The ANNOTICO Report

Lisa Scottoline builds her novels around the all-female law firm of Rosato
& Associates, focusing on a different character in each novel.

She write a lot about identity, and a lot about Italian identity, but in
all the books, each character has some sort of ethnicity, whether it is
Italian, Jewish or Irish.

But most of all, her legal thrillers always have a grounding in
Italian-American culture.

In "Killer Smile", Scottoline takes a giant step forward, and builds her
latest novel around a chapter in the Italian American Experience, that she
was not only not aware of, but that had a traumatic effect on her own
family.

During World War II, Scottoline's immigrant grandparents were declared
enemy aliens by the federal government, as were 600,000 other
Italian-Americans. In 1942, the FBI raided the Philadelphia rowhouse where
Giuseppe and Maria Scottoline had lived for nearly 30 years. This
little-known family history, which Scottoline's father told her  when he
knew he was dying of cancer, became the foundation for the author's 11th
novel, Killer Smile.

"They were terribly ashamed and embarrassed," said Scottoline, 49. "They
spoke very little English, so they had no  understanding of what was going
on, except because they were Italian, they were being accussed of
disloyalty. They loved America. To them, the accusation was as bad as a
conviction would have been -- to be called a traitor by a country that they
had adopted and loved.

People magazine has called her "the female John Grisham."

Sun-Sentinel
South Florida
By Oline H. Cogdill
Mystery Columnist
February 27 2005

Writers use myriad sources for their ideas. Best-selling author Lisa
Scottoline only had to look to her heart -- and history -- for the plot of
her most recent legal thriller.

During World War II, Scottoline's immigrant grandparents were declared
enemy aliens by the federal government, as were many other
Italian-Americans. In 1942, the FBI raided the Philadelphia rowhouse where
Giuseppe and Maria Scottoline had lived for nearly 30 years, and
confiscated a flashlight and a radio -- items the agents claimed could be
used to signal the enemy.

This little-known family history, which Scottoline's father told her over
lunch when he knew he was dying of cancer, became the foundation for the
author's 11th novel, Killer Smile.

"Naturally, I told him I was going to write about it," Scottoline said.
"You want to tell a really good story with some backdrop to it. But I soon
realized that the underlying emotional issue of [Killer Smile] was going to
be about grief and loss."

Scottoline will discuss Killer Smile and her approach to writing this week
in Fort Lauderdale as the keynote speaker at SleuthFest 2005, the writers
conference sponsored by the Florida chapter of the Mystery Writers of
America. Scottoline also will speak Friday at the Highland Beach Library
and for the Florida Center for the Book in Fort Lauderdale.

While much has been written about the 120,000 Japanese-Americans and
Japanese resident aliens imprisoned during WWII, approximately 10,000
Italians also were forcibly relocated away from the U.S. coastlines. Nearly
600,000 Italians living in America were required to register as enemy
aliens; many were confined to "exclusionary zones" and forced to observe
dusk-to-dawn curfews. These rules cut through all economic and social
positions: The parents of baseball star Joe DiMaggio were not allowed to
visit their son's San Francisco restaurant because it was outside their
"zone."

At the time the FBI was searching the Scottoline home, their son, Frank --
Lisa's father -- had just enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and eventually
would be sent to Italy to fight for the Allies. The conversation with her
father was the first time Scottoline heard about the search. Her
grandparents never mentioned the raid, though they kept their alien
registration cards; a photocopy appears in the back of Killer Smile.

"They were terribly ashamed and embarrassed," said Scottoline, 49. "They
spoke very little English, so they only had a remote understanding of what
was going on. What they did understand is that because they were Italian,
men came into their homes. They loved America. To them, the accusation was
as bad as a conviction would have been -- to be called a traitor by a
country that they had adopted and loved.

"As soon as I found that out, I understood a lot about my family. [My
grandparents] were very proud of being Italian, but they were afraid to [be
proud of it] outside the house. My first name is not traditionally Italian.
They didn't want us [grandchildren] to learn Italian. The message was,
`You'd better assimilate or people [bad things can happen to you]'"

A grounding in reality

It's not unusual for Scottoline to use a part of her personal legacy as the
basis for a plot. Her novels often touch on issues she has dealt with in
her own life, as well as Philadelphia's life, culture, history and
politics. But most of all, her legal thrillers always have a grounding in
Italian-American culture.

"You have to deal with something that really matters to you for the
characters to matter about somebody else," she said during a recent
telephone interview.

