Saturday, January 12, 2008 12:23 PM
Blawg Book Highlighter #18: The Good Liar
A month ago, I put the Highlighter on David Ellis' latest legal thriller, Eye of the Beholder. I mentioned that I met Ellis at the Love is Murder mystery writing convention in Rosemont, Illinois, back in February 2006. We were both panelists with other lawyers-turned-authors dishing out free legal advice.
As I'd mentioned in that previous Highlighter, one of the other panelists was Laura Caldwell, who, at the time, was writing chick lit, which is why I didn't seek out her books. My snubbing of her books wasn't meant to denigrate her writing in any way. She was quite accomplished. Her first book, Burning the Map, was selected by Barnes & Noble.com as one of "The Best of 2002." Following that, A Clean Slate received a starred review from Booklist, The Year of Living Famously was praised as "stylish" and "sassy" by New York Times bestselling author Carole Matthews and The Night I Got Lucky prompted Booklist to declare, "Caldwell is one of the most talented and inventive chick-lit writers around. As a carrier of the Y chromosome, however, I just didn't feel right reading a brand of literature labeled chick lit.
Slowly, but surely, however, Caldwell, is, in a sense, rewriting her own career as an author. She began publishing mysteries and suspense novels in 2005. Mystery Scene labeled her debut mystery, Look Closely, "an excellent suspenser that kept me turning all night. The Chicago Sun-Times called The Rome Affair "Caldwell's most exciting book yet….a summer must-read." The Rome Affair, which centers around a Chicago society couple riding a roller coaster of infidelity, blackmail and murder, pulled Caldwell into a real-life, highly-profiled murder trial involving a 19-year-old suspect forced into a confession and wrongfully jailed for a crime he did not commit. Caldwell became one of the attorneys who represented the suspect pro bone, resulting in a not-guilty verdict.
With her latest, The Good Liar, Caldwell ventures into international thriller category. The book centers around a Chicago woman who finds that her new husband isn't who he seems, and is terrified when she starts to figure out that the best friend who set them up isn't who she seems either. This sets the stage for globe-trotting suspense, filled with intrigue, espionage and romance.
The Chicago Sun-Times called Caldwell's latest "a good read, with interesting characters and short, fast-paced chapters that keep the action moving." Publishers Weekly praised The Good Liar as "a taut, enjoyable thriller" that "hits the ground running, crafting a married-to-the-mob scenario that's believable and chilling, then taking the show around the world." Though PW nitpicks that a "ham-handed villain occasionally bogs down the action," it ultimately finds that the "plot moves smoothly, juggling a number of perspectives without losing steam." And Booklist declares that The Good Liar "will both please Caldwell's fans and attract new readers."
Caldwell isn't finished reinventing herself as an author. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that she is currently working on a series of books centered around a sassy, red-headed, Chicago lawyer, whose description also fits Caldwell.
In addition to writing books, Caldwell is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at her alma mater, Loyola University Chicago, where she teaches Advanced Writing for Litigation.
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Randy Richardson is an author, humorist, former journalist, and a lawyer. His fiction debut, Lost in the Ivy, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Chicago's storied Wrigley Field, won the Writers Marketing Association's “Fresh Voices” Book Award and the Illinois Woman's Press Association's Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest. He writes the Dad Libs column for SanityCentral.com and is a frequent contributor to Chicago Parent magazine. In his day job, he is an attorney for the Social Security Administration’s disability appeals branch. At night and during lunch breaks, he serves as president of the Chicago Writers Association (chicagowrites.org) and works on his second novel while a 4-year-old tugs on his legs. Visit his website at www.lostintheivy.com.
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