Does Guilt Really Matter

Guest Blogger: James Sheehan

Jack Tobin is the main character in the three novels I have written. He represents people who are accused of crimes and even people who have been convicted of murder and are on death row, but he’s not a criminal defense lawyer.

Wait a minute, you say, he’s a lawyer. He represents people accused of crimes and people convicted of crimes, but he’s not a criminal defense lawyer? How can that be? Well, I make that statement based on my definition of a criminal defense lawyer.

Let me tell you a true story. Many years ago, maybe as many as twenty years ago, a friend asked me to try a case for him. He’d gotten in over his head, he thought he could settle the case, and he couldn’t. So he asked me to try it. Normally, this is something I would never do, but, against my better judgment, I agreed to take the case.

It was a false arrest case. Four years earlier, a bank had accused my client of passing bad checks and had her arrested. The state charged her criminally based on the bank’s representations and she had to go to trial to establish her innocence. I called my client’s criminal lawyer to testify in the civil case and, because I got into the case so late, I never spoke to him before he took the stand. He was a good witness and he testified in great detail about the criminal case and about the client and what she went through emotionally, but as he was testifying I thought: The criminal case was four years ago. He probably had hundreds of clients in the interim. How did he remember this woman?  I was sure the jury would be thinking the same thing, but asking that question would violate the lawyer’s golden rule--never ask a question you don’t know the answer to. I had to take the risk.

I never forgot his answer: “I remember her very well because she was innocent. Most of my clients are guilty.”

That’s my definition of a criminal defense lawyer: a person who makes his or her living representing people who are accused of crimes, most of whom are guilty. You might ask and I have been asked this many, many times even though I, like Jack, am not a criminal lawyer--How can you do that? How can you as a person, never mind that you are a lawyer, represent somebody that you know is guilty?

It’s complicated. And there are many good people who become criminal defense lawyers. Why? Well, you have to start with the constitutional concept that everyone accused of a crime is entitled to a lawyer. So there is a need. But, if it’s a lawyer’s ethical obligation to tell the truth--to never put on a false case--how can he or she represent people who are guilty? Right about now, the skeptics out there are laughing out loud. “Lawyers telling the truth! Lawyers’ ethical obligations! Who are you kidding?”

Although I have to agree that there are some lawyers out there who are in it for the money and who will do anything to get their clients off, most abide by the rules. How do you do that? Well, first and foremost, the State has the burden to prove somebody is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. A criminal lawyer can successfully defend his client without putting a witness on the stand, without offering any evidence at all--by simply attacking and poking holes in the State’s case. Second, a criminal defense lawyer does not ask his or her client if he or she is innocent or guilty. The only thing he or she wants to know is whether there is any evidence, like an alibi, exculpating the client from the crime.

So, in general, those are the parameters in which a criminal lawyer operates. Are there grey areas? Absolutely. It’s within those dark, dingy grey areas of ambiguity where writers like me operate. In my next book, The Alligator Man, which comes out in October, 2013, one of my main characters. Kevin Wylie, is working as a criminal lawyer for a very disreputable man who had stepped over the line between the lawyer and the criminal many years before. It’s an easy step to take and, if you’re representing criminals all the time, why not? When he learns the truth about his boss, Kevin has a dilemma. We shall see if he chooses the right path.

 

That has never been a problem for Jack Tobin. He has always known the right path. Jack’s angst is a little more complicated. I said at the beginning of this piece that Jack was not a criminal lawyer and I made that statement because Jack, up to now, only represented people who he believed were innocent. In The Mayor of Lexington Avenue, he represented Rudy Kelly, an intellectually challenged beautiful young man who was clearly innocent. In The Law of Second Chances, he represented Henry Wilson, a career criminal, who Jack believed  was innocent of the crime of murder for which he had spent seventeen years on death row.

