Lots of folks out
here can’t fight the system, can’t find lawyers. No one cares.
We’re just supposed
to go away where no one sees us. Screw ‘em.
We refuse to hide.
This is our home. And that’s why they want to get rid of us.
Keenan Powell, Deadly Solution (Kindle Loc. 1731)
Less than a year
after drinking sidelined her career as a public defender in Anchorage, Alaska,
Maeve Malloy is asked to defend an Aleut Indian accused of beating another
homeless man to death. With no witnesses to the crime and a client who claims
to have no knowledge of the night of the murder due to a blackout, the case is
stacked against them.
As Maeve works to maintain her sobriety, she and her investigator Tom Sinclair
search for answers in homeless camps, roadside bars, and biker gang hangouts.
When they uncover more than a few people with motives all their own for wanting
the victim dead, they are determined to prove their client's innocence before
he is sentenced to a life behind bars for a crime he swears he didn't commit.
When Maeve and Tom discover there may be a link to an unusually high number of
deaths among the homeless community, the search is on for a killer hunting
among the most vulnerable members of society.
Deadly Solution,
Keenan Powell’s first Maeve Malloy mystery and debut novel, keeps the reader
engaged. Not long into the book, readers deduce the author’s profession. It’s a
no brainer—Keenan is a lawyer. There’s too much detailed knowledge of the
profession to guess otherwise. Her main character, Maeve Malloy, a lawyer, defends
a client charged with murder.
Keenan presents the story in third-person
multiple points of view. The story starts simply in the viewpoint of the client
charged with the crime, bad enough because he doesn’t remember the night, but
very soon, other characters present complications, which multiply and make
Maeve’s job difficult. In addition to ferreting the relevant case factors,
mainly the responsibility of her investigator Tom Sinclair, Maeve encounters
resistance from the prosecutor’s office. She must wrangle with missing
documentation in the discovery package, but for Tom and chance she wouldn’t
have known about.
Flak from her past personal and
career debacles plague her. She discovers too much discretionary authority and finds
her own client fails to mention his past transgressions, reminding her of a
previous case when her ignorance made her look foolish or dishonest. And the
truth was neither.
Keenan presents the
investigation but she includes background affecting the case, things I didn’t
know, like Alaskan population demographics/culture, state law, politics of law,
courtroom protocol and détente. All of which provide a rich milieu transforming
a solid mystery into a damn good mystery.
Please
welcome Keenan Powell to WWK.
E.
B. Davis
Why is Alaska the land of
“extreme people”? Extreme people thrive in Alaska because of the extreme
light, dark and cold. Anchorage has 19.5 hours of sun on June 21 and 5.5 hours
of sun on December 21. Temperatures vary from 70 degrees to 20 below. Many (perhaps
more normal?) people come to Alaska find they need more stability in their
environments and leave. When I came up in 1982, the locals didn’t bother to
learn your name until you had been here three years. When you met them, instead
of saying “What’s your name?” or “What do you do?”, they’d say “How long have
you been here?” If you hadn’t survived two winters yet, the next thing they’d
say was, “How long you think you’ll stay?”
You portray alcoholism as
rampant at every level of society in Alaska. Why is alcohol such a dominant
factor? There are a few reasons. Many people come to Alaska because
they’ve burned their bridges everywhere else. Those people, by nature, have
more troubled lives. In addition, the construction of the Trans-Alaska
Pipeline, which brings oil 800 miles from the North Slope (the northernmost
land along the Arctic Ocean) to Prince William Sound, attracted work-hard-play-hard
people. Men and women would spend weeks living in camps in the wild and then
come back to Anchorage with fistfuls of money, much of which was spent on drugs
and alcohol. A third factor is the destruction of the Native cultures and the
outlawing of their way of life. Many villages have a 98% unemployment rate, and
little to do except drink.
Every accused believed to his core that truth and justice
went hand in hand.
They must have learned that in grade school. But that
wasn’t how the
Justice system worked. It wasn’t about truth, it was
about evidence.
It wasn’t about justice, it was about closing files.
(Kindle Loc. 636)
That’s harsh. But it’s true,
isn’t it? It is true. If you ever get into trouble, that’s the first
thing you learn. It’s one reason why young, bright-eyed criminal defense
attorneys burn out.
Maeve Malloy has her own private
practice, but she receives the murder case from her probationary lawyer. Why
did Maeve leave the public defender’s office and get put on probation by the
bar association? Maeve left the P.D.’s office because she had been
relegated to a non-trial status after having departed for alcohol
rehabilitation on short notice, leaving the office in a lurch. Her boss had to
reassign cases and seek continuances to accommodate the changes, so he was
concerned, he said, that she would crack up again under the extreme stress of
trial work and leave him in another lurch. He was also anxious to get rid of
her because they had an office romance which ended when he married another
woman. At the same time, the bar association learned that she had taken leave
on short notice and was concerned for her fitness, so it put her on probation.
