Lisa Scottoline, BETRAYED, an author of many books in the past, has returned to her original writings with the tales of the attorneys of  Bennie Rosato & her firm in Philadelphia PA.  Ms Scottoline is the author of several stand-alone books; all quite intriguing and all well written.  But, for me, my favorites are her tales of the happenings in the lives of Rosato & Associates, a firm of ALL female attorneys.  This time Judy Carrier, who is a Senior Associate striving to obtain partnership, becomes involved with the happenings of a beloved aunt, suffering from cancer.  As this relative faces surgery, she learns of the murder of her special friend, an illegal.  Somehow Judy finds herself trying to discover the “whys” of the murder as it relates to incidents drug smuggling, along with a reconciliation with her slightly stand-offish mother.
Beautifully written; the reader can definitely identify with the characters, and Ms. Scottoline has a wonderful talent of injecting humor into the lives of her characters.  I loved it and look forward to many more happenings of the firm of Rosato & Associates.
David Baldacci has done it again!  His latest, entitled THE ESCAPE, returns John Puller,  special intelligence agent with the Army, to the forefront.  Puller’s older brother, heading towards promotion to Major in the Air Force, has been convicted of treason and national security crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment in Leavenworth Prison in Kansas.  Somehow, he escapes. And John becomes deeply involved in trying to find his brother and then trying to prove him innocent of the crimes.
Baldacci gives an interesting view of Leavenworth; it’s layout with the many prisoners; it’s working and it’s security.  Learning of the high security area was eye-opening; I was lucky (?) enough a number of years to get a tour of Leavenworth; however, I was not permitted any where near the secure area where the very “bad” guys are kept!  More than a little eye-opening, but also a nail biting plot that keeps you awake at night!
MUSINGS
I don’t really review a television program; however, there is one that is currently on the air that should be acknowledged. I stumbled into this show, BLUE BLOODS strictly by accident and have been watching the many reruns.  Now, I’ve learned that CBS carries this show at 9 pm on Friday night, and I’m looking forward to seeing the current shows.
This program is written around the characters, an Irish-Catholic family dedicated to law and justice, and, therefore, the plot is not the primary part of this show, but it weaves in and  around each featured character in  daily life: Tom Selleck stars as the Father and also the Police Commissioner of NYC; his father, the previous police commissioner, a somewhat salty person,  is portrayed by Lou Caricou.  Children of Selleck consist of an older son who died in the line of duty as a police man; Danny, at times a little hotblooded, a detective with the NYPD; his younger brother, Jamie, a patrolman, and their sister who is an ADA (Assistant District Attorney).  The meetings around the dinner table in the evening with all of these family members and their children relating the day’s happenings are exceptional.  In one particular show the PC, Tom Selleck, takes the afternoon off to shepherd his grandson and other classmates on a field trip;  somewhat  unremarkable everyday occurrences.  This just denotes the lack of importance of the plot, but the importance of the characters!  Don’t miss it, if you have the opportunity to see it, you really won’t be disappointed.
I know I’ve used the following quote for several years, but it really makes sense.  Just think about it!
“When an old person dies, a Library burns down!”
  Karin Gillespie
And we certainly don’t want our Library to burn down!
 kubeckasue@yahoo.com
361 798-0560