In my new book, The Lawyer’s Lawyer, Jack is sure that Thomas Felton was framed for the two murders for which he was convicted, but he is not sure that Felton is a serial killer as everyone else involved in the case believes. He agrees to represent Felton not because he believes in him but because he knows the State made up evidence to win the case. This is new territory for Jack. And that brings us to the other perilous cliff for criminal defense lawyers: When a lawyer takes a case, he or she has an ethical obligation to do the best job he or she can do for the client. What happens when you represent a murderer and you are successful, but the person might actually be guilty? How do you live with that? And what happens when that person is possibly a serial killer? Does Jack have to deal with something that devastating?

You’ll have to read the book to find out.  

James Sheehan was a trial lawyer for over thirty years. Presently, he is a visiting Professor of Law and the Director of the Tampa Law Center at Stetson University College of Law. To learn more about him you can visit his website on Facebook at James Sheehan, Author, or on Twitter @James_Sheehan_. He is published by Center Street, a division of The Hachette Book Group.

Guest Blogger: Douglas Corleone

Douglas Corleone is a former New York City lawyer, who now lives and writes in Hawaii. His Kevin Corvelli series began with One Man’s Paradise. Night on Fire will be published in 2011, and Choice of Evils is due out in 2012.

PDD:
What are the up side and the down side of living in Hawaii?

Douglas:
If there's a down side to living here, I haven't discovered it yet. It's a peaceful, relaxing place and that's what I need in order to write.

PDD:
Is there anything special about practicing law in Hawaii?

Douglas:
There are certain issues that are unique to Hawaii. It's a very diverse state that doesn't much look like states on the mainland. Caucasians are a minority. We have American laws but different values. Honolulu is not as cutthroat as many large cities in the U.S. And, of course, lawyers dress much differently here when they are out of court. Less suits, more aloha shirts and shorts.

PDD:
What attracted you to mystery writing?

Douglas:
I enjoy hard-boiled crime fiction filled with flawed characters. My protagonist, Kevin Corvelli, is one of those flawed characters. He's taking on high-profile homicide cases, trying to redeem himself in the press. Kevin's world is gradually getting darker with each novel, but Kevin is also maturing.

PDD:
What are Kevin's flaws?

Douglas:
He’s a heavy drinker. He has commitment issues. He's neurotic, impatient, has a bit of a temper - he's a New Yorker. He's also been mentored in the law by a shady but highly successful defense attorney named Milt Cashman, known in the media as Not Guilty Milty. Kevin's tactics were commonplace in New York courthouses, but they don't fly as well here in Hawaii, where law is more of a "gentleman's game."

Kevin keeps a sense of humor about what he’s learned from Milt in New York, and he's willing to change. A good example of how Kevin sees Milt is when a drug dealer comes to Kevin for help with a possession charge. Kevin is new to Hawaii and isn't quite sure how much to charge, so he has to guess at what the new client is carrying in terms of cash. Finally, Kevin asks for $3,500 and learns the client actually had $5,000.

"Turi lays the money atop the files on my desk. I begin to count it out, unable to hide my disappointment at having lost the other $1,500. Milt can always tell how much a client is carrying down to the nickel. Milt is a truly gifted lawyer."
~One Man’s Paradise

PDD:
You’ve said that you like to travel, especially to Europe. Any favorite parts of Europe?

Douglas:
Dublin is easily my favorite city in the world. Very modern yet full of Old World charm. And the people are as much fun to be around as any I ever met. I like them and I like the music.

PDD:
What’s hard about writing for you?

Douglas:
One thing I never dealt well with is a schedule. I work as much as I can, then I stop, whether I’ve put in two hours or twelve hours.

PDD: What’s going well about the writing?

I recently finished my next book, and I’m proud of the work. In Night On Fire, Kevin represents a stunning yet troubled young bride accused of committing murder and arson at a popular Hawaiian beach resort.

For more information about Douglas, or his books, visit his web site. He’s also on Facebook.

A New Voice: Ken Isaacson

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

In Ken Isaacson's first novel, Silent Counsel, a child is killed by a driver who invokes attorney-client privilege to prevent his lawyer from revealing his identity until a satisfactory plea agreement is reached. The prosecutor refuses to deal and the child’s mother turns her wrath on the defense lawyer as she tries to discover who killed her little boy. Kirkus Reviews called Silent Counsel, which was inspired by a real case, “a complex story [with a] heart-pounding climax.” Ken has practiced law for 25 years, first as a member of a major Wall Street firm and now as in-house general counsel to an international transportation company. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, dog, and four cats.

