Several years ago I was at the Red Rooster in Cullman at a scrapbooking retreat with several of my girlfriends. We were all having a lazy good time making scrapbooks, eating, laughing, talking, reading and working on any other creative projects we might have brought with us. My friend, Deborah, whose aunt and uncle owned the Red Rooster, was engrossed in a book, The Professor by Robert Bailey, so I asked her about it. She told me it was written by one of the attorneys in the law firm, Lanier Ford, where she works. I remember asking her if it was good and she told me it was very good. At the time, I thought she was probably just being nice because she worked with the guy, but I was intrigued enough to add it to my ever growing, “to be read” list, if for no other reason than Deborah knew him. So imagine my surprise when I finally began reading The Professor and found myself hooked from the very first page. A lot of the book was set in Tuscaloosa and was clearly written from an Alabama football fan’s point of view. I am not an Alabama fan. Our family is dug so deep into the Auburn Plains we bleed orange and blue. But, the point is, none of that mattered. The story was so good, the characters so interesting and real, and the setting so familiar, I could not put the thing down. My friend Dede has accused me of liking books set in places with which I’m familiar. She’s right. My bookstagram is called My Book Trips, after all. I love visiting the places where books I’ve read are set. But Dede was only partly right. The setting is no good if the story isn’t well written, the plot falls flat and, most importantly of all, if I can’t make myself care about the characters. I am truly a character-driven reader. I loved Hannibal Lecter, for goodness sake! Not because he was a good guy, he was horrible. But he was interesting! The Professor ticked off all the boxes from page one and before I knew it, I was onto the next book and a bonafide Robert Bailey fan. Bailey has mastered the legal thriller and, maybe I’m prejudiced, but I think Alabama’s legal thriller master gives the one from Mississippi a run for his money.
Last year, when the newest Robert Bailey book was released, I was excited to hear it was set in my neck of the woods, primarily Guntersville and Scottsboro. Rich Blood was centered around a recovering alcoholic billboard attorney, Jason Rich (1-800-GET-RICH), called home to Guntersville to defend his estranged sister who’s been accused of murdering her husband. I was all prepared to not like Jason Rich, thinking this time maybe Bailey’s character would fall flat for me. Boy, was I wrong! I love Jason Rich. He’s flawed, he’s even broken at times, but he’s growing, he’s real and, most importantly, he’s interesting!
This year’s sequel to Rich Blood is Rich Waters and, once again, Jason Rich finds himself defending a client in a case that seems to be cut and dried. And he’s back in Guntersville, Scottsboro, Birmingham, Cullman, the Gulf Coast, Huntsville and even my hometown of Arab! I kind of geeked out over that. Plus, Bailey puts the cherry on top by bringing back one of my favorite characters from one of his earlier books, the imposing attorney from Pulaski, Tennessee, Bocephus Haynes.
If you haven’t discovered the books by Alabama’s own, Robert Bailey, what are you waiting for? Grab one and start your own book trip today. I can’t wait to see where my next Robert Bailey book takes me!
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