Legal Tender [Hardcover]

Lisa Scottoline (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

When her former lover and partner, Mark Biscardi, turns up murdered and she becomes the prime suspect in the crime, Philadelphia lawyer Benedetta ""Bennie"" Rosato finds herself framed for murder, on the run from the cops, and searching for the real killer. 50,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Philadelphia lawyer turned novelist (what a concept!) Scottoline has already won a best original paperback Edgar for Final Appeal. Now she might just nail down a hardcover one for her latest book -- a lovely combination of high energy, imagination and nasty good humor mostly directed against lawyers. Her central character this time out is a definite keeper: Benedetta Rosato, "Bennie" to everyone but her mother, a towering blonde who rows to keep her body in shape and duels with the police on a daily basis to keep her legal talents sharp. Most of Bennie's clients have a gripe against the cops, so Philadelphia's finest are less than sympathetic to her cause when she becomes the chief suspect in the murder of her ex-lover and soon to be ex-law partner. Hiding out in a truly original way, Bennie uses (and abuses) a big law firm to help find the real killers; you'll find yourself laughing and gasping all the way.

From Publishers Weekly

The heroine of Scottoline's rambunctious fourth legal thriller (after Running from the Law) may change the way readers think about lawyers. Benedetta ("Bennie") Rosato, who narrates, is a ravishing six-foot blonde, one of two partners in a thriving law firm. In quick order, the foundations of her world come crashing down. Her partner and ex-lover, Mark, turns up murdered shortly after he tells Bennie that he is planning to dissolve the partnership. It's not surprising that she then becomes the cops' prime suspect. When the murder weapon is found in her apartment, Bennie goes underground. Then a drug company CEO is killed, and she is falsely accused of that death, too. A hilarious caper ensues as Bennie disguises herself as, variously, a hooker, a bag lady and a lawyer "from the New York office" of a staid old white-shoe firm. In the midst of all her woes, she must also deal with a new boyfriend and a mother who's facing electroshock therapy. The Perry Mason-like ending is a bit strained but doesn't spoil the fun. Bennie, a delightful heroine, deserves an encore; and, again, Scottoline merits a big round of applause. $200,000 combined ad/promo for Legal Tender and the simultaneous HarperPaperbacks edition of Running from the Law; simultaneous HarperAudio; author tour; U.K. and translation rights: Columbia Literary Agency; dramatic rights: Linda Hayes.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 291 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006017658X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060176587
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #780,585 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

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly interesting, fast-paced read!!, March 13, 2001

By 

"fayallie13" (Spring Lake Hts., NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legal Tender (Mass Market Paperback)

Lisa Scottoline is a writer that pulls you in immediately and I promise you that you won't put down any one of her books unless you absolutely have to. Legal Tender introduces the character "Bennie" Bendedetta Rosato. Bennie is accused of murdering her ex-lover in this fast-paced legal thriller and as the plot thickens you are unable to tear yourself away from this book. All of Scottoline's books are absorbing and as soon as I finished reading this one I went out and bought all of them. Often I buy several books of the same author and they get boring and repetive but not so with her, its a surprise every time. She's been compared to Grisham but my opinion is she is even better!!! Don't miss Legal Tender or any of her books, you won't be disappointed!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great picaresque tale, May 13, 2002

By 

Renee V. Cox (British Columbia, CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legal Tender (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the fifth book by Lisa Scottoline that I have read. After being given The Vendetta Defense, I was hooked, and am now trying to read the rest of her books methodically and in order. When you get to know a writer's style, sometimes it is disappointing to figure out the formula. So far, I have not felt this way about Scottoline. She always adds enough new twists to keep me interested.

Of course, if a reader cannot suspend a certain amount of disbelief, he or she will not like this book. There is an unmistakable degree of sly exaggeration. But like any good spoof, it tells the truth. Anybody who personally knows any lawyer even slightly will understand the author's "digs" at law firms' predilection for client billing. And Scottoline has a wicked ability to caricature the different lawyer types, much as she clearly maps out the social strata of the different floors of a law firm, starting with the Loser Floor.

One reason she maintains suspense is that all her characters are well fleshed out, evincing both good and bad qualities, so that unlike the case with usual villain archetypes, by the time the book reaches its denouement, the identity of who- actually-dun-it surprises us. And her wonderful character on the lam, Bennie Rosato, leads a merry chase because the author clearly knows her venues-- and how the system works--so well. Although more sympathetic than the typical picaresque protagonist, Rosato has enough gall and chutzpah to be convincing. The embattled heroine pulls off several little stings which give the reader a triumphant if vicarious satisfaction.

There are superb ironies here: the only person who heeds her questionable alter ego's so-called pleas for non-billable help is the head of the firm. And the elderly security guard at the tacky office of the sleazy (and hilariously inappropriately named) lawyer, Mr. Celeste, turns out to be actually more on the ball than the gaggle of smooth but naïve young gatekeepers at the posh building that houses highly successful firms.

Scottoline's undergraduate degree was in English, and it shows. Not only does she know the law, but she understands literature, and there are layers of wit and plot, as well as substance and subtext, to her writing that are enormously gratifying.

In other words, she writes good.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced and easy to read, August 31, 2002

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Legal Tender (Mass Market Paperback)

Legal Tender by Lisa Scottoline

LEGAL TENDER is a fast paced legal crime novel, with Benedetta "Bennie" Rosato as our heroine. She's a lawyer, who along with her partner Mark Biscardi, make up the law firm of Rosato and Biscardi. Business is going great. Her love life isn't, on the other hand. Mark, who was once her lover, is now dating one of their junior lawyers, Eve, and although Bennie's angry as hell, she doesn't have anything against Mark. Eve, on the other hand, she does not trust one bit.

Soon, there is trouble at the office. Mark informs her that he is planning on starting over by forming a brand new law firm, leaving Rosato and Biscardi behind. Shortly after their argument, Mark is found dead in his office, and because he has named Bennie as his main beneficiary, she is the main suspect. Before long, she is on the run and she doesn't know whom she can trust. The law firm's success was bogus, and after much investigating she finds out that Mark had been planning to leave the partnership quite a while ago, bringing Eve along with him.

Mark isn't the only one found dead. Soon, there are others, and Bennie knows that the deaths are all connected. Could they all have something to do with a case she had been working on? It was hard to tell. But as the newspaper headlines blare out her name on the front page, she finds that she is having a hard time coming out of hiding and returning to a normal life.

With the help of Grady, another lawyer from the law firm, she does a lot of researching and investigating, and slowly learns the truth of why Mark and all the others had been murdered.

I'm not a big fan of legal crime dramas, but I did enjoy LEGAL TENDER. I've read other crime novels, and found this one relatively easy to follow. It was fast paced and it took me only a few days to read it. I did feel that a lot of the plot was predictable, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. It only helped to make the book go that much faster. I would highly recommend it, but do not think the typical fan of legal crime dramas would enjoy it as much.