Sweetheart Deal-Claire Matturro

Sweetheart Deal
Claire Matturro
Morrow, Nov 2007, $23.95
ISBN 9780060773250

Sarasota, Florida attorney Lillian Rose Cleary vowed never to go home, but rushes back when her bipolar abusive mother is accused of murder. Lilly would not have come back to Bugfest, Georgia after two decades away especially to see her mother except to defend her mom in a court of law. For her own peace of mind Lilly needs to believe she would have ignored her mother being in the hospital as the woman abused her (starting with naming her after two flowers) and her brother when they were growing up.

As she mounts a defense for mommy dearest and investigates the homicide, Lilly runs up against her mom’s home (should be an EPA superfund site), someone trying to kill mom with red ants, avaricious developers and the sale of endangered species as specialty meats sold to expensive restaurants. Still her prime reason is to not battle the environmentally challenged including mom’s abode; it is to get mom free so Lilly can immediately head south and away from this insane termagant who makes DNA cleansing seem politically correct.

The latest funny clearly chick lit legal thriller (see SKINNY DIPPING and BONE VALLEY) is an entertaining tale that affirms the belief you can’t go home as Lilly learns the hard way that mom still is a lunatic and her efforts to defend her lead to dangerous scenarios for the courageous neurotic attorney. Although in many ways more a neurosis filled amateur sleuth than a legal family drama, readers who appreciate a spunky phobic heroine will enjoy Lilly’s escapades especially her jocular asides even when they slow down the action.

Harriet Klausner