Readers can dive into 'Skinny-Dipping'

The writer offers a fresh voice in the world of literary crime.
By WANDA J. DEMARZO
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
"Skinny-Dipping: A Novel," by Claire Matturro (Morrow, $23.95)
Claire Matturro's engaging debut introduces a delightful heroine: a sharp, sassy, sexy attorney with a penchant for trouble and an almost neurotic dislike of clutter, personal and physical.
Lillian Belle Rosemary Cleary, a junior partner in a Sarasota, Fla., law firm, returns to the office after a victory with her latest suit involving a kayak whiplash. An attacker ambushes her and puts her in a chokehold. Another partner happens by, and the would-be mugger flees.
The next day, one of Cleary's clients, an arrogant orthopedic surgeon, is fatally poisoned after smoking a joint laced with poisonous oleander leaves. When told of his death, Cleary reflects on the fact that while the doctor had droned on in her office earlier that day, she had passed the time wiggling her ears, a trick she learned to ward off boredom.
"If I had known that somebody was going to spike Dr. Trusdale's marijuana with toxic oleander, I'd have been a little nicer," she thinks.
After someone takes potshots at Cleary and an obstetrician named in her new, no-win medical malpractice case, Cleary realizes things are a lot more complicated than she first thought. And to make matters worse, she also finds herself in the midst of an ingenious billing scam.
Cleary is likable, an entertaining addition to the ranks of wise-cracking crime novel heroes. She's a health-food nut who carefully brews her own coffee and pops kava-kava, a healthy alternative to Valium. She also loves to curse in Spanish, since she sounds "crude and cheap" in English.
Solid writing
Matturro's writing is crisp, and the twisted medical scam plot original. Readers will chuckle aloud at Cleary's quirky aside snippets. When a potential client questions her ability as a lawyer, Cleary defends herself saying, "What you need to know, Dr. Randolph, is that I'm a board-certified trial attorney (this is true) and I graduated second in my class (this is not true, but it sounds good) and I've represented countless physicians in countless malpractice suits with favorable results (this is more or less true)."
Matturro, an appellate lawyer, writes of tort law with authority and is a fresh South Florida voice, reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen, whose most recent book is called, ironically, "Skinny Dip." Thankfully, there's enough room in the literary crime pool for both of these writers.