She energetically takes the stage and immediately proclaims herself a “library slut.”
Acclaimed novelist Lisa Scottoline spoke May 19 at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s main branch as part of its Carnegie Author Series. Her appearance drew a crowd of more than 400 attendees, including longtime fans.
With 35 books published since 1994, Scottoline is one of the most recognizable names in commercial fiction. She won an Edgar Award for “Final Appeal” in 1995.
Her stop at CML tied into promotion for her 2024 release, “The Truth about the Devlins.” She and her publisher collaborated with Gramercy Books Bexley to give away 500 copies of the hardcover book.
The novel centers on recovering alcoholic TJ Devlin, who’s the black sheep of his accomplished family. When his older brother confesses to killing a client who embezzled, TJ is on a mission to save his family and heal himself.
Scottoline told the crowd she wrote TJ’s journey about “the emotional truth of unforced errors. Every book has to have an emotional truth.”
During her 30-minute talk, Scottoline regaled the audience with anecdotes about her late mother, Mary Scottoline. The 4’11” Italian-American matriarch who referred to herself as a hurricane and kept her sense of humor through in-home hospice.
Scottoline, 68, credited her mother, who died in 2014 at 90, and her daughter, author Francesca Serritella, with inspiring her to write ambitious, powerful female characters.
After a schoolteacher suggested that Scottoline’s parents take their daughter to the library, she discovered the Nancy Drew mystery series. The teen’s investigations made Scottoline question “why women are playing second banana” to men.
When taking questions from the audience, the award-winner explained her decades-long goal with writing.
“You cannot disappoint. You must deliver.”