Cate Fante is a very strong woman who has made all the right moves to get to where she is, and now that she is in a position where she should be morally responsible, (as a judge is wont to do), she starts behaving with sleazy manners by stopping at out of the way, seedy dives and picking up men from the lower scum bars in Philly. Of course, she tries not to let these behaviors become known to others in her profession, but the time comes when secrets start to spill and all of her dirty underwear starts to fall out of the closet.

This happens just when a very high profile case hits her courtroom and one of the clients that is standing before her for judgment is murdered. As I stated above, the ending was a bit of a letdown and many things were unexplained to the detriment of the final pages of this book, but it was an enjoyable read, nevertheless. Dirty Blonde could be the book that you take to the beach with you to soak up the sun and read a bit in the afternoons. Scottoline fans will enjoy it. For those who are not too deeply involved with the realities of a courtroom drama and all that follows in the detective work and the ending, it all plays well. However, if you are a stickler for accuracy and true detail, this book may not be for you. A light mystery, with occasional missteps in behavior that are not explained very well, ending a bit frayed, judicial outcomes that aren’t quite realistic.

Lisa Scottoline seems to be stretching a bit in her writing of stories. She goes along developing a new character and then doesn’t really give the reader enough to understand the aberrant behavior that this judge seems to hold as sacred to her private life, and then she brings in an unrelated guilty party to be the perpetrator of the murder. It is a bit disjointed, but it is good read. I would personally like to see more character development and a tighter solution to the murder, but maybe Scottoline will tie them together better in her next book.

Daddy’s Girl [book 1] [book 2]
Dirty Blonde [book] [audio]
Killer Smile [audio]
Lady Killer [book]