Shelly Watson’s testimony is
crucial to Maeve’s defense. But you bring Shelly’s story into the book far
earlier than seems warranted. Why did you want to include her POV? I
wanted to show hard-working people living from paycheck to paycheck are one
unlucky break away from homelessness. The homeless crisis is not just about
mentally ill, alcoholics and addicts; it’s also about the harsh realities of
our economy.
Why does Maeve torture
paperclips? At one level, it’s a nervous habit. At a deeper level,
paperclips are symbolic of holding things together. Sometimes you want to put
things together and keep them in a neat little pile. Sometimes you need to tear
that pile apart.
Her client had been staying in a
V. A. domiciliary, rehab, but he wasn’t allowed back there after binging. The
murder victim, Joe, was a homeless friend, with whom he hung out. Maeve and Tom
focus on the homeless population for witnesses and possible suspects. Another
lawyer brings to her attention that if the Medical Examiner’s office suspects
natural death, they have no legal requirement to perform an autopsy. This fact
propelled the writing of this book. Why? A few years before I began
writing this book, there were twelve homeless deaths during the summer, one
right after another. This is unusual in Alaska because the homeless tend to
succumb to hypothermia in the winter. If they make it through the winter, they
can make it through the summer. A stream of letters to the editor were
published declaring the belief that there was a serial killer, but the local
police kept insisting that the deaths were natural causes. Then, the deaths
stopped as mysteriously as they begun. A few years after those deaths, I went
to a law seminar in which the presenters discussed a little-known law that
allows the medical examiner to declare the cause of death without doing an
autopsy, and that the medical examiner can dispose of the remains in
seventy-two hours if not claimed. A
light went off in my head. If no autopsies were done, and the remains had been
destroyed, who’s to say the medical examiner was right?
What’s a reindeer hotdog? A
foot-long, fat, decadent, garlic and pepper infused mixture of pork, sometimes
beef, and reindeer. They are sold at hot dog stands in downtown Anchorage in
the summer and at the fairs. Reindeer herds are managed in western Alaska for
commercial purposes and there is a reindeer farm in Palmer, a few miles outside
of Anchorage.
The client admits that he and
Joe drank and smoked weed, and yet the toxicology from the ME’s office report on
Joe is negative. When Maeve decides to get an outside autopsy, she learns that
the victim’s body was cremated, the evidence destroyed. The prosecutor’s office
claims they can’t fund preserving the body for that long even though the
“speedy” trial date must be no longer than 120 days from arrest. Is this legal?
Why didn’t the judge reprimand the prosecutor’s or MEs office? Evidence
gets “lost” all the time. It’s the defense attorney’s job to make sure the
prosecutor is brought to task. In Deadly Solution,
Maeve tries to get the case dismissed because of the lost remains, but the
judge gives the prosecutor an “out”. It’s all about due process of law, whether
the defense is provided enough evidence to meaningfully cross-examine the
medical examiner and confront the charges against him. If Maeve’s expert can
make do with samples, then it’s a “no harm, no foul” situation. If her expert
said the samples weren’t enough, the judge would consider dismissing the case. Maeve’s
expert says he can make do with the samples. Ultimately the prosecutor is
sanctioned for a variety of his actions in this case. In real life, the judge
could refer him to the bar association for unethical behavior and he might be
suspended or disbarred.
Why are the mudflats by Cook Inlet
a killing field? The mudflats are extremely dangerous. When the tide is in,
they are hard and can be walked on. When the tide goes out, they go soft and
people will sink in and get stuck. Then the tide comes in again, it traps the
person in the sand and he is drowned in the incoming water. This photo (below) is
courtesy of Linda Lyons.
Why does the state bar
association forbid lawyers from partnering with non-lawyers? The bar
association is responsible for ensuring that a minimum standard of ethics is
maintained in the profession. It has no control over non-lawyers, only lawyers.
Thus, it is possible that if a lawyer partnered with a non-lawyer, the
non-lawyer could do something unethical over which the bar association would
have no authority. Moreover, the partnering of a lawyer and a non-lawyer may
give the appearance that a non-lawyer has undue influence over the conduct of
the law office and that appearance of impropriety is something over which the
bar association is deeply concerned.
What was it about Maeve that Tom
has so much faith in—enough that he quit working for the public defender’s
office, giving up a steady paycheck and benefits, to work exclusively with her?
Tom was impressed with Maeve’s dedication to justice and her
pitbull-like refusal to let go. He was tired of budget-considerations limiting
investigations at the P.D.s office and was willing to risk a less stable income
in exchange for knowing that she, and he, would do the right thing for their
clients.