SP: Why did you decide to write about a mother who lost a child, rather than a father? Do you think the story would be very different with a male character?

KI: Wow…no one’s ever asked me that before. And now that I think about it, I can’t say that I ever made a decision to write about a mother rather than a father—it never occurred to me that the story would be anything other than from the mother’s point of view.

I think the story would have a different feel if it had been done otherwise. In Silent Counsel, Ben’s parents, Stacy and Marc, drift apart following their son’s death, mainly because they have different ways of coping with the terrible hit-and-run that tore their lives apart. Stacy becomes obsessed with finding the person responsible, while Marc is determined to grieve in his own way, but then try to move on. And Stacy wonders whether a father could ever understand the depth of the biological bond between mother and child that makes his solution impossible for her to accept. I think it’s that bond that drives the story, and if it were told from the father’s point of view, that element would be missing.

Of course, that’s not to diminish the loss suffered by a father in such a situation. I can tell you that when I first conceived the story, my oldest son was about six years old (the age of Ben Altman in Silent Counsel), and writing about losing a child was certainly an emotional experience.

SP: On the same subject, a perennial question on writers’ listservs is whether men and women can write convincingly from the POV of the opposite gender. Were you completely comfortable writing about a woman’s experiences, or did you ask your wife or other female readers for their opinions and insights?

KI: I’ve watched some of those threads online, most recently on DorothyL, and was amused by some of the perceived telltales that expose men writing women or vice versa.

For my part—and probably because I didn’t know any better—I did feel comfortable writing from Stacy’s POV. Again, I had small children of my own, and it was easy to find much of the emotion within myself. But my wife was my early reader, and I did rely on her to let me know if things rang true or not—not only with Stacy’s POV, but with the story in general. And there are a number of changes that I made as a result of her insight—the most significant of which was to re-write the whole dang story from the ground up. Initially, the focal character was the mother, Stacy, with the attorney, Scott Heller, playing a more or less supporting role. Without giving too much of the story away, Sylvia felt that Stacy didn’t make a terribly sympathetic character to be cast in the main spotlight. So I went back to page one, and re-wrote the entire story, shifting the focus to Scott, the lawyer. (Can you believe it? A lawyer as a sympathetic character! Go know.)

Of course, my wife enjoys pointing out that I seemed to accept her suggestions only after one or two other early readers made the same observations. “Oh, you were waiting for someone else to tell you that too?”

Ah, well. Isn’t that how men and women communicate?

SP: A lot of people don’t realize how specialized the practice of law is – they figure every lawyer knows everything about all aspects of law. Were you, as a civil attorney, well-versed in criminal law when you began writing this book, or did you have to brush up on some points?

KI: You’re right. The practice of law is extremely specialized. I’m not particularly well-versed in criminal law at all—I took the required introductory course in my first year of law school, which was quite some time ago, and really haven’t had any exposure to it during my career.

But so much of the law is always evolving and is ever-changing—even the narrow areas that individual lawyers carve out as their specialties. So even if I were to have written a story revolving around my own specialty (uh, if you give me a few minutes, I’ll be able to figure out what that specialty is…) I’d have had to do some legal research.

That’s the thing about the practice of law. You don’t really learn “everything there is to know” about a particular subject. You learn the questions to ask, and where to look for the answers. It’s a constant game of “what if,” which makes it a great background for novel writing.

Did I have to do some brushing up on the legal issues found in Silent Counsel? Yes, I did. For example, I didn’t have a clue about the distinction between manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter, or what the range of penalties for each was. I didn’t know how a county prosecutor’s office was structured, or how cases were assigned to individual assistant prosecutors. And I had to do quite a bit of research into the intricacies of the attorney-client privilege. The list of what I didn’t know is actually pretty long.

