From Courtroom to Crime Fiction
About the Novels
I’m a former lawyer who at age 75 discovered that writing about fictional crimes is even more satisfying than prosecuting real ones. After decades in law, I found my true passion writing fiction, first crafting an offbeat debut novel and then creating the three twisty character-driven thrillers that became the Victor Harding Adventures.
As a novelist, my goal is to construct unconventional novels that both capture readers’ imagination and resonate with them on an emotional level. In short, they are both plot-driven adventures and nuanced, character-driven explorations of the human experience. I want my books to be entertaining and offbeat, but I also want them to be thought-provoking studies of human motivation and the complexities of life.
As a late-comer to fiction, I confront the questions every novelist asks: Do I have anything to say? Am I capable of saying it? Will anybody want to read my stuff?
About Me
My career has been as unpredictable as one of my novel’s plots: large firm trial lawyer and both state and federal prosecutor, legal counsel to Pennsylvania’s mental hospitals, Director of Communications for a multi-billion-dollar government agency. Mid-career, I reinvented myself as an Executive Coach, earning Master Coach certification while counseling senior executives, lawyers and both law firm and corporate legal teams.
For two decades I was an award-winning columnist for the National Business Employment Weekly, and my articles have appeared in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The American Lawyer and numerous other publications. My non-fiction writing included business books on networking and legal project management.
Armed with an undergrad degree from Michigan, a JD from Harvard Law School, a Master’s in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School, and a rotation in Psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, I thought I had a pretty good handle on human nature. When I started writing fiction in my mid-70’s, I realized I had just scratched the surface. I’m still scratching, still learning, still loving deeply invested in my writing.
I live in suburban Philadelphia with my extraordinary wife Pamela and our “variety pack” of three spectacularly gonzo dogs, who provide plenty of inspiration for the chaos that marks my novels.