Sly Fox

May 7, 2012
Set in 1976, this solid first novel from Emmy-winning TV legal analyst Pirro introduces idealistic Westchester ADA Dani Fox. Dani, who’s been relegated to the appeals unit on account of her sex, makes the most of a chance opportunity to work directly with crime victims. When a veteran White Plains cop, Det. Tommy O’Brien, asks Dani for help with a battered bartender, Mary Margaret Hitchins, Dani visits Mary in the hospital, where she’s recovering from her husband’s latest assault. Since at the time New York law didn’t consider spousal violence a matter for criminal court, Dani must use all her ingenuity and political acumen to persuade her sexist bosses to allow her to pursue the case. Pirro’s experiences as a former DA and county court judge as well as the founder of one of the country’s first domestic violence units help distinguish this from the pack. Fans of the autobiographical legal thrillers of Linda Fairstein and Marcia Clark will find a lot to like. Agent: David Vigliano, Vigliano Associates.

June 15, 2012
TV judge Pirro's first foray into fiction follows a Westchester County Assistant District Attorney through two slam-bang years as she battles rapists, killers and fellow pillars of law enforcement. Since it's 1976 and she's a woman, Dani Fox has been shunted into the appeals bureau and kept out of the courtroom. But all that changes when Detective Tommy O'Brien asks her to talk pregnant barmaid Mary Margaret Hitchins, whose common-law husband Rudy beat her within an inch of her life, into leaving town for her own safety. Instead, Dani persuades Mary Margaret to file a complaint that'll put Rudy away, then refuses to back up the cops' tale of resisting arrest when they cuff Rudy and knock him around. As Dani's boss, Westchester District Attorney Carlton Whitaker III, observes, Dani clearly isn't a team player, and it's no surprise to anyone but her when the case against Rudy turns ugly. No matter: Her high-profile prosecution, juiced by Whitaker's pursuit of women's votes, propels her into heading the county's new Domestic Violence unit and onto a state task force drafting historic legislation allowing battered wives to take their abusers into criminal court. With her career well under way, Dani can afford to take on the case of Carmen Gonzales, whose father, Carlos, a jeweler and respected community activist, has been selling cocaine for years and raping her since she was 14. Despite unhelpful rulings from a novice judge, Dani gets a conviction, but once again the case doesn't turn out the way she expects. As absorbing, episodic and self-congratulatory as a season of Mad Men, though with more felonies and inferior costumes and hairdos. A sequel is promised.

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July 1, 2012

Flash back just 36 years to 1976 and shockingly, Westchester County, NY, assistant district attorney Dani Fox is the jurisdiction's only female attorney. With that premise in mind, Pirro has crafted a "you are there" novel tracking Fox's hard-fought battles for women's rights. Crusading against an old-boy network and cultural acceptance of spousal abuse, Fox gains begrudging respect from her peers as she gives battered women a chance to fight back. Along the way, however, Fox picks up a few enemies, men so angered by her actions that they threaten her. When she stands her ground, bringing an abusive husband back to trial for a second offense--murder this time--Fox finds herself in the direct line of fire. VERDICT This debut from former district attorney and current TV host Pirro never quite gains the momentum expected in legal thrillers, instead sounding more didactic than suspenseful. Still, the courtroom scenes are well done, and the book would appeal to fans of Law & Order: SVU, Linda Fairstein, and Marcia Clark.

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