One of the things I’ve come to learn is that experts are quite willing to share their knowledge if you simply admit to them (1) you don’t know jack, and (2) you appreciate the opportunity to learn from them.

SP: More and more writers are being published for the first time in middle age (or older). Do you think you’re a better writer now than you would have been at 25 or 30? What do you bring to your writing now that you would have been lacking when you were younger?

KI: Middle age, huh? [sighs] I suppose you’re right.

I guess age has given me an advantage that I lacked in earlier years. For one thing, I’ve certainly read a lot more now than I had by the time I was in my 20s, so I feel I have a better sense of what works and what doesn’t, from a readers perspective. Things like pacing, rhythm, switching POV, and the like.

In addition, I’ve been a lawyer for almost thirty years. As a lawyer, I write for a living. Granted, it’s a different kind of writing—although a lot of cynics would say that lawyers write fiction for a living—but I have to believe that years of brief and memo writing have helped me to be able to formulate ideas and points of view and then convey them to a reader. That’s gotta count for something.

In fact, when I first sat down to begin writing Silent Counsel, I didn’t have a clue how to proceed, so I decided to approach the task as I did a legal case. I remembered an instructor in one of my continuing legal education classes advising of the importance of developing a theme for your case. “A case without a theme is just a bunch of testimony,” I’d been told. “A car crash doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it’s a tragedy that involves real people and real consequences.” Cloaking your case with a theme gives jurors a reason to stay interested and alert: “This case is not just about young Will being injured when the buckling mechanism on his infant seat came loose. It’s about the kind of corporate greed that places the cost of recalling a defective product and the benefit of saving a child’s life on opposite ends of a scale—and tips that scale against the child.” Now, with that theme in the jury’s mind, otherwise dry testimony about how this strap connects to that latch may be, if not interesting, at least a little more bearable. There’s a reason to care.

The difference I was faced with when setting out to write a novel was that in the context of a legal case, I start—necessarily—with the facts as they’re presented to me. I search for a theme that relates well to those facts and exerts the right amount of emotional pull to grab hold of the jury. Writing a novel, though, allows the reverse. When I started, the page was, of course, quite literally blank. There were no facts, only an idea: What if the attorney representing a hit-and-run driver couldn’t reveal his client’s name because the court held it was privileged information? With that premise in mind, I began constructing facts: I decided that the victim of the driver had to be a child, because readers (my jury) would care more about this arcane legal issue if the attorney-client privilege was being used to shield someone responsible for a youngster’s death.

I knew that the lawyer in my story would face a difficult ethical dilemma—needing to protect the confidences of a client while feeling that the “right” thing to do would be to help the grieving mother. Because I had never faced such a challenge, I decided my lawyer should (like me) be unaccustomed to criminal practice and protecting the rights of the guilty. I made him a corporate litigator handling a “quick referral” for a friend—just a matter of making a few phone calls to the prosecutor to see if a deal could be made. This way, in the process of writing, I could experience the doubts and misgivings of my protagonist as he did, for the first time. And, I decided that my lawyer should have a young child of his own, so the conflict he felt between duty and right would strike close to home.

From this germ of an idea, and these few basic facts, emerged competing themes: Silent Counsel would be about a lawyer’s struggle with his personal beliefs when confronted with the fundamental need for secrecy between client and attorney. It also would be about a mother’s frustration and rage at a system that places more value on a legal technicality than bringing the killer of her six-year-old boy to justice.

Once this theme was established in my mind, I began “filling in the facts.”

Like I said, when I decided to try my hand at a novel, I didn’t have a clue how to proceed, and I therefore drew on my experience as a lawyer constructing a case. I suppose that had I set out to write without having years of lawyering behind me, I would have really been lost!

SP: How has publication changed your life? Has anything about the process surprised or disappointed you?

KI: You mean like how, before Silent Counsel was published, I had no free time, and now, since publication, I really have no free time?

