Book Title: DEVIL’S DEFENSE
Character Name: Diane Myers
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Normal, I guess. Normal. Mama and Daddy stayed together til death parted them. I have a sister, Denise, who’s three years older than me. We get along okay, but we’re different. She keeps a pretty big stick up her butt, always has.
What was your greatest talent? I can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue.
Significant other?
I married my true love, David, right out of high school, but he died in his thirties from pancreatic cancer. Since then, I’ve just been enjoying myself.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Clingy men.
Where do you live?
I live in Ashton, GA, but not in the city limits. Out north, towards Parksville.
Do you have any enemies?
(Laughs.) Of course I do! But they’re smart enough not to tell me.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
I’ve lived in Ashton my whole life. The thing about a small town? The town itself is part of your family. Sometimes it irritates the fool out of you, sometimes you love it to pieces. But just like family, you stick with it no matter what.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Neither. (hangs head)
What do you do for a living?
I work for Jessica Fischer, a local attorney. Well, she signs the paychecks, but really she works for me. She knows I’m in charge.
Greatest disappointment?
When David died. I knew we were going to spend our whole lives together. And, I guess he got to spend his whole life with me, but he left me on my own for the long haul. That’s right disappointing.
Greatest source of joy?
My nephew, Charles. That baby hung the moon, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t care how he was conceived.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
I have fun wherever I go. There’s nothing out there that I can’t get a laugh out of. But I like to go dancing, I go to church most Sundays, and I like entertaining the menfolk. Rather, I like them entertaining me.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
I’m too short. I’m a hair over 4’11, but not enough hair to call myself five feet. But seriously, if I had to guess? Probably I don’t always read the room when someone isn’t in a joking mood.
What keeps you awake at night?
Looking at that pillow next to me and wishing David’s head was on it.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
Keeping Jessica in line. The girl is smart, but not always practical. She lives in such an ideal world, not the real one.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
I have a pretty full life. I may not have romantic love, but I have so much love in my life. What else is there? A ’65 Mustang? Cherry red with white leather interior? I don’t have one of those.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
Jessica is in the way. Girl needs to step up her business so she can pay me more.
Book Title: DEVIL’S DEFENSE
Character Name: Coach Frank “Tripp” Wishingham, III
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
What? Am I in therapy? Do I need to be laying down on a couch or something? You take insurance? Geez. What a dumb question. My childhood was fine. Normal.
What was your greatest talent?
Football. Came so close to being drafted.
Significant other?
Aw, Emily, man. She’s so beautiful. I can’t believe she puts up with me.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
I don’t really have problems with relationships. I’m a popular guy, what can I say? Look, if you’re going to keep asking me questions like this, you’re going to have to show me your counselor’s license.
Where do you live?
In Ashton, over by the old cemetery.
Do you have any enemies?
Well, shit. Probably? Doesn’t everyone?
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
Okay, doc. Ha! Do I walk out of here with a script for something good? I’m in the same place I’ve been my whole life. I only left for college, and that’s because there’s no college here. This is my home, I’m not leaving.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Emily has a Pekinese. Yappy little thing. She carries it around in a purse. If you’re gonna get a dog, get a Belgian Malinois or a sheepdog. A real dog. A dog that could get a job if it wanted to. We don’t have kids yet, but at the rate we’re going, we’ll have ‘em nine months from last night, if you know what I mean.
What do you do for a living? Do you seriously not know? (I do, but our readers don’t. Please answer the question.) Okay okay. I’m the football coach at Ashton High. I also teach physics.
Greatest disappointment?
Losing at state last year to Abelard. Goddam Charlie Kicklighter, our quarterback, was too worried about his knocked-up girlfriend.
Greatest source of joy?
Winning football games. And trying to have a kid with Emily. (wink)
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
A few guys I’ve known since forever play poker once a month. Of course, I like to watch sports, like a good bourbon.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Now we’re out of therapy and in a job interview? Geez. My greatest personal failing is agreeing to this interview. I’m too goddam nice sometimes.
What keeps you awake at night?
Fucking neighbor’s dog. Barks at every goddam shadow.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
That this interview will never fucking end.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
I need this interview to be over.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
You. You and your goddam questions.
Fischer at Law #1
A Novel
A gripping courtroom drama that explores the struggle between morality vs. professional obligation, Devil’s Defense will appeal to fans of female-lead courtroom dramas like The Good Wife.
Jessica Fischer wants nothing more than to build her law practice in small-town Ashton, Georgia. She’s well on her way when the local town hero, football coach Frank “Tripp” Wishingham III, hires her to represent him in a paternity suit. Coach is everything Jessica despises—arrogant, sexist, entitled—but it’s her job to make him look good in public. This is made doubly difficult when her burgeoning relationship with a local reporter gets in the way of telling the truth.
Are things as black and white as Jessica thinks? And can she find a way to succeed without compromising her own personal values—or her personal life?
Small Town | Thriller Legal [She Writes Press, On Sale: November 12, 2024, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781647427368 / eISBN: 9781647427375]
Lori B. Duff is the two-time winner of the Georgia Bar Journal’s annual fiction competition and has won the Foreword Indies Gold Medal for humor. Lori is also an in-demand speaker and educator on a number of topics ranging from humor writing to the First Amendment to the business side of writing. Among other appearances, she has been on the faculty of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop and was a keynote speaker for the Principia College Public Affairs Conference in 2022.
She serves as the 2022-2024 President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and is a Past President of the Georia Council for Municipal Court Judges. She is also the author of your new favorite book. She’s married and has two adult children who will always be her babies. Her rescue dog, Lincoln, just might be the only creature she can consistently make happy. In her spare time, she practices law in Loganville, Georgia, and ghostwrites select projects.
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