Final Appeal

By Lisa Scottoline

Hard-hitting and unforgettable, Lisa Scottoline’s Edgar Award winning second novel Final Appeal shines with her characteristic wit and gift for inventive plot.

To Philadelphia lawyer Grace Rossi, who is starting over after a divorce, a part-time job with a federal appeals court sounds perfect. But Grace doesn’t count on being assigned to an explosive death penalty appeal. Nor does she expect to have an affair with her boss, Chief Judge Armen Gregorian.

Then the unimaginable happens: an apparent suicide in strange circumstances leads to Grace becoming involved in a murder investigation. As events spiral out of control she finds herself unearthing a six-figure bank account kept by a judge with an alias, breaking into another judge’s chambers, and following a trail of bribery and corruption that has even the FBI stumped. In no time at all, Grace under fire takes on a whole new meaning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Feb 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9780007573233

Lisa Scottoline

Lisa Scottoline is a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the highly prestigious Edgar Award. Her books are published in more than twenty languages and her latest titles include Dirty Blonde, Devil's Corner, Killer Smile and Dead Ringer. Her new novel, Daddy's Girl, will be published in September 2007. She is a former trial lawyer and lives in Philadelphia.

Reviews for Final Appeal

[carolee888 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this for the Just For Fun Challenge which encourages reading one book that has been on the TBR shelf for a long time and without doing a review. I still rated this book though and I enjoyed it.

[joannsmithainsworth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A delightful romp through a normally staid circuit court.

[darla_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Doesn't it just figure? I find a Scottoline that I like pretty well, and it's one her fans in general dislike. At least according to the 19 who rated it on Amazon, anyway. The same thing happened to me with Martha Grimes. Ah, well. It suits my self-image to be out-of-step every once in a while.Grace Rossi is a lawyer and a single mother, working as an assistant to a judge she's attracted to. It seems the attraction is mutual, and he asks for her help on a death sentence appeal, praising her abilities. Then one night they're working late and act on their attraction.The next morning, the judge is found dead, and his death is ruled a suicide. Grace is understandably reluctant to believe that, and so she begins investigating on her own, and soon finds herself in over her head.She's assisted by a variety of characters, including an office manager with a big secret, and a deep-undercover FBI agent. The suspects are similarly varied.Mostly, it's just an entertaining, twisty whodunit. I didn't quite believe the romance between Grace and the judge, but that was a fairly minor point, and more of a plot device to give her a reason to pursue the case in the face of danger and objections.