony" Lucia, a lovable septuagenarian who killed his longtime rival, Angelo Coluzzi, who murdered Lucia's wife in their native Italy 60 years ago. Coluzzi, the wealthy, mob-connected owner of a big construction firm, always seems to get the upper hand until Pigeon Tony breaks his neck during a showdown at the pigeon-racing club where they're both members. Pigeon Tony freely admits he killed Coluzzi, but maintains he was justified because of the long-standing Italian tradition of vendetta; Carrier knows it will be a big stretch to make that argument fly before a 21st-century American jury. Aided, however, by Tony's many friends in South Philly's Italian neighborhoods, Carrier mounts a sparkling defense while dodging innumerable attempts on her life from Coluzzi's gang and trying to keep in check her amorous feelings for Pigeon Tony's ruggedly handsome grandson, Frank. Scottoline shows once again her knack for building a highly entertaining plot around an intriguingly simple legal issue and a cast of likable eccentrics. Her touch is light, and her satisfying mix of mischief, sex appeal, action and legal analysis justifies her wide following. (Feb. 27) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.