Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed a Phoenix author who was a trial lawyer and judge to the bookstore. Joel Erik Thompson talked about his background, and his first date which was an author’s program at the bookstore. Signed copies of Thompson’s legal thriller, The Bentley Barrister, is available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4hPvF3k.
Here’s the description of The Bentley Barrister.
Collum Arbuthnot Taylor was a hell of a quarterback even as a kid, but he was always simply CAT to the public, since sportswriters avoid long names, and initials are easier to remember and spell.
He grew up in an orphanage and always pushed himself to be the best, especially playing football. A full-scholarship quarterback at Notre Dame, he was a multiyear All-American. After graduating, he earned both a Heisman Trophy as the nation’s best college football player and a Rhodes scholarship because he’d worked just as hard in his classes as in the stadiums.
He also became the NFL’s first draft pick. But rather than signing to play, he instead went to study law at Oxford on his Rhodes scholarship for a year before signing a pro contract for next season. That signing bonus also bought his first ever car. A Bentley, of course, and directly from the factory in Crewe where they made them, naturally! “Nothing but the best for the best,” according to the media!
As a pro quarterback, he became a Super Bowl MVP a couple of times. Off seasons, he finished law school and was even admitted to practice law. His pro football career ended suddenly and tragically in a deadly car crash that killed his beloved baby girl and his unborn son. It also devastatingly injured his beloved wife who was called Kitten by everyone but CAT. She remains in a traumatic injury care facility known as Sanctuary of the Morning Sun. CAT visits her there every Sunday without fail. But it is unlikely she will ever be able to leave the facility and equally unlikely that CAT would fail to visit her every Sunday. CAT is now focused on courtroom lawyering and caring for his massively injured and now long institutionalized wife, Kitten.
Collum, as we catch up to him, is in the midst of an ugly high-profile murder trial, with ugly racial overtones, and before a belligerent judge he’s fought with since childhood. We’re privy to CAT’s planning and strategy with his staff and in jail visits with his defendant/client. During a critical stage of this trial, CAT answers a late-night phone call. It’s from his best friend and former teammate Racer Roosevelt who has just been arrested a thousand miles away and charged with raping the local TV news anchor.
Can CAT be in two places at once? Never know what you can accomplish until you give it your best shot!
Enjoy the conversation with Joel Erik Thompson.