Discretion: A Novel (Anna Curtis Series Book 2)

One evening a beautiful young woman plunges to her death from a balcony on the US Capital Building. What makes this headline news is that the balcony is part of the private office of Washington DC's powerful and long-serving only representative in Congress and the woman the top call-girl from a high-end escort service that caters to DC's elite.African-American Chief Homicide Prosecutor, Jack Bailey, is helped in the investigation not only by the FBI but also by US Attorney Anna Curtis from the DC's sex crime division. Jack and Anna are top operators, but working together could be difficult as they are in the early days of a mixed-race relationship which is not public knowledge.The political stakes are high and the investigation is immediately hampered by Constitutional legal impediments to searching the Congressman's office. The ramifications to Washington's elite of public knowledge of the clients of the escort service are just as stunning and everyone who might be interviewed about their knowledge of the girl and the service are soon lawyered up to the hilt.It is always good to find a new author with a new twist on the legal/police procedural genre especially one who knows a lot about the seamy side of power in Washington. Allison Leotta was a federal prosecutor specializing in sex crimes and domestic violence in Washington, DC so brings brings extensive personal experience and background to this story.Anna Curtis is an interesting character who has featured in an earlier book by Allison Leotta. The last line of the book ensures that we will see her again in  Speak of the Devil: A Novel  to be released in August 2013.

Loved everything about the story and how well the two books come together so neatly. The story moves along quickly like a great crime drama movie. These Books are intelligently written. I utilize my kindle dictionary to add some new words to my vocabulary quite frequently. This is a plus to me.The characters are believable and interesting. I can't wait to finish the third and final book in this series and check out this author's other books. I was a big fan of William Coughlin crime thriller legal books. So happy I found this author now to continue reading in this realm. I know now I must read all this author's books.

This is #2 of a 3 part series. I was quite caught up in the DC Madam case as a close relative was working on this case. I have often wondered about how the real case came to a conclusion so was glad to see the author had the same thoughts. Sam was truly my favorite in this book. She was just a feisty as someone I know & love who is in law enforcement. Great read. Want to read the final one but will wait as on this until the purchase price on the Kindle edition comes down - right now too high for me.

The premise of the story is intriguing. There is a lot of interest in political hi-jinks in Washington D.C. The lead character is believable and the story has a few twists and turns. However, parts of the book have way too much description of architecture of the building, decorations of a room, etc. Those parts were distracting from the story. This would have been a good short story without all of the extra descriptions. Although there is some reference to the issues that political insiders deal with in the inter-governmental circles, the book did not deal these. This is a "kind of crime" and "kind of romance" novel.

I recently found this series and have now completed all 4 of the books. I would recommend reading from the first book to understand more about Anna. This 2nd book adds to the abilities of Anna and shows her intelligence. Ms. Leotta writes beautifully and I have a difficult time putting these books down.

As I said about the first in the series, I like these books. They are not a complex as some of the other similar books out there. But the main character is believable, as are the supporting characters. It is an easy read, and definitely worth the price. I will continue in the series

I'M ALMOST FINISHED W/THEM ALL. I have no idea why anyone's comparing her to Grisham, this woman is extremely intelligent and writes from her legal experience and is in a league all her own! She's hands down better than Grisham, I'm coming to realize she's the best kept secret out there an I'm so glad I happened upon her :)

'Discretion' held my attention throughout the book even though the characters were sketched rather than described in any real depth.Ms. Leotta did make good use of misdirection about the identity of the killer.A minor complaint - what was the big mystery about the death of Jack Bailey's previous wife? Odd to leave such a loose end when it was obviously of some importance.