1–What is the title of your latest release? THE PLINKO BOUNCE   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? There are rare occasions when the legal system operates exactly as it should and everyone involved does quality work—there’s no corruption or fraud or wicked villain pulling strings—but yet the outcome doesn’t track the objective truth.  The most obvious examples:  A guilty defendant walks free or an innocent defendant is found guilty.  During nearly three decades as a judge, I experienced a tiny number of these unicorn aberrations where the Constitution or a particular statute limited the information a jury received at trial, and we wound up with a flawed verdict.  How we deal with these mistakes both inside and outside the courtroom makes for good fiction.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I live in Patrick County, Virginia, where the book is set.   4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes.  And I hope he’d like to hang out with me.  He’s a good guy.   5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Smart, principled, and weary.  He’s a single dad and a public defender with a huge caseload….

1–What is the title of your latest release? DOUBLE INDEMNITY 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Was Matt Thompson’s death while deer hunting an accident, suicide, or murder? Read the novel to find out. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? All my novels take place in Georgia, South Carolina, or North Carolina, which are the places I’ve lived and can describe with texture and nuance. You should feel like you’re there as you turn the page. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I’d love having lunch with Connor Grantham, the minister forced to become detective in the novel. He’s much smarter than I am so I could learn a lot from him. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Thinker, woodsman, emerging romantic. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Figuring out what really happened in the story was complicated, even for me as the creator. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? Both, but the major edit happens after the first draft is done. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Any kind of smoked meat and banana pudding that tastes…