I was raised in a household that valued education. But, being a blue-collar household in a largely blue-collar community, luxuries were in short supply. Sure, we had some books around the house – my big sister’s complete set of the Nancy Drew mystery series comes to mind – but not many, and certainly not the latest hot literary fiction or New York Times bestsellers. (Or the New York Times, for that matter.)
Fortunately, however, our community had a public library. Continue reading
My first book review–ever–is a starred one from Publishers Weekly. I’m thrilled! Here it is:
Near the outset of Greaves’s stellar first novel, Hush Puppy, a healthy champion show horse, suddenly drops dead. Hush Puppy’s vet suspects the horse was poisoned and the animal’s owner, Pasadena socialite Sydney Everett, faces charges of fraud. Attorney Jack McTaggert agrees to defend Everett, but his doubts about his client’s innocence increase after he learns that another of her animals died five years earlier, netting Everett a $1 million insurance payout. Meanwhile, the lawyer must deal with a civil case involving a blue-collar worker suffering from terminal leukemia unable to get coverage for a new procedure. The insurance fraud case soon turns deadly for humans as well, placing McTaggert directly in the crosshairs both of the police and the criminal behind the plot. Greaves makes the most of his 25 years as a trial attorney in relating courtroom tactics. The combination of confident writing and a determined and ethical protagonist add up to a winner.
I’ll be speaking on two panels at the American Library Association’s “Mystery Day” during the annual conference in Anaheim, CA. Continue reading
I will be conducting a one-hour workshop presentation as part of the 2012 UNM Writers’ Conference.
Mid-life Metamorphosis: From Attorney to Author of Legal Thrillers
April 21, 2012 | 3:30 p.m.
Details below, or click here to learn more.
In lieu of my usual monthly essay, I thought I’d do something a little different for February and offer up a short story for your reading enjoyment. I hope you like it.
With the fiftieth anniversary of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest almost upon us, I’d like to share a personal reminiscence about one of my all-time favorite authors, the great Ken Kesey.
I’m sure I’m not the first person to observe that the reading experience is not only a subjective one, but is highly situational. By that I mean that reading The Catcher in the Rye at age fifteen is a fundamentally different experience than reading it at age forty. Because while books do not age, their readers, and the world their readers inhabit, surely do. And when the right book and the right reader meet at the right time under the right circumstances, magic happens. Continue reading