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Courting Trouble
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Anne Murphy is the redheaded rookie at the Philadelphia law firm of Rosato & Associates, and one morning she wakes up to front-page headlines proclaiming lawyer murdered -- above her own picture. If she wants to stay alive, she's got to play dead. She'll have to trust people she barely knows -- colleagues who hate her, homicide cops who want her out of the crime-fighting business, and a new love who inconveniently happens to be opposing counsel. But her knack for courting trouble makes it almost impossible for Anne to play well with others, and an unexpected event places her in lethal jeopardy and leaves her with everything to lose.
Book Actions
Start ReadingBook Information
Courting Trouble
Description
Anne Murphy is the redheaded rookie at the Philadelphia law firm of Rosato & Associates, and one morning she wakes up to front-page headlines proclaiming lawyer murdered -- above her own picture. If she wants to stay alive, she's got to play dead. She'll have to trust people she barely knows -- colleagues who hate her, homicide cops who want her out of the crime-fighting business, and a new love who inconveniently happens to be opposing counsel. But her knack for courting trouble makes it almost impossible for Anne to play well with others, and an unexpected event places her in lethal jeopardy and leaves her with everything to lose.
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Reviews
Scottoline's writing in not the sophisticated style of PD James or Elizabeth George, Scottoline's style is more like a grown-up Nancy Drew. The lawyers, all women, at the Philadelphia law firm of Rosato and Associates run off helter-skelter attempting to solve a case. This novel heavily relies on I Love Lucy episodes for setting. The central characters are all women, and petty situations dominate the story. A stalker is killed, but he is not even responsible for the murder. Two other men are woven into the story, and either one would have been a better murder suspect, but these avenues were never developed. Scottoline is the author to read when you are looking for a quick amusement.
Rating: 3The setup seemed promising - lawyer reads in the paper that she was found murdered. I did not mind this book, yet did not find it to be very riveting either. I liked Anne Murphy well enough, though she was a little one-dimensional with her personal interests (fashion, etc.). It seemed conflicting that she was a bit ditzy, but still a great lawyer. The stalker piece was interesting. The reveal at the end of the book felt fast and simply explained over several pages, though this isn't rare among mysteries and suspense novels.
Rating: 3I think the aspect of this novel that didn't work so well for me was that it tried to combine action-packed thrills over a very short time period with emotional growth and development that should take place over a much longer course of time. The whole novel takes place over the course of a three-day weekend. During that time, our heroine goes through as much as Jack Bauer does in a typical season of 24. And also becomes friends with her colleagues. And meets all her neighbours. And the families of her friends/colleagues. She keeps handling her big case that is going to trial the next Tuesday, and this despite several attempts on her life. Not only that, but she and her client keep firing and re-hiring each other. Oh, and she has time to consummate a relationship with opposing counsel. There are a lot of twists in the story and it works really well as a thriller. But all these add-ons with regard to personal relationships, etc. simply don't work in the 3-day timespan of the plot. This is a great story and it's sad to see it executed in this manner. Taking the same plot elements and drawing them out over months and building the suspense might have made this a really disturbing psychological thriller. But at it stands, I just think this story didn't live up to its potential, which is especially disconcerting given that it had a heroine a reader can easily get behind and root for, a fun cast of supporting characters, a really good plot with many interesting twists and a prominent, interesting locale.
Rating: 3While on vacation recently we spent a lot of time on the beach reading. I put aside my regular books and read "beach books." Courting Trouble is one of those. It's a murder mystery featuring Anne Murphy a smart, young, single, gorgeous, red headed attorney with a shoe fetish living in Philidelphia. She goes on a trip out of town by herself for the Fourth of July but reads in the paper next day that she has been killed.That piques her interest of course and she decides that she should stay dead for now and find out who "killed" her. So off the the story goes. It's pretty funny actually all the adventures and misadventures she has while she recruits help in her search for the killer. She ends up using an Uncle Sam costume as a disguise for much of the book and she and the rest of her all female law firm dress up as hookers for much of the rest of the book. She gets "lonely" and spends the night at an opposing attorney's place and then leaves before he wakes up but she can't find her panties so that is something she comments on quite frequently during the book. She goes all over town I couldn't figure out why she didn't stop in at Target and get what she needs.Anyway the book is kind of a lightweight and the plot is full of holes and anybody that has read very many whodunnits can spot whodunnit a long ways away but still the book is a fun read. I give it three stars out of five.The book has been out a while and I picked it up for fifty cents at our local libraries bargain bin. It's all broke in. The pages are sprinkled with a great mixture of beer, beach sand, and seawater so it is a genuine beach read. I'm putting it in the Goodwill bag unless somebody local wants it.
Rating: 3Not the best of the series. Anne Murphy needs some work. It got old real quick hearing about how beautiful she is and how things were RANDOM. I did like the little Lucille Ball quirk of hers though. I'd be okay if Murphy got knocked off in the next book.
Rating: 2