Of course, in that regard, thanks very much to the great gang at HarperCollins, for publishing my books so well for fifteen years—CEO Jane Friedman, Brian Murray, Michael Morrison, Jonathan Burnham, Kathy Schneider, Christine Boyd, Liate Stehlik, Tina Andreadis, Heather Drucker, Adrienne DiPietro, Ana Maria Allessi, Wendy Lee, and my wonderful editor, Carolyn Marino. Thanks to all of the supertalented people like Virginia Stanley, in addition to some of the best sales reps in the business, including (but hardly limited to) Gabe Barillas, Jeff Rogart, Ian Doherty, Brian Grogan, Brian McSharry, Stefanie Lindner, Nina Olmsted, Carla Parker, and the world-famous John Zeck.
Thanks to my amazing agent and dear friend Molly Friedrich, as well as Paul Cirone and now Jacobia Dahm, at the Friedrich Agency. I love you guys and I appreciate you more than you know. Thanks to Lou Pitt out on the West Coast. Thanks and a big hug to my assistant and resident genius Laura Leonard, for everything.
As is usual with research, I consult a number of experts, though any and all mistakes are mine. First thanks to Carolyn Romano, my friend of twenty years now, who provided all sorts of expertise and reviewed the manuscript for accuracy as well as fun. Thanks to Franca Palumbo, my BFF of thirty years (yikes), who helped me understand the details of special education law and who works so hard every day to champion children with special needs. Thanks so much to my cousin Elaine Corrado for the tip about Carlo Tresca, who I sense will get his own book some day. A special thanks to my favorite legal ethicist Lawrence J. Fox, Esq., with admiration. Many thanks, as always, to Glenn Gilman, Esq., and Detective Art Mee, my legal and law enforcement experts, who always keep me in line. This time around, I got a special assist from Special Agent Jerri Williams of the Philadelphia Division of the FBI, who helped me put a human face on an agency that works so hard for all of us. And a huge hug of deepest thanks to Neuman-Goretti High School of South Philadelphia, including Principal Patricia Sticco and Dorothy Longo in Development, and all of the wonderful teachers, alums, and nuns who helped me so much with this novel and who do so much for the community.
As you may know, I permit worthy causes to auction off names in my novels, so my books are always populated by generous and good people. Thanks to Joe, Dawn, and Bethann Coradino (special thanks to Dawn, who contributed to the YMCA of Philadelphia), Mary Alice Raudenbush (Walnut Street Theater), Jimmy Kiesling (Downing-town East Hockey), Elka Tobman (Key to the Cure, purchased by her son, Alan Tobman), Rhonda Pollero (Sleuthfest), Theodora Landgren (Center for Literacy), Jo-Ann Heilferty (University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Equal Justice Foundation, bought for her mother by my galpal Dean Jo-Ann Verrier), Marc Robert Steinberg, Esq. (Child Advocacy Center), Carolyn Edgar (St. Dominic School, Brick, NJ), Sharon Satterfield, M.D. (Howard Center, Burlington, VT), Sue Ciorletti, Julia O’Connell, an eight-year-old who loves dogs, bought by grandfather and lawyer extraordinaire Tom Morris, to benefit Women’s Way.
And last hugs and much love to my family, because they’re the beginning and the end.
About the Author
LISA SCOTTOLINE is a New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels. She writes a weekly column called “Chick Wit” for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and has won many awards, including the Fun Fearless Fiction Award by Cosmopolitan magazine and the Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. She teaches Justice and Fiction at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and appears in Court TV’s crime series, Murder by the Book. Her books are published in more than twenty languages, and she is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area.
WWW.SCOTTOLINE.COM
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ALSO BY LISA SCOTTOLINE
Daddy’s Girl
Dirty Blonde
Devil’s Corner
Killer Smile
Dead Ringer
The Vendetta Defense Moment of Truth
Mistaken Identity
Rough Justice
Legal Tender
Running from the Law Final Appeal
Everywhere that Mary Went
Credits
Jacket photograph © Stockbyte / Getty Images
Jacket design by Mary Schuck
Copyright
LADY KILLER. Copyright © 2008 by Lisa Scottoline. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Microsoft Reader January 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-157854-0
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