Claire Matturro, Bone Valley

Bone Valley

Claire Matturro

Morrow, Nov 2006, $23.95

ISBN 0060773243

Sarasota, Florida Attorney Lilly Cleary suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder that either drives people crazy except for those who benefit from her hyperactive sex drive or are the clients she defends at an incredible pace. Lilly agrees to legally represent environmental activist Angus John Cartwright, who is being sued by a Sunshine State orange grower for libel. The suit states that Angus John and his partner disparaged oranges with unfound claims of toxicity caused by pollution.

Angus hides from Lilly that his partner is her weird former boyfriend, M. David Moody as she would not have taken on the case. However, not long afterward, M. Donald is found dead in a toxic waste lake in Manatee County. Following that death, Angus dies in an explosion. Lilly thinks she also is on the list of someone who is systematically making their opposition extinct.

In her third zany appearance (see Wildcat Wine and Skinny-Dipping), Claire's energy and enthusiasm provides a humorous counterpoint to a deep whodunit. However, the star of Claire Matturro's latest legal thriller is the geography as the audience obtains a deep frightening look at a global environmental problem as represented by Florida's Bone Valley where mounds of phosphogypsum causes harm to people. The storyline is action-packed as the case twists from a legal matter to a self preservation scenario. Still with a strong investigation and a wonderful wacky heroine, the environment rules in this eye opening cautionary thriller.

Harriet Klausner