Dirty Blonde [Hardcover]

Lisa Scottoline (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2006

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline delivers a riveting page-turner about sex and murder, which starts in the elite chambers of a sexy female judge and ends on the cold, gritty streets of Philadelphia.

Cate Fante is strong and smart, but when she gets appointed a federal judge, even she wonders if she can do the job justice. She's in her thirties, and she feels like she's joining the world's most exclusive retirement village. But Cate keeps her doubts a secret. And, as it happens, much else. For she leads a dark, double life that she hides from everyone.

Then a high-profile case in her courtroom explodes into a shocking murder-suicide, and it blasts her cover wide open. Overnight, her new career hangs in tatters. But Cate's troubles are only beginning. An enemy no one anticipated sends her running for her life -- embarking on a journey that begins in the mystery of her own childhood. She'll have to fight her way back to the truth, or die trying.

Dirty Blonde is Lisa Scottoline's most suspenseful and gripping thriller to date. Mixing poignancy with her trademark wit and wonderfully compelling characters, it questions whether law and justice are always the same thing.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

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. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1St Edition edition (March 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060742909
• ISBN-13: 978-0060742904
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #772,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Scottoline is the New York Times bestselling author of seventeen novels including her most recent, THINK TWICE, and also writes a weekly column, called Chick Wit, for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa has won many honors and awards, notably the Edgar Award, given for excellence in crime fiction, and the Fun Fearless Female Award from Cosmopolitan Magazine. She also teaches a course she created, called Justice and Fiction at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and regularly does speaking engagements. There are twenty-five million copies of her books in print, and she is published in over thirty other countries.Lisa graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. degree in English, and her concentration was Contemporary American Fiction, taught by Philip Roth and others. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She remains a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area, where she lives with her array of disobedient pets.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the queen of Philly Law, July 12, 2006

By 

Richard Cumming "dick" (the heartland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dirty Blonde CD (Audio CD)

Lisa Scottoline writes legal thrillers about a world she knows well, Philadelphia courtrooms. Scottoline has had a good run with her previous long-running series about a young female lawyer. That series seems to be running out of steam and Scottoline must have decided to branch out with some other characters in an attempt to re-invigorate her writing and her audience. This new book, a stand-alone about a federal judge named Cate Fante was a great read. Scottoline knows Philly. She writes about Italian-Americans with wit and expertise. Having enjoyed the book I decided to check out the audio version. Read by Kate Burton, a Broadway actress (most audiobooks are read by stage actors-they have the required vocal stamina) I was anticipating a great experience. I was amazed. The audiobook doesn't stand up to the print version. Burton transitions between various character voices and I had a hard time telling them apart. There was a sameness about them that was disconcerting. The story, takes us to the dark underside of a very public life, it is good, the reading less so.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A "Dirty Blonde" with a credibility problem!, March 18, 2006

By 

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dirty Blonde (Hardcover)

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Lisa Scottoline's latest, "Dirty Blonde." The author, one of my favorites when it comes to legal mystery thrillers, disappoints this time - Big Time! What ticks me off is that she has all the components here to make a really great read...but she takes the easy road and thus her protagonist and her storyline are not at all credible.

Thirty-nine year-old Cate Fante, a newly appointed federal judge, seems to have it all - smarts, looks, health, money (she was a successful member of a topnotch Philadelphia law firm before her career change), a wonderful boyfriend and great girlfriends. What more could anyone desire? Well, she also has a terrible secret, one that no one would want...ever! Cate has a dark side that compels her to pick up strange men, dangerous men, some are even convicted felons, in sleazy bars and have down and dirty sex with them before walking out to resume business and life as usual. So far so good.

Cate presides over a breach-of-contract lawsuit involving an extremely popular TV show, "a cable blockbuster," Attorneys@Law. Plaintiff Richard Marz, claims that a successful producer and former friend, Art Simone, stole his idea for the series. Cate rules reluctantly in favor of the defendant, but not before blasting him from the bench. "You may have made a fortune, Mr. Simone, but as far as I am concerned, you stole every penny of it." That same evening, Marz apparently murders Simone and then takes his own life.

When a former detective with a grudge finds a tape featuring Cate in compromising positions and the judge's private life is made very public, front page news, the ensuing scandal puts her job at risk as well as her life. Still good.

Now our judge, who thinks there is more to the murder/suicide than meets the eye, becomes an effective sleuth, determined to solve what she believes to be a double murder and even more determined to get her life back on track. Was it ever on track?

So what could be wrong with this seemingly unputdownable novel? Well, psychologically Cate Fante has serious problems, problems that weekly visits with a therapist won't solve....unless she saw her therapist for one hundred years! Give me a break! That's like expecting an alcoholic, or a compulsive gambler, or someone with an eating disorder to turn their lives around, (let alone modify behavior), with a few sessions of therapy. I really take issue with the cavalier manner in which Ms. Scottoline deals with Judge Fante's severe neuroses in order to further her plot. Cate says I will never do this again...and stops her exploits into life's seamier side. I don't want to spoil the plot, but there's even a new love interest who never questions her behavior. Cate, who could have been an extraordinary three-dimensional character, thus comes across as flat as cardboard.

So everything winds up hunky dory, girlfriends giggle about new boyfriends and all is well with the world.

Along the way, our protagonist visits her hometown, Centralia, the Northeastern Pennsylvania town destroyed by a persistent mine fire. The events surrounding this real life town, its former inhabitants and the results of the fire are true and quite fascinating. Also of interest is the legal take on whether (and how much) the private life of a public official, a federal judge appointed for life, should impinge on the public career of same official.

I have read glowing reviews of "Dirty Blonde," so it appears I am a lone voice with my thumbs down critique. I just believe that Lisa Scottoline is way too talented to give her readers this super-lite kind of fiction.
JANA

24 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing new characters highlight Scottoline's latest legal thriller, March 28, 2006

By 

Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dirty Blonde (Hardcover)

I've read several previous Scottoline novels. Although I do enjoy legal thrillers, for me, the main attraction of her books has always been the Philadelphia setting--having been born in Philly as well as raised in the area, many of the landmarks are familiar, which provides an added element of interest to what I might otherwise find to be fairly standard legal fare. In Dirty Blonde, Scottoline departs from her now-familiar female law firm to introduce a refreshing new lead, Judge Cate Fante. Cate has only recently ascended to the bench, and she is assigned a case which quickly becomes notorious, resulting in unexpected public attention and focus on both Cate's professional competency and her clandestine private activities.

As has been the case with Scottoline's earlier main characters, Cate's only hope to solve the mysteries building up around her and to clear her name is to undertake her own investigation. When I've read past Scottoline novels, I've sometimes felt that the protagonists acted in ways in which were completely unrealistic; here, however, although Cate's behavior is extreme at times, it rings true for her situation. In fact, my only (minor) complaints about the book were that the tie-in to Cate's background/childhood seemed rather forced and that the motives of the eventually revealed murderer seemed rather weak. But what matters most about this book is this: 1) I enjoyed reading it, and 2) I'd recommend it to others.