Seriously, the biggest—and perhaps most surprising—change for me seems to be the enormous amount of time that must go into promotion. It began in the months leading up to the release, establishing a presence on the web and planning a tour, and it continues virtually unabated three months after the launch. I’ve done about forty signings, about ten radio or TV interviews, and a number of conventions, books shows, and panel presentations, across the country.

Once the Christmas season passes, I expect that frenetic pace to slow some, but I’m learning that it sure is a lot of hard work. I always knew that things didn’t end when the book hit the shelves, but I really did not realize the amount of time and effort that would be required.

I’m certainly not complaining! I genuinely enjoy getting out there. The challenge is time management. What comes to mind is something that Stephen Covey wrote about in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People regarding the proper “P/PC” balance—that is, the balance between production and production capability. Too much writing, without promotion, doesn’t get you very far; by the same token, too much promotion, without writing anything to promote, isn’t very good either. Achieving the right balance is the key.

SP: Were you active in MWA before you were published? How do you believe mystery organizations benefit the unpublished and newly published members?

KI: I became active in MWA well before I was published—I joined a few months after I finished the first draft of Silent Counsel. And I believe it was one of the best moves I made.

I had completed the manuscript, and I looked at the pile of paper in front of me and said, “OK. Now what?” I had absolutely no idea what to do to get it into print. Always up for a challenge, I looked around in the bookstores for newly-published legal thrillers by first-time authors, and I reached out to a number of them for guidance. Everyone I contacted was willing to share their experiences with me, and one suggested I join MWA.

I did, and I’m glad. Those of the members who are published authors run the gamut from well-known, accomplished bestsellers to midlist authors to newly-published authors struggling for name recognition. One thing they all have in common is a passion for what they do, and a willingness to help those members not yet published. (OK, that’s two things.)

Now, the road to publication is a long and tortuous one, and can be discouraging at times. I found that becoming part of the MWA community—getting to know people who’ve made it, and people who were struggling to reach the same goals as I was—was invigorating. Every time I attended an MWA event, whether it was a monthly dinner meeting, a symposium, or the annual Edgars Banquet, I found that my determination to continue on was renewed—despite any recent rejection letters I might have gotten.

So, yes, I do feel that MWA (and no doubt for the same reasons, other mystery organizations) benefit the unpublished and newly-published members. And that’s without even getting into the substance of the various programs that the organization offers!

SP: Have you had a chance yet to learn which types of promotion work best and which are a waste of time and money? Do you find My Space useful – or is it impossible to tell whether something like that benefits a writer?

KI: Ahh, retailing pioneer John Wanamaker once said, “I know that half my advertising costs are wasted. But I can never figure out which half.” No doubt the same can be said about promotional efforts.

I don’t know that I’ve come across any types of promotion that I can specifically identify as a waste. As a newly-published author, starting with zero name recognition, as far as I’m concerned, anything that gets my name out there is worthwhile—whether or not the sale of a single book can be traced to it.

I’ve done my best to create a presence on the web. I have a website (www.KenIsaacson.com), a MySpace page (www.MySpace.com/KenIsaacson), and a Crimespace page (www.Crimespace.ning.profile/KJIsaacson). I participate in online discussion groups such as DorothyL. I’ve toured, and since the beginning of September I’ve had almost fifty events, including bookstore signings, panel appearances, library discussions, and radio and TV interviews. With the exception of the bookstore signings—where there are hard numbers about sales—it’s impossible to measure the event’s success in terms of books sold. And even with bookstore signings, there are intangible benefits that go beyond the simple number of books sold.

I can only assume that my use of MySpace has been successful for me. About six months before Silent Counsel was due to be released, I established a MySpace page, as well as my website. Now, the problem with the website is that people have to actually know about it to be able to find it. And apart from my wife, my three sons, and my mother, there weren’t a whole lot of people who knew to click their way over to my website in the months before publication.
MySpace is a different story. I’m assuming you know how MySpace is structured, so suffice it to say that it’s not too difficult to develop a list of friends that are a ready audience for what you have to offer. And unlike your traditional website, which must attract traffic, if you “work” MySpace right, you can deliver your message to your audience.

