Final Appeal

Philadelphia lawyer Grace Rossi is a single mother trying to make ends meet by working part-time for the handsome Judge Armen Gregorian in the federal appeals court. Although he is by all accounts happily married, many women carry a torch for him. Grace is no exception, so when Gregorian picks her out of a group of clerks to assist him in researching the infamous Hightower case, she considers herself lucky-maybe even blessed, when their first night on the job turns romantic. But her newfound happiness is shattered when the morning news announces that Gregorian has been found shot, apparently a suicide. Grace, knowing that it has to be murder, immediately takes up the search to find out who is responsible for his death. She encounters help along the away, in the form of a resourceful homeless man who turns out to be an FBI agent in disguise, investigating possible fraud within the court. Scottoline, an Edgar nominee for her first book, Everywhere That Mary Went, has again pulled together an intriguing cast of characters and a smart mystery to make an exciting, action-packed read. (Nov.)