Everybody around lawyer Mary DiNunzio has decided she isn’t allowed to be a Young Widow anymore, even though she didn’t know there was an official cutoff. They’re all trying to fix her up — her South Philly Italian parents, her best friend Judy Carrier, even the office security guard.
All Mary wants to do is immerse herself in a case everybody else calls “The History Channel”, a pro bono representation of the Brandolini estate. The roots of the matter sink deep into the past, when Amadeo Brandolini emigrated to Philadelphia, started a family, and built up a small fishing business. At the outbreak of World War II, Brandolini was arrested by the FBI as part of a mass internment of Italian-Americans and was sent to a camp in Montana, where he eventually committed suicide. Now, more than sixty years later, his son’s estate hires Mary to sue for reparations.
Mary vows to vindicate Amadeo even though it won’t be easy. With only a lock of hair, an old wallet, and a sheet of paper filled with odd doodles to go on, the tenacious lawyer begins to research the case but finds instead puzzling new questions. Someone doesn’t want Mary to find the truth, and before long, her life is threatened. Suddenly, the quiet, squeaky-clean good girl who never left Mercer Street is risking life and limb to finger a killer and lay a beloved ghost to rest.
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline delivers a stunning new tale filled with witty dialogue, vibrant characters, and breakneck pacing, in which true-life history reinforces her hallmark themes of justice and family. As entertaining as it is poignant, Killer Smile is a surefire bestseller from a writer at the peak of her talents.
Hints from Beyond the Grave Lead to Justice … Here is another fascinating book by Lisa Scottoline which kept me glued to every word from beginning to end. Mary DiNunzio, a lawyer with Rosatto & Associates law firm represents the interests of a client, Amadeo Brandolini, who had died in 1942. The more she investigates his past, the more she learns about a little known historical/political event when Italian immigrants were interred in a camp during World War II to protect the US from potential harm. Mary becomes obsessessed with learning the truth of how he died and about a piece of paper she discovered in his wallet which she surmised was very valuable. It had circles and something else on it. Everyone to whom she showed it believed it was merely doodles but… her hunch was it had to be very important or else why was it folded carefully in his wallet? The more she dug, the more she wanted to learn the truth. The facts were he was Italian and Catholic and unlikely to commit suicide, this knowledge gnawed at her.Mary’s need to know led her to the internment camp in Montana, where she searched for people to interview who might have known Amadeo Brandolini. She went to the cemetery where he was buried and went to the site where he allegedly committed suicide. Several clues of what she learned there haunted her … It is totally amazing how Lisa Scottoline ties together the clues and discoveries as Mary DiNunzio is provided hints and gradually puts the pieces of the puzzle together. The reader is fascinated with the life of Amadeo Brandolino, a simple fisherman from Italy who came to the US to build a better life for himself and his wife Theresa. After Mary returns, she believes she is being followed by a black car … the lawyer who hired her to investigate Brandolini’s estate had removed her from the case before her trip (although she persisted investigating on her own) and is found dead in his office. She learns Amadeo’s best friend in the camp … is still alive and a very wealthy elderly Italian man, who also was from Philadelphia and lives in a rich suburban home. Under false pretext she visits him and exchanges a few words … only to be struck in the face and spit on by his son. The ingenius methods by which Mary DiNunzio achieves her goals are worth discovering. With amazing twists and turns in the plot, the reader is taken for a wonderful reading experience. This reader is totally captivated by the dazzling writing style and talents of Lisa Scottoline.Erika Borsos (erikab93)
Her Father Would Be Proud…. Lisa Scottoline’s “Killer Smile” is more than just a suspenseful and engaging mystery with great characterization and plot. It is historically enlightening as we are reminded of the internment camp relocation of over 10,000 Italian-Americans during the outbreak of World War II. But first and foremost- “Killer Smile” is a fantastic mystery.