Has MySpace helped sell Silent Counsel? As your question implies, it’s hard to say. I do know that in the weeks leading up to publication, Silent Counsel climbed to the number 2 spot on Amazon’s list of Hot New Releases in legal thrillers, and it’s maintained a position in the top 5 since then. The only thing I can think of attributing that pre-publication success (before I went on the road) to is a web presence, and my MySpace page was the centerpiece.

SP: What are your career goals? Do you think you’ll ever write full-time?

KI: I have a great day job. I left the private practice of law almost six years ago to become in-house general counsel to a corporation. I don’t miss my law firm days at all. For more than twenty years, I had to account for all of my time, every day, in six-minute intervals, so the billing could be done. And I had to worry about client development, finding new ones, and maintaining the existing ones. As general counsel, I have a single client, and no need to worry about billing or client development. I can just do my job. And the bonus is that because I have an office all to myself, I get to bring my dog to work with me!

I’m also a technology nut, so my office is virtually paperless—everything’s scanned into my computer, and synchronized with my laptop. So I can work from almost anywhere, which I’m often forced to because of the nature of the business. In fact, I often joke with the president of the company, telling him, “I’m not going on vacation next week…but I’ll be working from Breckenridge.” Or Long Beach Island, or wherever.

I have no present plans to give up the law. I also intend to keep on writing. I suppose if I had to guess which one I’d end up doing longer, I’d say that I’ll probably end up retiring from the law before I’ll stop writing.

SP: What advice do you have for aspiring mystery writers?

KI: The best single piece of advice I can think of is one word: WRITE!
What I mean by this is that we too often get caught up in the planning. We think of good ideas, we research, we outline…we seem to do everything except put pen to paper. I’m not suggesting that anyone skip the necessary preliminary stages (though we could have a spirited discussion about outlining, and whether and to what extent it’s necessary), but don’t become paralyzed by the initial steps. Get yourself writing!

In addition, by all means join an organization like MWA. There are groups for nearly every genre and sub-genre you can think of: mysteries, thrillers, romances, you name it. Like I said in answer to one of your other questions, surrounding yourself with driven, like-minded people is invaluable—for inspiration, for support, and for knowledge.

Finally, persevere. Whether you aspire to have your work published, or you write because you just have to write, it’s a long and often discouraging road. But keep at it, and don’t give up.

A New Voice: Gabriella Herkert

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

Romance, murder, a witty heroine, and a filthy rich cat -- what more can you ask for in a humorous mystery? In Gabriella Herkert's first novel, Catnapped, Seattle attorney Sara Townley is at the bottom of the legal food chain, and when a cat worth millions disappears Sara is ordered to find him. The missing feline, whose owner left him a massive estate managed by the law firm Sara works for, leads her straight to a dead body. At the same time, the Navy man Sara married in Vegas after a (very) brief acquaintance returns from sea duty and informs Sara he wants a real marriage, not an annulment. The author of Catnapped describes herself as "an evil corporate lawyer working in-house for a high-tech firm near Seattle" and assures me that this drawing is an excellent likeness of her.


When most people think of lawyers writing crime novels, they think of authors like Grisham and Fairstein. Did you ever consider writing a legal thriller?

I've written a series of short stories (as yet unpublished) that include a character named Michael Morrow. They fall more into the thriller category in that they involved darker themes and are more plot dependent, although I think Michael makes a great character, too.

What inspired you to write a humorous animal-themed series?

I admit I'm bent. The smart-aleck part of the book is in my genes and since that is the case, I wanted to make my parents laugh out loud. As for the animal theme, Catnapped is based on an actual case that included a cat. Since I'd grown up with animals, I just let the cat in the story take on the personality of my cat, Flash. That feline always cracked me up.

Have you always wanted to write, or is this a recent interest? Why did you choose the mystery genre?

I've been writing, one way or another, since I was eight. It was a natural outgrowth of loving to read. I didn't choose mystery so much as it chose me. I write what I enjoy and I've loved mysteries since Nancy Drew.

How long did it take you to write the first book? How did you fit writing in with your day job?

The first book took a long time. I had written the first fifty pages of Catnapped and submitted it to the Maui Writers' Conference contest. When it won a Rupert Hughes award, I thought I could go home and use that energy to power through the rest of the book. Flying home from Maui, I couldn't wait. It was September 9, 2001. I didn't feel funny for a year. I wrote a lot and that was okay, too, but I didn't make progress on the book. I finally finished the first draft in late 2003. I polished for a year and it took another year to get my first agent.

You went the contest route – Catnapped was short-listed for the Debut Dagger Award, the St. Martin’s/Private Eye Writers of America Best First Novel Award, the Kiss of Death and Maui Writer's Conference awards, and it won honorable mention in the Writer's Digest contest. How did these competitions benefit you? Would you recommend that aspiring writers enter contests?

The contests were great. Not only did I get great support and feedback from people who had a lot of experience in the field, I met several great people who continue to form the basis for my "community" of writers. I would recommend that aspiring writers take every opportunity to get read. Share with family and friends. Enter the contests. Dare your writer friends to enter, too. Blog. Whatever. Every experience encourages and keeps you on the path to putting pen to paper. The big bonus is every day you write, five more stories will be waiting for their turn.

Tell us about your path to publication. Was it easy or difficult to find an agent? To find a publisher?

Because I'd had success in the contests, I thought getting an agent would come easier than it did. I had very specific criteria for the agent I wanted and that made it harder. My short list was very short indeed. Then again, the positive results I'd had helped me stay confident that my work would find a home -- a great home with an agent and a publisher who really believed in me and my writing. Having said that, I am working with my second agent now. The relationships are evolutionary and it's helped me to keep an open mind.

Did anything about the publishing process surprise you, or did things happen pretty much as you expected?

The biggest surprise is how much time I have to spend on getting the word out myself. Even with a big house and a supportive publisher, most of this still falls on the author. These are time pressures on top of meeting deadlines and the day job, friends, family etc. I am so lucky my "peeps" understand.

How have your colleagues in the legal profession reacted to news of your second career?

My boss has been incredibly supportive as have my colleagues in the legal group. Of course, they look at me funny when I ask if they've ever been stuck in the trunk of a car. Naturally, every "ex" thinks he's the hero and every family member thinks I've turned them into a killer. As for the people I am negotiating deals with, it works for me that they know I know where to dispose of a dead body.

Do you have a critique group or individuals who read your work before your agent and editor see it? What aspects of writing have they helped you with most?

I couldn't have finished without my critique group. If nothing else, these are the people who will kick you in the butt if you haven't written anything to bring to group. They'll tell you the sex isn't sexy and the jokes aren't funny. I am better because of them. And they still showed up at the first signing.

How much promotion do you have planned for Catnapped? Which conferences will you be attending?

I just came back from Bouchercon in Anchorage. There's nothing like the conferences to motivate and encourage finishing the next book. It's not just the big name authors I'm thrilled to meet, either. The biggest push comes from the readers who come to share their own stories and tell me how Sara or Russ or one of my other characters reminds them of their crazy cousin Lucy or hilarious next door neighbor. It's the biggest high there is for a writer. I'm doing some more local signings in and around Seattle. I've got a library reading coming up next week at my local library I'm really looking forward to and several more conferences on the schedule: Left Coast Crime in Denver in March, Malice Domestic in Virginia in April, Bouchercon 2008 in Baltimore, and Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis as well as several romance writers conferences. My schedule is listed on my website at www.gabriellaherkert.com. I'd also love to talk to any book clubs who want to talk with me. Send an email to gabi_herkert@hotmail.com and we can set something up.

What’s next for Sara Townley?

Let's just say that marriage and mayhem will plague Sara for some time to come. She's also got to learn to speak 'Connor' and deal with his less-than-predictable family. Catnapped: An Animal Instinct Mystery is available now. Doggone! comes out in September 2008. An as-yet-untitled book 3 is scheduled for 2009. I expect Sara's quick wit will carry her into even worse trouble than a bigamy rumor. I can't wait!