MIRA Author’s Hot Chicago Mystery Trilogy Called “A Publishing Event”

So you want to write a mystery series? How about firing off a fast- paced, suspense-filled trilogy to be released in successive months? While you’re at it make the backdrop Chicago…the hottest town all abuzz in this political year.

That spells out the writing life for one of Chicago’s own, award-winning author Laura Caldwell.

MIRA Books is taking a unique approach with Caldwell’s first series—featuring feisty Chicago redhead Izzy McNeil—by releasing the titles in June, July and August. For readers it makes for a busy summer filled with mystery and suspense. It all begins with the sizzling RED HOT LIES, available in bookstores in early June.

"At MIRA, we fell in love with Laura Caldwell's red-hot series featuring Izzy McNeil,” says Margaret Marbury, Editorial Director for MIRA Books. “Izzy is the perfect blend of sophistication and sass, and that, combined with Caldwell’s modern voice and evocative Chicago backdrop makes this series a must-read.

“We are releasing the books back-to-back in June, July and August 2009 to create a publishing event. Since the books all feature the same dynamic protagonist, we knew that if readers liked the first book, RED HOT LIES, they'd be clamoring for more."

In RED HOT LIES: “They say bad things happen in threes. When her fiancé, Sam, disappears on the same day her mentor and biggest client is killed, hotshot Chicago attorney Izzy McNeil starts counting. But trouble keeps coming. Sam is implicated in the client’s death, her apartment is broken into and it’s not just the authorities who are following her.

In order to find Sam and uncover her client’s murderer, Izzy will have to push past limits she has never imagined. Lucky for her she’s always thrived under pressure because her world is falling apart. Fast. And the trail of half- truths and lies is red-hot.”

“It’s been a busy couple of years,” Caldwell said with a chuckle. “Red Hot Lies took about a year to write. Then in one year I wrote the other two, half of a non-fiction project and founded the Life After Innocence Project for Loyola University School of Law.”

As if Caldwell didn’t have enough on her plate, she was mugged outside her Chicago apartment in November. Police covering the scene included officers she’d come to know while conducting research for the series. “What can I say? The cops are my friends,” Caldwell said. “I’m a Chicago cop groupie. They’ve helped me a great deal with research. That’s important in fiction because you can tell if an author knows what they’re talking about, even if they don’t explicitly spell out all their research.

“That (mugging) happened at a very frantic time,” she recalled. “I had to turn in the manuscript for book three (Red, White & Dead) by December. So much was happening and I had so much fear that I wouldn’t get it done and that it wouldn’t be good. The oddest part was that in Red Hot Lies, my character, a redheaded lawyer from Chicago, like me, is walking around Chicago with a false sense of security when she realized she is being followed. As I was picking myself up off the sidewalk, it was so surreal that I wondered for a second if I was writing and just deep into one of my scenes.

“This is my first series and I pitched the trilogy idea to MIRA,” Caldwell said. “In the past it has been hard to leave the characters I developed in single book. With the mystery trilogy I get to take a lead character and grow the person. I like that.”

Caldwell can clearly relate to her alter ego Izzy McNeil. Like Izzy, Caldwell is a Chicago redhead with extensive legal background. Caldwell was a successful trial lawyer and is currently a professor and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. “This is the closest character to me that I’ve written,” said Caldwell. “But I’m not Izzy.”

Readers will see that Izzy’s life turns on a dime. “She’s about to get married,” Caldwell says, “and about to make partner in her law firm. But in one day, it all goes away. Life has its ups and downs, but this all happens very fast for her. The truth is, I think life can feel like that sometimes.”

It all translates into a fast and fierce summer for readers who will come to know Izzy McNeil as quickly as they can say “one-two-three” or “June-July- August.”