Lisa Scottoline has joined the ranks of former lawyers who have turned to writing fictional thrillers about it instead. Her particular milieu is the upper crust and underbelly of the legal scene in her hometown, Philadelphia, where her books are set and where they have enjoyed excellent sales since their debut. On a larger scale, Scottoline has won praise for her clever yet sympathetic attorney-heroines. People magazine's Cynthia Sanz called her "the female John Grisham" for her ability to put these protagonists in inadvertent peril, but also first providing them with the wherewithal to extricate themselves and bring events to a satisfying, good-over-evil conclusion.

Scottoline, born in the mid-1950s, grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd. She won entry to the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, where literary giant Philip Roth was one of her professors in the upper-level courses she took toward her English degree...