A tour of Lisa Scottolines personal library

Signed editions

We began our tour, accompanied by Scottoline’s daughter, the novelist Francesca Serritella (“Ghosts of Harvard”), in the magnificently sunny living room, where floor-to-ceiling shelves cover pretty much any wall that doesn’t have a window. First up are the dog books and illustrated tomes about gardening and opera, two of Scottoline’s other passions; some of the oversize editions are laid out elegantly on tables. Next, the prized section: signed editions.

Scottoline is best known for her legal thrillers. Like John Grisham, she is an attorney, though her beloved Rosato & DiNunzio series stars an all-female team of lawyers. Scottoline published her first novel, “Everywhere That Mary Went,” in 1994. In the few years before that, she divorced for a second time (for her thoughts on marriage, see her book “Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog,” from 2009) and quit her job as a lawyer to pursue novel writing while raising her young daughter. It was a struggle. Despite her many successes since — more than 30 novels, an Edgar Award, multiple No. 1 bestsellers and TV deals — she has not forgotten the hardships of those early years or the support she received from readers and bookstores.

To pay it forward, Scottoline buys books by contemporary authors, preferably signed editions. A self-described hermit, she orders them online from various independent bookstores, like Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Ariz., and The Mysterious Bookshop in New York. Most of the nearly 800 books in this collection are, not surprisingly, mystery novels: works by Michael Connelly, David Baldacci, Lee Child, Alafair Burke, Laura Lippman and more. Scottoline and Serritella pulled out some favorites, such as the stack from Harlan Coben, the inscriptions in which feature some cheeky jokes I won’t print here. Also, close to her heart, two first editions of Philip Roth’s “Portnoy’s Complaint,” which are the only unsigned books in this treasured display.

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