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Lilly Cleary #1

by Claire Matturro

"I, Lilly Rose Cleary, have a nearly endless capacity for driving myself crazy." And who knows a woman better than herself? Especially a woman like Lilly, a tough-as-nails partner working in a Sarasota, Florida, law firm representing fat-cat physicians in malpractice cases. Lilly is also an obsessive-compulsive health nut who has a bad habit of tripping over dead bodies.

After successfully representing a client in a kayak whiplash case, she becomes a victim herself when she's ambushed at her office door. The following day a client turns up dead from an apparent poisoning. As if that isn't enough to tax Lilly's chronic state of anxiety, her sometime boyfriend -- an attorney in search of the perfect class-action suit -- moves in and promptly begins to drive Lilly nuts.

Amid the chaos, Lilly tries to figure out why she's in this mess. Who would want to attack a tofu-eating attorney? And why? Joined by a colorful cast of characters, including a bridge-diving rottweiler and a lay minister who runs a U-pick opium poppy farm, Lilly has a mostunorthodox -- and hilarious -- way of finding out.

Genres: Mystery, Chick Lit, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Claire Hamner Matturro, a former lawyer and college teacher, is the author of four legal mysteries with a sense of humor. Her books are: Skinny-Dipping (2004) (a BookSense pick, Romantic Times’Best First Mystery, and nominated for a Barry Award); Wildcat Wine (2005) (nominated for a Georgia Writer of the Year Award); Bone Valley(2006) and Sweetheart Deal (2007) (winner of Romantic Times’ Toby Bromberg Award for Most Humorous Mystery), all published by William Morrow. After her romantic suspense legal thriller, Trouble in Tallahassee (KaliOka Press 2017), Claire turned more serious with her newer book, The Smuggler's Daughter (Red Adept Publishing July 2020) and she returns to the Gulf Coast of Florida that she knows so well in a gripping mystery.

And look for her newest book Wayward Girls, her joint-writing adventure with Penny Koepsel, which was released in August of this year.

Claire remains active in writers’ groups, teaches creative writing in adult education, and write reviews for Southern Literary Review.

Visit her at www.clairematturro.com

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This mystery was like chips and a cold Diet Coke on a hot day. Not particularly nutritious though it filled me up with quirky characters and scenes that moved quickly. This would not make a steady book diet but it was an easy read.

[❂ Murder by Death · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hidden gem of a mystery. Well-written with great characters and a really well plotted puzzle, I love this book and I've re-read it at least 3 times since finding it. Highly recommend to mystery lovers.

Full review: http://jenn.booklikes.com/post/104972...

[Craig Pittman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel about a Sarasota defense lawyer written by a Sarasota defense lawyer is a hoot for most of its length, especially the opening. Lilly Cleary is the lone female partner at a prestigious Sarasota law firm, and the one upon whom the senior partner keeps dumping bad cases. As we meet her, she's defending a man accused of reckless operation of his kayak, resulting in a collision that cause "kayak whiplash." After eliciting some case-damanging testimony from the plaintiff, Little's closing argument to the jury is one word: "Really?" It works.

Lilly's voice as narrator is a major part of this book's appeal. She's a Southern girl savvy about how to outfox and out-argue most of the male attorneys. Scenes in which she triumphs over a snotty male attorney from Miami who doesn't know how to deal with a country-fied circuit judge that Lilly's known for years are a real treat.

But something else is going on. First Lilly is mugged outside the office one night, and later she's shot at. Meanwhile her client in a medical malpractice case dies in a most peculiar way.

Meanwhile Lilly lets an ex move in with her temporarily, which is a bad idea indeed, especially when he brings over his albino ferret named Johnny Winter. I am not giving much if anything away when I tell you that the ferret winds up fulfilling the role of Chekhov's gun in the plot. Lilly has a pretty active sex life, and she eventually engineers a smart solution to the ex problem.

