Dirty Blonde

Drama verges on melodrama in this thirteenth offering from Edgar Award winner Scottoline. Neophyte Philadelphia federal judge Cate Fante thought she could keep her sex life a secret until a case involving high-powered Hollywood producer Art Simone exposes every tawdry fact. Judge Fante had decided in favor of Simone in his blistering legal battle with aspiring writer Richard Marz (each claimed ownership of the idea behind the top-ranked TV series, Attorneys@Law0 ). Simone, it turns out, was also at work on an edgy new project about a female federal judge who bears a striking similarity to Fante. When Simone is killed outside a popular restaurant, the judge is among the suspects. Soon the details of Judge Fante's dual personalities are splashed across the tabloids, and her life is in ruins. She's particularly worried about best pal, Gina, and Gina's autistic son, Warren, whose daily struggles are destined to become grist for the television mill. Former trial lawyer Scottoline, now a on best-selling writer, renders snappy dialogue and vivid descriptions of her native Pennsylvania in this engaging--if somewhat over-the-top--suspenser about consequences and truths. --Allison Block Copyright 2006 Booklist

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. 12-city author tour. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Cate Fante worries that at 39 she's too young to become a judge. But she's even more worried that a dark life she keeps secret will come out-which, of course, it does. With a one-day laydown; 12-city tour. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Judges who live in glass houses shouldn't mouth off, as the latest of Scottoline's Philadelphia legal eagles learns when her public and private lives collide with a bang. The Honorable Cate Fante is the golden girl of the Eastern District bench, appointed at 39 to one of the most prestigious positions in the American bar. But not even her sharp mind can figure out a way to keep powerful TV producer Art Simone from evading Philadelphia lawyer Richard Marz's clearly meritorious claim that his one-time buddy stole the idea and the leading characters for the wildly successful series Attorneys at Law from Marz. Cate reluctantly decides the case in favor of Simone. But the stern lecture she delivers to the defendant from the bench, which inspires Marz to hurl abuse at him in open court, is a distinct faux pas, as Chief Judge Sherman informs her privately. Actually, it's a hundred times worse. Within two days Simone and Marz are both dead, the first a murder, the second an apparent suicide. As if the resulting notoriety weren't punishment enough, Marz's friend and partner, Detective Frank Russo, threatens to go public with details of Cate's compulsive sexual interludes with lowlife pickups, the latest of whom is also dead. Even worse, Simone's death evidently won't prevent his production company from launching Judges at Court, a new series based on Cate's life, featuring thinly fictionalized versions of not only the besmirched judge but her publicity-shy best friend Gina Katsakis and her autistic son Warren. Can she sue the company to prevent her private life from turning into prime-time drama? Probably not--but if she doesn't, her days as a judge will be numbered. If only the fireworks which Scottoline (Devil's Corner, 2005, etc.) uses to extricate her feisty heroine from her problems were as compelling or believable as the sure-footed mastery with which she plunges her into hot water. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Drama verges on melodrama in this thirteenth offering from Edgar Award winner Scottoline. Neophyte Philadelphia federal judge Cate Fante thought she could keep her sex life a secret until a case involving high-powered Hollywood producer Art Simone exposes every tawdry fact. Judge Fante had decided in favor of Simone in his blistering legal battle with aspiring writer Richard Marz (each claimed ownership of the idea behind the top-ranked TV series, Attorneys@Law). Simone, it turns out, was also at work on an edgy new project about a female federal judge who bears a striking similarity to Fante. When Simone is killed outside a popular restaurant, the judge is among the suspects. Soon the details of Judge Fante's dual personalities are splashed across the tabloids, and her life is in ruins. She's particularly worried about best pal, Gina, and Gina's autistic son, Warren, whose daily struggles are destined to become grist for the television mill. Former trial lawyer Scottoline, now a on best-selling writer, renders snappy dialogue and vivid descriptions of her native Pennsylvania in this engaging--if somewhat over-the-top--suspenser about consequences and truths. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

Cate Fante worries that at 39 she's too young to become a judge. But she's even more worried that a dark life she keeps secret will come out-which, of course, it does. With a one-day laydown; 12-city tour. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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. 12-city author tour. (Mar.)