A Good Killing

March 2, 2015
Readers who like their legal thrillers with a heavy dose of romance will appreciate Leotta’s fourth Anna Curtis mystery (after 2013’s Speak of the Devil). Anna, a veteran sex-crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C., has called off her wedding after the shattering discovery of her fiancé’s infidelity. Conveniently, her return to her hometown of Holly Grove, Mich., to defend her sister, Jody, from a murder charge reintroduces her to an old high school friend, Cooper Bolden, who has transformed from a “skinny boy with knobby knees” to a former Army Ranger “with a chest like a Ford 350.” Jody is accused of killing Owen Fowler, a beloved high school coach, supposedly because he wanted to break off their reputed affair. Anna wrangles permission from the Justice Department to serve as her sibling’s defense attorney, and, aided by Cooper, vigorously looks for other suspects. A melodramatic denouement won’t be to every taste. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.

March 1, 2015
Dark secrets, a small town, and one supercharged trial provide the backdrops for Leotta's latest legal thriller.Jody Curtis once loved Owen Fowler, Holly Grove's famed football coach, and when he dies in a fiery ball after his car slams into the football stadium where he worked, she finds herself the prime suspect in his murder. Jody's big sister, Anna Curtis, the D.C. prosecutor whose exploits Leotta chronicled in previous novels, flies home to help her sister in the wake of her own breakup from Jack, the homicide chief at the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C.. Anna's met by Cooper Bolden, a hunky Afghanistan vet who came home from the war with a prosthetic leg. And when she runs into her former high school flame-turned-police investigator, Rob Gargaron, she finds it's her temper that flares-not romantic sparks. After Jody is arrested, Anna decides to defend her, but the price the two sisters pay for their stubborn refusal to let sleeping dogs lie may be more than they can handle. Leotta successfully replants her big-city prosecutor in small-town America, painting a realistic picture of how public opinion can wound; but the alternating chapters featuring the less-educated Jody don't always work-Jody sounds more like a creative-writing major than an assembly-line worker. The novel's major flaw-Jody has a deep, dark secret about a long-ago incident with the dead man that she keeps from Anna-comes off as illogical rather than mysterious. The author scores big, however, by yanking Anna from D.C. and turning her into a defense attorney. This Anna is a much more interesting main character than the Anna of previous novels. While readers may grow exasperated with Jody's stubborn and nonsensical refusal to come clean with her sister about her teenage contact with the victim, Leotta's growing skills turn dull Anna into a character who's not only worth reading about, but also one to look forward to in future works.

Starred review from March 1, 2015

"Nothing fuels hate like love gone wrong," and people naturally suspect Jody Curtis when the local high school coach is found dead in a suspicious car crash. After all, everyone had seen her trying to get Fowler's attention at the bar every night. It was no secret that she adored him a decade ago when she was in high school and he was her coach. So, Jody's big sister, prosecutor Anna Curtis, comes back to town to support Jody and defend her from wrongful prosecution. But as the evidence begins to mount against her sister, who will only say, "I didn't do it," Anna begins to question everything about the situation and the idyllic town she once knew so well. VERDICT Leotta (Speak of the Devil) spins a delicious tale of suspense that will have readers hurrying to find out what happens but at the same time wanting to savor each page. This highly entertaining thriller shouldn't be missed.--Cynthia Price, Francis Marion Univ. Lib., Florence, SC

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