Author Claire Matturo does a nifty job of showing off vividly drawn characters, explaining lawyer life (the 15-minute rule being a highlight) and throwing readers off with a couple of nice red herrings while also showing off some of the delights of life in Florida. My one serious complaint about the book involves one of the false suspects, who does a couple of suspicious things that are not ever explained.

I look forward to reading more about Lilly's adventures both in court and between the sheets.

[Eileen Sheehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great "Who Dunnit"! I found the main character, Lilly, to be amusing, witty, and quirky. I hate, hate, hate reviews with spoilers so I'll just hint a little and say that I could relate to quite a few of her OCD tendencies and found the situations she ended up in believable and true to life, as did I find the characters. My eyes were opened on more than one occasion on the ways and working of the legal and medical systems. It certainly made me think. Claire Matturo is to be commended for the solid story she created. She managed to keep me guessing right up to the the reveal. With a touch of romance, a bit of humor, a good deal of peril and a whole lot of mystery, this is a book you won't put down. As for me, I started it with the intention of reading a bit tonight and finishing over the next few days and the next thing I knew I was reading the epilogue! Great job!

[Khanson919 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a lot of mysteries and I haven't read one with a lawyer main character in awhile, and I was looking for a book set in Florida so this book was perfect. I really liked Lily Cleary. She is a funny, complicated character. She works as a defense attorney, and is involved in multiple cases defending doctors for malpractice. When an attempt is made on her life she has to dig deeper into her cases to figure out why. This was a very engaging book and I was surprised by the ending. The author surrounds Lily with some good supporting characters and her descriptions of Florida make you long for a day sitting on the beach. This is a series I plan to continue reading.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had a good plot, but I was not impressed by the characters.

Lilly is an attorney in Florida, working for the doctors who are involved in malpractice claims. She seemed to try to cast off the blame on Henry a lot. And the partners, who seemed to be baffoons.

The speeding incident was completely off the wall. I mean, really?

I may not continue on in this series. There are a lot of great attorney mysteries I would prefer to read.

It might just be that unusual Florida humor that I just don't get.

I borrowed a copy from the public library.

[Barbara Conrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skinny-Dipping is the first in the series, and when I’m reading a new-to-me author, I always start with the first.

What I loved most was the snarkiness of protagonist Lilly Rose Cleary compounded with her compassion that managed to slither out whether she wanted it to or not. Also, she was exceptionally bright and dedicated to her job, yet smart enough to know that someday she’d move on.

A fast read, this story will keep you entertained with characters that are either laugh-out-loud funny or very, very flawed. Now I’m off to read the next in this fun series.

[Dorothea Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Lilly Rose Cleary is a funny, quirky, strong woman. I liked her from the first page. All of the characters are well written and interesting. Whether you love them or hate them. I loved that this mystery had a touch of romance and humor as well. A perfect weekend read!

[Andreea Pryde · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mystery with a pinch of romance and humour- perfect recipe

A funny, quirky heroine with a dark sense of humor and some mind-twisting puzzles in a surprisingly sexy and suspenseful novel.
Indeed, a 5 star read.

[Dale Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Barb G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have liked this even more if it had two hundred more pages. 😊

[Tamera · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a legal thriller is set in Sarasota, Fl, and I enjoyed reading about my home town. The main character is a lawyer, Lilly Cleary, and although she is a little hard to warm up to, I found her snark to be amusing. The author was smart in her characterization by making Lilly, in the end, redeemed thanks to uncovering ugly facts in a bad medical malpractice suit. The action starts innocently enough, with her getting mugged outside the law office after celebrating a win in court. The mugging ends up tied in with a case her law firm is handling. I was a little suspicious of the identity of the villain, but nonetheless I enjoyed the author's handling of the reveal. Lily is an eccentric damaged character all her own, an organic heath food nut and yet she pops prescription pills. I enjoyed this novel, laughed out loud a few time, and really enjoyed the setting. Dogs and a ferret were also characters in the novel, and feature prominently in several humorous scenes.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lent to me by a co-worker, it was a good vacation read, not great. I still prefer Stephanie Plum's antics. The comedic timing of these books isn't as good, and the characters weren't quite as engaging. Still, it kept my attention, and the legal parts were interesting. Matturro is a lawyer turned writer, and the main character is an attorney. I believe the book won a law-fiction award of some sort.