"I write a lot about identity, and the way to do that is to write about
Italian identity. But in my books, each character has some sort of
ethnicity, whether it is Italian, Jewish or Irish. Philadelphia is a
perfect place to write about it. Because of the authority with which I
speak about Philadelphia, readers can go, `Oh, that's just like the area in
which I live.' They can understand the neighborhood because it relates to
them."

The approach has worked well for this lawyer-turned-writer. Timing helped:
Scottoline's first novel, "Everywhere That Mary Went", hit the bookstores
in 1993, when readers were in the throes of a frenzy for legal thrillers
courtesy of John Grisham and Scott Turow. Built around an all-women's law
firm, Scottoline's novel offered a fresh take on the genre with its broad
strokes of humor, snappy dialogue and lawyers who were friends as well as
colleagues.

Scottoline's debut, released in paperback, was nominated for an Edgar
Award. Final Appeal, her second novel and also a paperback, won the Edgar
and launched her into hardcover. Her last six novels have appeared on the
New York Times Best Sellers List, as well as other lists around the
country. People magazine has called her "the female John Grisham."

"Lisa has a unique style," said her editor, Carolyn Marino at
HarperCollins. "Her books are fast-paced thrillers with engaging
characters. She has an individual voice and she writes with great wit."

A cast of characters

Scottoline began her law career as a general litigator in 1981, but after
her daughter was born, she wanted to be a full-time mother. An English
major, she decided to try writing, living off credit cards to support
herself and her child in the wake of a divorce. She told herself that she
would go back to work if she failed to sell a novel before she maxed out
her five credit cards, each with a $10,000 limit. She got to $38,500,
finished her novel, briefly returned to the legal profession, then quit for
good with a contract under her belt.

Scottoline also took a different route to writing a series. Instead of one
protagonist, the author built her novels around the all-female law firm of
Rosato & Associates, focusing on a different character in each novel. The
heroine in one novel would be a supporting character in the next.

"I call it my cake-and-eat-it-too series," said Scottoline. "I really love
series, but I didn't think I could organize myself enough to do one. And it
wouldn't feel fresh to me. I wasn't sure I could make it work writing about
the same person. A lot of wonderful people do make it work, like Sue
Grafton, but I couldn't. But I also didn't want to let the characters go
and I wanted to explore them in depth. I really have an ensemble series
like Boston Legal."

Her next novel, Devil's Corner, coming in June, will be a rare stand-alone
entry revolving around a young, tough female prosecutor who is working on a
large drug trial.

"Devil's Corner is about what has happened to cities since the crack
cocaine epidemic and how this affects neighborhoods," she said. But like
her other works, it's "about who you are and how you are affected by where
you came from. Your background gives you a frame of reference."

A personal approach

While Scottoline's popularity rests chiefly on her prose, her personality
has proven a bonus. She often brings cupcakes to her book signings and
makes it a habit to try to remember the names of bookstore owners and fans
she meets. She's been known to go out to dinner with book club members.

"I feel attracted to people who read me. Books do that. If readers really
like a book, they connect to a person, and if they like what I wrote I am
in love with them," she said.

"She's a very warm, approachable person," said Joanne Sinchuk, owner of
Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore in Delray Beach. "She not only
remembers my name from year to year, but all my staff, and most of the
customers' names. She seems to really care about people, and that comes
through to the reader in her books."

Scottoline also connects to readers through her Web site
(www.scottoline.com). She sponsors a monthly trivia contest, gives tote
bags to readers who can prove they've bought at least two of her novels,
and tries personally to answer e-mails. A couple of years ago, she invited
Web readers to edit a chapter of a novel in progress. She received more
than 5,000 responses and incorporated about 10 suggestions, she said.

To keep her novels timely, Scottoline often wanders around the courthouse,
sitting in on trials, checking research at the clerk's office and
people-watching. In addition to her writing, her life revolves around her
daughter, now 19 and a college freshman, and her dogs -- three golden
retrievers, a Corgi and an aged poodle. While in Florida, she'll also be
spending time with her mother, who lives in South Beach, and her brother,
the night manager of a Lincoln Road restaurant.

As a frequent leader of writers' workshops, especially for lawyers who want
to be authors, Scottoline said she hopes to do a fair amount of mentoring
at SleuthFest.

"All of us who are published authors were once unpublished; it's giving
back," she said.

Mystery Columnist Oline H. Cogdill can be reached at
ocogdill@sun-sentinel.com.

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