“I got her routine
down. She’s in my sights. She’s dead whenever you say.”
R. Franklin James
(Kindle Loc. 151)
R. Franklin James
writes the Hollis Morgan Mystery series published by Camel Press. The Fallen Angels Book Club, the first
book, presented the unusual premise of this series, which I will let Rae
explain. That premise and main character, Hollis Morgan, kept me reading. The Trade List, the fourth book, released
in May, shows how technology can either help exonerate or implicate individuals
regardless of their innocence or guilt. Like identity theft, it’s a scary
notion.
After you’ve read this interview, check out Rae’s May guest
blog at: http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2016/05/you-cant-wait-for-muse-to-write-by-r.html
Welcome back to WWK, Rae.
E. B. Davis
Please explain the premise of your series to our readers.
Although I wasn’t conscious of a theme
when I first started, I realized by the time I finished the first book in the
series (The Fallen Angels Book Club), that Hollis’s story is one of
redemption. My premise is that we each
have to first forgive ourselves for our real and imagined transgressions before
we see ourselves as others see us. The Hollis Morgan Mystery Series is about
second chances and social labels, and how life has a way of holding up its mirror
for us to see.
Who was Hollis before she went to prison and how did she
earn her living?
Hollis was a law student in San
Francisco and her insurance broker husband supported them. Unfortunately, she
didn’t know their income came from his fraudulent insurance claims.
How was Hollis able to join the California Bar when she was
a convicted felon?
In California, there is a law called
the Safety and Rehabilitation Act which allows ex-felons of non-violent crimes
to apply, under certain conditions, for a judicial pardon. If awarded a pardon,
the individual no longer must check the box that they were a felon and they are
eligible to take the California Bar.
When Hollis’s manager, George Ravel inherits his birth
mother’s estate, her husband’s family contests her will. You present Hollis at
work as a probate attorney, but you aren’t an attorney. What research did you
do to get the details right? Is a probate attorney different than a
wills/estate attorney?
Actually, I was employed as a paralegal
specializing in probate and intellectual property law. Writing about Hollis, I
was able to directly draw from my work experience at a law firm very much like
Dodson, Dodson and Doyle. I was very pleased to get an email from a probate judge
in Los Angeles who said that my setting was so realistic she thought I must
have visited her courtroom.
Probate Law encompasses wills, trusts,
and estate settlements.
When Hollis receives a text message, which I’ve quoted above
at the top of this interview, it’s found to have come from a burner phone. What
is “triangulation?”
With the proper technology, law
enforcement officials (and hackers) can trace a call from the location of the
caller to the location of the person contacted. The “triangle” is: the location
of the tracer, the caller and the person called. Thanks to a chip in our
smartphones, it is fairly straightforward to locate a criminal, or a victim, who
has a cell phone in their possession.
When a woman is found dead with Hollis’s business card among
her possessions, Hollis becomes a “person of interest” to police detective
Silva, the main investigator. But Hollis’s friend, Stephanie, complicates
matters. She isn’t very sensitive to Hollis’s needs, is she?
Stephanie and Hollis are friends for a
reason. Neither would take advantage of their friendship—except when they have
to. Stephanie isn’t afraid to tell Hollis she’s out of line when the situation
warrants, and Hollis pulls no punches when Stephanie asks for her advice.
Because of her ex, Hollis has trust issues. But she confides
in her current beau, John, while he doesn’t give up much information under the
guise of his Homeland Security job. I found that a bit unfair, like a one-way
street. Even further, when John finds out Hollis didn’t tell him all, he gets
mad at her. “Don’t start keeping things from me, Hollis. When you do it starts
piling up as garbage that separates us.” Doesn’t that apply to him as well?
Like attracts like: John’s social “walls”
aren’t made from the same experiences as Hollis’s—but he has trust issues too.
His issues are less from misplaced trust and more from an introverted
personality with a wariness of people he doesn’t know. He was adopted and an
only child. While he maintains strict secrecy about his job, he understands
what it will take to bring Hollis out of her shell. He sees past her “walls”
and knows what it means for her to slowly drop her guard. He doesn’t want her
to slip behind those walls again.
You show readers a lot about Hollis through Vince Colton.
How does Hollis treat Vince?
Hollis is immediately attracted to
Vince’s plight. He is the vulnerable “shadow” that reflects her own needs. Her
emotional wounds are echoed by Vince, and eventually his healing leads to her
healing. He is like the younger brother who needs help to regain his footing,
and she sees in him the man he is meant to be.
Your secondary characters are memorable. My favorite
little-old-lady Phyllis Mason turns into a dynamo. She had me fooled (and I
think Hollis, too.) What was her role in your story and how did she tie the
estate case and the murder case together?
Phyllis Mason was a highly successful district
attorney before she retired. However, as she aged she gave into the stereotype
of a fearful little old lady. Helping Hollis forces her to see that she still
has the skills and savvy to make a vital contribution to solving a case.
How is the Trade List a double-edged sword?
The actual Trade List is a compilation
of coded names of interstate criminals and their protection. It is a list Olivia
Shur wants to trade for her immunity. However, there are others who see the list’s
extortion potential. The possibility of the sword to swing one way for
blackmail and another for immunity depends upon who is wielding it. Hollis
uncovers the connection at her own peril.
“It was a typical Bay Area summer day, gray with late
afternoon fog hovering over the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco
skyline. It was Hollis’s favorite weather.” You’re kidding, right?
Nope.
Mark Twain once said that the coldest
winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. Bay Area natives tend to
favor the upside down seasons, and Hollis is contrary enough to make it her
favorite.
Why does Hollis use tuna sandwiches as a restaurant’s
“litmus” test?
Many people judge a restaurant or diner
by the quality of their hamburgers or sometimes their desserts. If you can get
a good burger, (others might choose a Crème Brulee), you’ve got a good place to
eat. Hollis’s criterion runs to the tuna sandwich.
Have you plotted your series?
Yes. I’m a plotter at heart. First I
created the story line for the first three books in the series. By the time I started
writing the third book (The Return of the Fallen Angels Book Club), I knew
Hollis’s story was not over. I generated the plot lines for another three
books. I made a chapter outline of each book taking off from the one before it.
Needless to say characters and plots don’t always follow an outline, but I find
that it helps me avoid writer’s block.
How did you get your contract with Camel Press?
I have an agent who made the sale.
Through her, I pitched a three-book series. Camel Press liked the concepts, and
offered an option for a fourth book if I wrote the same protagonist.
What’s next for Hollis?
Books five and six are in various
stages of production. Book five: The Bell
Tolls will be released in May 2017.
Hollis has evolved as a character. She’s a force who’s not afraid to step up
and take action for what she feels is right.
However, her most cherished life support is shaken to the core and she
has to make a decision about which road to take.