In this book, Lily deals with medical malpractice suits that are all connected in some mysterious way.

[Grey853 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually like books with lawyers as the lead character, but I like Lilly. She's smart, sarcastic, and quirky enough to hold my interest. That said, sometimes I want to smack her, but in a good way.

There are plenty of twists and turns as she tries to defend a doctor against malpractice. She gets mugged, he gets killed, and another client is poisoned. As she tries to unravel the mystery connections between her clients, she also works hard to figure out her love life.

A quick read with lots of humor, this kept my attention.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up in Sarasota while looking for a Sarasota-based mystery. It's pretty good although probably not going to set the world on fire. A first novel in a series that is a little too Janet Evanovitchish for me to probably continue after this one but I am enjoying it. Lots of Sarasota references and some funny but not over the top bits.
This female lawyer's shtick is that she's six feet tall and obsessive-compulsive in a fairly lowkey way. Wacky cases, etc. You get the picture.
Okay, I finished it. And I won't be going back for more.

[Frances]

One of my mindless mysteries. I read this one when I was at Ed's family cabin this weekend, Memorial day weekend. It was great to just laze around and read a mindless book. Pretty interesting book, I probably will read more in this series by this author. I like to find mindless mysteries that have a main character the auther then bases a series on, then start with book one and read thru the whole series.

[Larry Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but not my style. Easy read, with some humor and a good story line. Nice plot twists to keep interest, but I wasn't able to identify with the OCD lawyer heroine living in Florida(go figure).

For some it might be a great book; I'm just saying for me it was enjoyable enough to keep reading but not so enjoyable I'll be looking to read other books by Matturro.

So, three stars - good enough but not exceptional.

[Barbara M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lily is a lawyer with OCD and a few other neuroses! She eats health food but uses drugs pretty freely. She had a difficult childhood, neglectful abuse by a drug-using mother, which is supposed to explain it all I guess. I will give her another try, I liked it enough for that but Lily and I would probably not be friends. There's humor in the book but more like chuckles, not belly laughs.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

attorney mystery (Lilly Cleary -- from dysfunctional family in Georgia, now an attorney in Sarasota FL, wisecracking tall attorney with clean/neat-freak tendencies).

recommend reading more from this series

[Catherine Woodman]

Super light mystery--competently written and entertaining if you are on the beach (I was in Cuba, which was too complicated a place for this fluff), and recommended for that setting--a reasonable murder mystery but I would not seek out another in the series.

[Steve Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone is killing (or at least trying to) doctors in Sarasota, FL, and attorney Lilly has to find out why. This story is Hiaasen-ish, but not quite as outlandish as his.

I was able to figure out who the culprit was about 1/3 of the way through, but the book was funny.

[Patricia Geller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not great literature but someone was asking for fun and light. Start of a murder mystery series with a woman civil defence lawyer who says things like, "Well spank me" when she screws up. What can I say but that and her OCD rituals make me laugh.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice piece of chick-lit with interesting characters. It's a quick read without too much thought required, perfect for the beach. Although I will say, I think the title is off, something better could have been used.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nicely done sun-soaked setting, good humor, and a wealth of legal knowledge that works seamlessly into the plot makes for a fun read, even if the villain is a little too obvious.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite Florida writers

[Lois Baron · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the acerbic, cynical lawyer main character.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of our lighter summer books about a lawyer with OCD in Florida investigating a murder. I enjoyed it.

[Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

It turns out I had read this book before, but remembered almost nothing about it. A pleasant read. Maybe if I were rating it on first reading it would have gone up a notch in stars, but ....

[Shirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not much on lawyer stories, but this one was good. Lily is funny, confused about her personal life but a good lawyer.

[Jen Juenke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, a great beach read