LEGAL TENDER is a fast paced legal crime novel, with Benedetta "Bennie" Rosato as our heroine. She's a lawyer, who along with her partner Mark Biscardi, make up the law firm of Rosato and Biscardi. Business is going great. Her love life isn't, on the other hand. Mark, who was once her lover, is now dating one of their junior lawyers, Eve, and although Bennie's angry as hell, she doesn't have anything against Mark. Eve, on the other hand, she does not trust one bit.
Soon, there is trouble at the office. Mark informs her that he is planning on starting over by forming a brand new law firm, leaving Rosato and Biscardi behind. Shortly after their argument, Mark is found dead in his office, and because he has named Bennie as his main beneficiary, she is the main suspect. Before long, she is on the run and she doesn't know whom she can trust. The law firm's success was bogus, and after much investigating she finds out that Mark had been planning to leave the partnership quite a while ago, bringing Eve along with him.
Mark isn't the only one found dead. Soon, there are others, and Bennie knows that the deaths are all connected. Could they all have something to do with a case she had been working on? It was hard to tell. But as the newspaper headlines blare out her name on the front page, she finds that she is having a hard time coming out of hiding and returning to a normal life.
With the help of Grady, another lawyer from the law firm, she does a lot of researching and investigating, and slowly learns the truth of why Mark and all the others had been murdered.
I'm not a big fan of legal crime dramas, but I did enjoy LEGAL TENDER. I've read other crime novels, and found this one relatively easy to follow. It was fast paced and it took me only a few days to read it. I did feel that a lot of the plot was predictable, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. It only helped to make the book go that much faster. I would highly recommend it, but do not think the typical fan of legal crime dramas would enjoy it as much.
What starts off pretty simply gets complicated fast as Bennie finds every aspect of her existence available to the police. One of her staff attorneys, Grady, volunteers to represent Bennie in more ways than one. Bennie finds herself doing everything possible to solve the crime before the police arrest her, and that includes disguises, breaking and entering, and more. Readers will be entertained for the duration. Enjoy!
