Betrayed
by Lisa Scottoline
Genre: Legal Mystery
Pages: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: local library
For those familiar with Lisa Scottoline's Rosato and Associates series, the new Rosato & Dinunzio acknowledges Mary Dinunzio becoming a partner in the law firm and also gives Bennie Rosato a backseat to the adventure and crime solving. So it's basically a continuation, which for those who don't like change is perfect, same thing, different name. Mary was the star of the first book in the series, Accused; with Betrayed she's a supporting player to best friend and legal associate Judy Carrier.
Judy has a lot on her plate. She's maid of honor helping to plan Mary's wedding, she's feeling frustrated in the relationship with her live-in boyfriend, and she's just learned that her very close aunt has been diagnosed with breast cancer. To top it off, her mom, with whom she has an awkward relationship, has shown up for the duration of Aunt Barb's treatment and recovery. Mary has little time for work, and her cases are beginning to suffer.
When Aunt Barb's friend and caregiver, Iris, disappears, it's all Judy can do to keep her head on. Barb can't focus on her health needing to know what happen to Iris. Judy's investigation takes her into the precarious world of undocumented workers. No one will help her and the police don't think there's a problem until a priest helping these workers is murdered and Judy's car is blown up.
In addition to the mystery there is the cancer story line, the awkwardness with Mom, and the possibility of Mary jeopardizing her job, which can be a lot to keep up with. Of all these, I think the mother story line could have waited until another book. It wasn't necessary to the plot of the mystery, which is the first reason someone would pick up this book. I also found Mary somewhat manic in keeping up with everything (Who wouldn't be?) but foolish in not taking a leave from work or having her cases reassigned. Instead she keeps it all private and her boss just thinks she's dropping the ball.
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| http://scottoline.com |
The next book, Corrupted, comes out in October and I am looking forward to it. These books are always reliable legal thrillers with some humor and I always learn something. I definitely recommend Betrayed or any of the Rosato mysteries. If you haven't read any, you don't need to start with the first, but as always, it's nice to get the character's back stories.
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