She [Maeve] recited the Miranda rights to herself. You
have the right
to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used
against you.
Not just handy in the back of a patrol car, it worked
socially, too.
(Kindle Loc. 1015)
Why does Maeve need to recite
the Miranda rights to herself and often feels socially inept? In her
late 20’s, Maeve gets sober and, after having drunk her problems away most of
her life, she finds herself living a grown-up’s life with few acquired social
skills. Her fallback is law.
What’s the “Permanent Fund,” and
are you kidding? I kid you not. The Permanent Fund is the State of
Alaska’s account accrued with oil royalties and investments from oil royalties.
As of this writing, there is no income tax in Alaska and the state government
is entirely supported with oil revenue. Annually, a portion of the investment
income is divided between the state government and each resident of the state.
Qualifying residents, including children, generally receive between $900 and
$1300 in October of each year. And then there is a state-wide spending spree.
What is Maeve’s x-ray vision? When
Maeve pieces clues together, she senses what is missing, what it should be, how
it should fit, and where to find it.
Is Chester Creek Trail sort of
Anchorage’s Central Park? We have quite a bit of parkland in Anchorage,
thanks to those heady days when oil first gushed from the North Slope. Our
“Central Park” would be Delaney Park Strip which runs between downtown
Anchorage and South Addition, one of first residential neighborhoods built
mostly of Sears kit homes. Once an airfield, Park Strip is now home to a rose
garden, memorials and ball and soccer fields. There are also several small
pocket parks in various neighborhoods with kids’ playgrounds and more ball
fields. Chester Creek Trail is part of the 135-mile bike trail system through
Anchorage. Some of it is on the street but where possible, it goes off street
following creeks and one the westside, it skirts along Cook Inlet. On a good
day, you can see Denali from the coastal bike trail.
The first time the prosecutor’s
office offers a deal to Maeve’s client, he declines. The second time they offer
a deal, she declines without presenting it to the client. She knows she’s
crossed a line. Why did she do it and what is her response? She already
knows Ollie won’t take any deal, so she felt comfortable rejecting it. The
reason she did it without consulting him was she felt she was being manipulated,
and she felt she had to show it wasn’t working. There may have been a touch of
ego and temper involved, too.
What’s a cheechakos? A
“cheechako” is a newcomer to Alaska. The term is said to have originated with
the local Natives in Anchorage with a corruption of “Chicago”.
Maeve grabbed a cup of yesterday’s coffee, cold, and
swung into position behind her desk.
Her first cup of the morning was always day-old. Good
coffee was good cold.
(Kindle Loc. 2860)
Is Maeve sick, masochistic,
and/or cheap? Good coffee is good cold! My mother used to respond as you
did when I’d walk into the kitchen, find one cup of cold coffee left in the
coffeemaker, and drink it. The truth is that Maeve and I are impatient; we
can’t wait long enough to make hot coffee to get the jolt. I still come home
from work every day and finish off the morning’s coffee cold.
During the trial, Maeve,
eyeballs jurors and speculates as to which ones will favor her or the
prosecution. Do attorneys play the juror game? You betchya! Larger firms
will have a paralegal parked in the back of the courtroom watching the jurors
and taking notes. Really big firms have jury selection experts who sit through
the whole trial watching the jury and giving feedback to the attorney.
Much like the MEs office, when
someone dies in the hospital, the treating physician signs off on the death
without an autopsy. Most autopsies in this case would escalate costs
unreasonably. Can an autopsy still be requested by the family? If the
remains are preserved, a family could demand autopsy, but they may have to pay
for it. I haven’t looked into it; it hasn’t come up.
After reading this book, it’s a
wonder you still practice law. Are you a trial lawyer? Why ever for? I
don’t practice criminal defense anymore. After ten or so years of that, my
children asked me to spend more time with them. Now I’m representing injured
workers in workers compensation cases and I love it. The trial days are much
shorter because there is no jury and the rules of evidence are relaxed in
administrative proceedings. It gives me time to write in the morning and read
in the evening. I have no idea how trial attorneys write too. And I still get
paid to fight. Best job in the world.
Do you have a contract for more
Maeve Malloy mysteries? If so, what’s next for Maeve and Tom? Deadly Solution is the first of a
three-book deal with Level Best Books. In the second book, Hemlock Needle, Maeve and Tom will investigate the disappearance of
a young Yup’ik Eskimo woman who is a single mother and a chief financial
officer of multi-million-dollar joint venture.
For dinner, given your choice
would you like deer, bear, fish, or just a grilled cheese, please? Grilled
cheese. Again, not a lot of patience for cooking.
