Press Kit

Official Biography

Education

Lisa Scottoline graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1976. Her B.A. degree was in English with a concentration in the Contemporary American Novel, and she was taught by professors such as National Book Award Winner Philip Roth. Lisa then graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981, where she served as an Associate Editor, University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Legal Career

Lisa began her legal career with a clerkship for President Judge Edmund B. Spaeth, Jr. of the Pennsylvania Superior Court. When the clerkship ended, she joined Dechert, Price & Rhoads in Philadelphia as an associate. In 1986, she left the firm to raise her newborn daughter and began writing legal fiction part-time. In 1994, Scottoline re-entered the legal world as an administrative law clerk to Chief Judge Dolores K. Sloviter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, while beginning a new career as a fiction author, with the publication of her first novel.

Writing Career and Books

Lisa’s writing career began with her first novel, Everywhere That Mary Went, published in 1994 by HarperCollins Publishers. The novel became a bestseller and was nominated for the Edgar Award, the most prestigious award given in crime fiction, awarded by the Mystery Writers of America. Lisa’s second novel, Final Appeal, was also nominated for and received an Edgar Award. Since then she has written 32 novels, all of which have appeared on bestseller lists, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Publishers Weekly.

Lisa and her daughter Francesca also wrote a Sunday humor column, Chick Wit, for the Philadelphia Inquirer. These stories have been collected in a New York Times bestselling series of books including the most recent, I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses. Scottoline presently has 30 million copies in print in the United States, not including audio, e-book and various large print editions. Internationally, Lisa is published in 35 countries. A list of her books in chronological order is: Everywhere That Mary Went (1994); Final Appeal (1995); Running From the Law(1996); Legal Tender (1997); Rough Justice (1998); Mistaken Identity (1999); Moment of Truth (2000); The Vendetta Defense (2001); Courting Trouble (2002); Dead Ringer (2003); Killer Smile (2004); Devil’s Corner (2005); Dirty Blonde (2006), Daddy’s Girl (2007), Look Again (2009), Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog (2009), Think Twice(2010), My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space (2010), Save Me (2011), Best Friends, Occasional Enemies (2011), Come Home (2012), Meet Me at Emotional Baggage Claim (2012), Don’t Go (2013), Accused(2013), Keep Quiet (2014), Have a Nice Guilt Trip (2014), Betrayed (2014), Every Fifteen Minutes (2015), Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat (2015), Corrupted (2015), Most Wanted (2016), I’ve Got Sand in All the Wrong Places(2016), Damaged (2016), One Perfect Lie (2017), I Need A Lifeguard Everywhere But The Pool (2017), Exposed(2017), After Anna (2018), I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses (2018), Feared (2018), Someone Knows (2019), Eternal (2021), What Happened to the Bennetts (2022) and Loyalty (2023).

Lisa also joined the faculty as a visiting professor at The University of Pennsylvania Law School to teach a course she created entitled “Justice and Fiction.”

Professional & Personal Awards & Distinctions

Education and Law

Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree granted by West Chester University, Pennsylvania, 2004

Leo Goodwin, Sr. Professor of Law and Popular Culture, Nova Southeastern Law School, 2002

Henry Loughlin Prize for Legal Ethics, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1981

Personal

Served as the President of Mystery Writers of America

Serves on the Board of Directors of the National Italian American Foundation

Serves on the Board of Directors of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts