Years ago, when I was practicing law, I developed the idea for a mystery series in which a lawyer acted as a sleuth. This was a few years before I actually began writing fiction on a regular basis. My initial idea was that the lawyer would work at a law firm and that her sleuthing would put her at odds with the partners. Or something like that.
As I thought through the concept, I decided it would be even better to portray her as a solo practitioner. In a sense, I figured that would make her more like the old-style hardboiled private eye. The kind of guy (or, in this case, gal) with his own office, his own rules, and a bottle of bourbon in his lower-desk drawer. Well, Sam’s kind of like that, sans the bottle of booze.
For those of you who haven’t read the series, Sam McRae is a lawyer in Maryland, who gets involved in solving murders connected with her cases. The way I tend to think of Sam is like Kinsey Millhone as a lawyer. The genre is hardboiled, with a touch of noir to it.
I had always pictured writing a series of Sam McRae novels, but to actually be doing it brings me a pleasure I can’t begin to describe. What’s more, I’m currently adapting my first novel into a screenplay. That’s something I’d never expected to do.
If you own an ereader, you can buy the first three novels in a boxed set from almost any online retailer. The boxed set is entitled Law Can Be Murder and is available at bargain prices.
