Fatal February.

AuthorPudlow, Jan
PositionBook review

Fatal February

By Barbara Levenson

Eleventh Circuit Senior Judge Barbara Levenson's debut novel flings the reader into a murder in a posh Coconut Grove neighborhood and into the frenzied conflicted life of criminal defense attorney Mary Magruder Katz.

By the 33rd page, Katz is already being sued by her former fiance and former colleague at a fancy law firm, accusing her of stealing trade secrets and business interference after striking out on her own.

On top of that, The Florida Bar has received an ethics complaint that she is having sex with a client. Now, this spunky lawyer needs to hire her own lawyer, and in her corner she chooses another go-getting gal, a former Bar Board of Governors member and University of Miami law professor.

Besides her own troubles, Katz is busy representing a socialite accused of murdering her husband, and is so devoted to her client that she tackles the cops' and prosecutors' jobs in investigating the real killer. To relieve all that stress, well, she falls into the strong arms of Carlos.

While Fatal February would never be accused of committing highbrow literature, it is an entertaining page-turner melding murder mystery with a romance novel's steamy love, along with insights into the workings of Florida's stretched-too-thin criminal justice system.

In the acknowledgements, Levenson--a cum laude U.M. law grad with experience as both a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer--says: "The criminal justice system in Miami-Dade County, Florida, continues to work against almost insurmountable budget and building restraints. I must acknowledge the background material for this book that comes from working with the courageous judges, attorneys, police, and corrections officers

who make the...

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