Who is Susan Wolfe?

My last post was a review of The Last Billable Hour by Susan Wolfe. After reading the book I was interested in reading more mysteries by Ms. Wolfe. It has proven impossible. My search across the internet found The Last Billable Hour was the only mystery written by her. 

Her name is common enough that searches pull up lots of Susan Wolfe's with several of them being authors. 

On goodreads.com there are The Last Billable Hour, Promised Hand, The Deer from Ponchatoula and From the Ground Up: Building Silicon Valley. Only The Last Billable Hour is a mystery. The Promised Hand is a “turn of the century” story about an arranged marriage. The Deer from Ponchatoula is a children’s story. From the Ground Up: Building Silicon Valley is essentially the story of the primary author and architect, Goodwin Steinberg. 

There are also numerous books by Susan J. Wolfe and then there is Australian author, Sue Wolfe. 

On Amazon the Susan Wolfe who wrote The Promised Hand is set out: 

Susan Wolfe, an award-winning author and community leader, is a graduate of Stanford University and the prestigious Wexner Heritage Foundation Seminar in Jewish studies. Her professional honors include the Kathryn D. Hansen Publication Award for 1994. The author of three previous works, Ms. Wolfe and her family live in Palo Alto, CA

On alibris.com Susan Wolfe is described as: 

Wolfe is an award winning author and community leader, and is a graduate of Stanford University and the prestigious Wexner Heritage Foundation program in Jewish studies.

The Susan Wolfe who is listed as writing From the Ground Up: Building Silicon Valley with Steinberg is reported to have been born in 1950.

Google has the Susan Wolfe who wrote The Last Billable Hour and The Promised Hand to also be born in 1950.

At the same time on Linkedin the Susan Wolfe who was a co-author on From the Ground Up: Building Silicon Valley it states:

Susan holds a degree in communication from Stanford University and was selected in the first cohort of the esteemed Wexner Heritage Foundation program in the Bay Area. After a career in newspaper and television reporting, Susan served as assistant director of the Stanford Centennial Celebration, responsible for marketing and communications. Her professional honors include an award for her television public service campaign for the Stanford Centennial and, for one of her books, the national Kathryn D. Hansen Publication Award. Among her other published books, From the Ground Up: Building Silicon Valley, co-authored with the late Goodwin Steinberg, FAIA, was published in 2002 by Stanford University Press.

No degree as a lawyer is mentioned.

Her work history states:

Susan Wolfe, an award-winning author and community leader, began her tenure as an Associate Director at the Hoover Institution in January of 2011. Previously, she served the Koret Foundation since 2003, most recently as Director of Grantmaking Programs and Communications.

In a short line of posts on a discussion on Amazon the participants say that Susan Wolfe worked in law and business, did not write a sequel, retired in 2007 and is working on another book.

The last post from Hermia this past summer states:

Susan is working on another novel. It's not a continuation of this series, but it is, so far, very enjoyable. Not quite ready for market yet.

I am not really sure if I have been describing the same Susan Wolfe or two different Susan Wolfes. Maybe a reader can help me. It is surprising to me that it is so difficult to be clear on the author who won the Edgar in 1990 for best new mystery novel.

I hope she does write another mystery shortly so that the mystery of the real Susan Wolfe can be solved.

This is Susan Wolfe

In 2014 I read an intriguing legal mystery, The Last Billable Hour, by Susan Wolfe. Written in 1989 it was set in Tweedmore & Slyde a law firm serving the tech industry of Silicon Valley. The all important “billable hour” is impressed upon new lawyer, Howard Rickover immediately on starting work. As he adjusts to the very demanding life of a new lawyer in a busy firm murder intrudes when partner, Leo Slyde, is killed at a firm party. The killer is someone at the party. In a briskly told story Ms. Wolfe admirably combined a vivid picture of law firm life with a mystery. At the end of my review I said “I would like to read more of Ms. Wolfe”.

In a follow up post titled Who is Susan Wolfe?I recounted my online efforts to find out more about Ms. Wolfe and whether she wrote any subsequent legal mysteries.

I found several Susan Wolfe’s, including a pair in California, who were writers but none appeared to be the writer of The Last Billable Hour. One California Susan, the author of The Promised Land, was a “graduate of Stanford University and the prestigious Wexner Heritage Foundation in Jewish studies”. Another California Susan was co-author of From the Ground Up: Building Silicon Valley. Neither California Susan appeared to the right California Susan Wolfe.

Further online research indicated that she had not published any more mysteries but was working on a new legal mystery in 2013.

