Corrupted

August 31, 2015
Edgar-winner Scottoline’s lackluster 14th Rosato and DiNunzio novel (after 2014’s Betrayed) focuses on law firm–founder Bennie Rosato. In 2002, a panic-stricken father from Mountaintop, Pa., hires the Philadelphia lawyer to appeal his 12-year-old son’s juvenile conviction. Jason Lefkavick shoved bully Richie Grusini, and both boys have been incarcerated. In the Poconos town, Bennie discovers rights violations and judicial corruption—and becomes involved with Declan Mitchell, Richie’s uncle. When Jason’s father learns of the relationship, he fires Bennie and drops the appeal; then Declan ends the affair. Thirteen years later, Bennie receives a desperate call from Jason, who’s being charged with Richie’s murder but insists he’s been framed. Guilt-stricken, she agrees to represent him, even though she doesn’t believe his story. Bennie’s uncharacteristically unprofessional affair with Declan strains credibility, especially when she’s utterly blindsided by the repercussions. The surprise courtroom twist lacks punch, and a predictable ending may satisfy series fans but is unlikely to win new readers. Author tour. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary Agency.

August 15, 2015
Twelve years after a Kids-for-Cash scheme ends the childhood of two boys, Philadelphia lawyer Bennie Rosato must defend one of them on a charge of murdering the other. It's nothing but a childhood fight, really, but the judge throws the book at both Jason Lefkavick, who draws 90 days in a juvie prison, and Richie Grusini, who gets off with 60 days because his uncle, Declan Mitchell, was a state trooper. Bennie, responding to the pleas of Jason's father, Matthew, hikes out to Mountaintop, Pennsylvania, in hopes of springing Jason, who hasn't been properly advised of his right to counsel. In the course of her investigation, the famously abstemious Bennie falls for Declan, and their liaison gets her fired just as her legal wrangling would have borne fruit-and saved scores of other young victims whose families won't find out till years afterward that the judge has a financial interest in the prison he's kept stocked to the brim. Fast-forward to the present, when Jason's been found clasping a bloody knife a few feet away from Richie, whose throat has been slit in an alley minutes after the old enemies had a well-witnessed fight in a Philadelphia bar. Bennie, who's felt all this time that her fling with Declan ended up tossing Jason to the wolves, is convinced that she has to defend him, even though he refuses to get on board with the self-defense strategy she methodically pursues as her cross-examination picks holes in the testimony of one witness after another. And then, as things seem to be looking up for Jason, a bombshell makes them look much worse for Bennie. As so often for the firm of Rosato & DiNunzio (Betrayed, 2014, etc.), the ending, logical but woefully underprepared, is a serious disappointment. Fans eager to see Bennie's courtroom mettle won't care a bit.

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Starred review from September 1, 2015
Bennie Rosato, founder of the Rosato & Dinunzio law firm, is a very private person, even with her staff. When she takes on a low-profile murder case, she tells them she's been appointed by the court. The truth is very different: 13 years earlier, Bennie had represented the same defendant, Jason Leftavick, but in juvenile court. While those records were sealed, she never forgot him or the only case from which she'd ever been fired. Carrying around years of guilt leads her to represent him in what seems like an open-and-shut case of first-degree murder. Bennie had been fired for dating Declan Mitchell, whose nephew, Richie, was incarcerated along with Jason. The boys were enemies; Richie bullied Jason until he finally snapped and shoved Richie. A no-nonsense judge sentenced them both to juvie, and Jason's father hired Bennie to free his son, who had recently lost his mother. Declan and Bennie fell in love and spent one weekend together before circumstances forced them apart, but Bennie never forgot the man she considered the love of her life. But now they are on opposite sides of a murder case; Jason is accused of killing Richie. Both the juvenile case and the murder case are compelling on their own, but the combination and the glimpse into Bennie's younger self make this a wonderful addition to an always-strong series. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Scottoline is an A-lister all the way, and her Rosato series is always an A-plus in terms of reader interest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2015

Despite the best efforts of Bennie Rosato, founder of the Rosato & DiNunzio law firm, 12-year-old Jason Leftavick landed at a juvenile detention center after finally punching out a class bully. Now an adult, he's accused of murdering the very same bully, and Bennie feels that she must take the case. Third in the series; with a one-day laydown on October 27.

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