Claire Matturro, Skinny-Dipping

Skinny-Dipping

Claire Matturro

Morrow, Oct 2004, $23.95, 250 pp.

ISBN: 0060567058

In Sarasota, Florida, Lillian Belle Rosemary Cleary, junior partner at Smith, O'Leary, and Stanley law firm returns late to the office following a victory in her latest malpractice case involving a kayak whiplash accident. The win over her former boyfriend Newly makes the taste sweeter. In her company's parking, someone chokes her from behind. Though able to somewhat loosen the deadly hold, her luck gets better when a partner arrives and the mugger flees.

Dr. Trusdale, who attended to her injuries, asks Lilly Rose for advice with a malpractice suit. However, that night he is dead. Meanwhile, partner Jackson Winchester Smith assigns Lilly Rose the brain damaged baby case although she insists their side should settle with the parents. However, Smith tells her the other side refuses to settle so he expects her to protect the firm's client Dr. Randolph. However, whether it is the brain damaged baby case, the Trusdale advice, or something else, someone begins shooting at Lilly, whose six foot frame plus three inch intimidation heels make quite a target with the only plus being Detective Santuri.

SKINNY-DIPPING is a fun, legal thriller that stars a fabulous entry in the wacky Florida mystery world. The storyline centers on South Georgia transplant Lilly Rose as she works her cases, balances hunky pursuers, worries about how aging has accelerated since she turned thirty a few years ago, and more with asides to the audience. Fans will enjoy her witty observations about legal and medical life in Sarasota. While the likable delightful protagonist holds the tale together, fans will appreciate that it is her work as an attorney that remains the focus of a zany fantastic tale.

Harriet Klausner