(Publisher’s Weekly, Jan.26)

Lisa Scottoline‘s story should inspire wannabe writers.  Divorced with a young child, she left the legal world to attempt writing legal thrillers for financial support.  On her Web site, she notes that she gave herself five years or $50,000 in credit (whichever came first) to write and seller her first book.  It only took her three years – HarperCollins published Everywhere That Mary Went in 1993 (PW called it “an engaging, quick read, sprinkled with corny humor and melodrama”) and it was nominated for an Edgar.  The next year, her second book, Final Appeal, won the Edgar.

Order signed first edition books by Lisa Scottoline at www.vjbooks.com