Daddy’s Girl by Lisa Scottoline

I first heard of Lisa Scottoline while I was watching TruTV’s Murder by the Book. She was one of the author’s featured telling the story of a true-life murder mystery. I didn’t pick up one of her books at the time, but saw Daddy’s Girl at the library and remembered her from the show, so I thought I would give her writing a shot. If you haven’t already done so, I suggest you do the same. After finishing this book, I am looking forward to reading more of Scottoline’s work.

Nat Greco is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania law school. She is coming up for tenure, enjoying teaching her classes and basically living with her boyfriend Hank, who is already treated as one of the family by her parents and brothers.

When another professor, Angus Holt, asks her to fill in for a sick student who helps him with pro-bono work at the Chester County Correctional Institution, Nat has her misgivings but can’t think of an excuse to say no, so she agrees. While she and Angus are at the prison with the class a riot breaks out. As Nat searches through the sirens, smoke and screaming for help, she stumbles upon a grisly scene. An inmate lays dead and next to him is a corrections officer with a shank sticking out of his chest. When Nat realizes that the C.O. is alive, she tries everything she can think of to save him but can’t. Before he dies, the C.O. asks her to tell his wife that “it is under the floor”.

Nat seeks out Barb Saunders to deliver her husband’s dying words and it all leads to high intrigue. Nat and Angus try to find out why the prison is acting as if the riot was a minor incident and why they are in such a hurry to get rid of the room where Office Saunders died. They worked to figure out what is really going on, even as people start dying and they are warned to stay away themselves.

When it gets even more personal for Nat, she is in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse. Can she find the killer behind everything before he finds her?

I loved this book and the twist near the end was a doozy! Wow! Scottoline knows how to keep the story rolling along and leave the reader guessing how everything is going to turn out in the end. Read this one, if you haven’t already!

WHERE TO LEARN MORE:

Lisa Scottoline has an extensive website. Try here for information specific to this book.

My Rating:

Ratings Scale

 Excellent.. a MUST READ

 Pretty Darn Good

 Good

 Not So Good (bring the No-Doze)

 Not worth my time (or yours)