Claire Matturro, Wildcat Wine

Claire Matturro, Wildcat Wine - When farmer Dave comes to Sarasota lawyer Lillian Belle Rosemary Cleary with a truckload of Muscadine wine, he meets her legal secretary Bonita and her son Benny. Since Lilly is working, he takes Benny to look for jaguarundi in the Myakka River State park. The trip ends with Dave and his friend Waylon arrested for stealing the wine from his employer. Lilly hires Phillip Cohen to represent him and he makes it clear that he is interested in her. Benny tells Lilly that they found a corpse and a bag of money when they were in the park.

Lilly goes to Dave's employer to ask him to drop the charges and does not say anything about the dead man or the money to the police. A few days later, Dave's employer is found dead in a homicide intended to look like an accident. Kenneth, a partner in the firm where Lilly works, harasses Bonita who is related to Dave's employer's wife; Lilly has no idea what his motivation could be. Shortly thereafter Kenneth is killed. Lilly knows the three murders are linked, but trying to learn how could make her the next victim.

WILDCAT WINE is a fast moving, action-packed, crime thriller in which the attorneys break the law as often as the criminals do. Readers are going to love the obsessive-compulsive protagonist who believes cleanliness is next to nervousness as she does a lot of cleaning when anxious. Still, Lilly goes to amazing lengths to prove her friends are innocent although these eccentrics also drive her crazy. Claire Matturro provides a light-hearted, chick lit mystery that grips the reader from the first page and keeps them laughing until the final cleaning spree.

Harriet Klausner