Inviting readers of the blog to help in my search I received a comment over a year later from Leslie Ingam of the Portuguese Artists Colony that “the” Susan Wolfe I was seeking had completed another mystery, Escape Velocity, which Ms./Mr. Ingam had read in manuscript form and described as “a treat”. The comment said the book would be published in the spring of 2016. I did not see notice of the book being published that spring and did not think more about the book.

Earlier this week I read a post by TracyK in her fine blog, Bitter Tea & Mystery, on her May reading which included The Last Billable Hour. She enjoyed the book and expressed regret Ms. Wolfe had not continued with a series.

Her post prompted me to see if Escape Velocity was published and I found it had been released in October of 2016 and that the author now had a website at

http://authorsusanwolfe.com/escape-velocity-release/.

At last I was able to gain actual information on the author.

Her bio on the website sets out:

Susan Wolfe is a lawyer with a B.A. from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Stanford University. After four years of practicing law full time, she bailed out and wrote the best-selling The Last Billable Hour, which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. She returned to law for aother sixteen years, first as a criminal defense attorney and then as an in-house lawyer for Silicon Valley high-tech companies. Born and raised in San Bernardino, California, she now lives in Palo Alto, California, with her husband, Ralph DeVoe. Her new novel, Escape Velocity, will be published in October of 2016.

I am glad to be able to answer “Who is Susan Wolfe?” and thank TracyK for the inspiration that allowed me to complete my quest.

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Wolfe, Susan – (2014) - The Last Billable Hour and Who is Susan Wolfe"

Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe

(33. – 963.) Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe – I have been waiting for this book for years. Ever since I read The Last Billable Hour I have been hoping Ms. Wolfe would write another book about lawyers in Silicon Valley.

Georgia  Louise Griffin, a newly

accredited correspondence school paralegal from Arkansas, has driven to California to seek employment in the legal department of a tech firm. She does not want a life in the family con artist business. She understands the challenge facing her:

Her father probably knew as well as she did that it was nearly impossible to achieve escape velocity from the life you were born to, from a father you loved who was counting on you. Her father had just been biding his time, waiting patiently for her to grow up and quit stalling. He probably still was.

She does use some of the “special skills” to help her get a job at Lumina Software. It is a publicly traded Silicon Valley software company with a market cap of around $3 billion which has not been meeting expectations in the market.

I was immediately captured and hoping for the plucky Arkansan to succeed. Later in the book I realized she is far more than plucky.

Unfamiliar with business and legal acronyms Georgia uses clever word association to remember them. AP, instead of “Accounts Payable”, becomes “Always Pigheaded” because of the obstinancy of a woman in the department.

She is attracted to Ken Madigan, the 6’5” lean and handsome head of the legal department, but she is set on keeping their relationship professional.

Lumina’s CEO, the abrasive Roy Zisko, has cut costs and is pushing the employees to do more and more. The company had prided itself that it would only Ship When Ready its products . However, Zisko pushed the latest product to be shipped before ready and there were significant bugs which have cost sales and caused doubt in customers. An update is scheduled which also has bugs. Zisko will not hear of delay in release of the update until it is debugged. A confrontation is looming.

Georgia is almost immediately in senior meetings as a note taker. She is good at being unnoticed during the meetings.

At the same time she is very observant.

Not many books delve into the interplay between management and boards of directors of large public corporations. When business is not going well there is significant tension.

Zisko will not allocate resources for additional staff to meet deadlines but will spend several million dollars on changing the office design to open structure to show he has put his stamp upon the company.

She comes up with an idea for a lawsuit before the International Trade Commission (ITC). In her mind it becomes the Ingenious Tricky Countersuit.

Can Georgia help with the problem of inept to even incompetent supervisors and heads of department? Can the “special skills” of con artistry be adapted for use in Silicon Valley?

Wolfe is one of the few writers of legal mysteries to set out the multiple files worked on daily by corporate and private lawyers. In most legal mysteries the busy lawyers somehow focus all of their attention on a single file. In Escape Velocity the legal department is facing new issues throughout the book. They have to prioritize the different files coming at them. There is little time to savour success or despair over failure as another file or files await. I find the juggling that must be done more realistic and more interesting than the traditional single file mysteries.

I enjoyed The Last Billiable Hour. I loved Escape Velocity and will have another post on Georgia and Ken. They could easily be the lead characters for a series. I regret there were 27 years between Wolfe’s books.

****

Wolfe, Susan – (2014) - The Last Billable Hour; (2014) Who is Susan Wolfe?; (2017) - This is Susan Wolfe

E-Mail Exchange with Susan Wolfe

Since reading Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe I have exchanged emails with Susan. I appreciate her response. As a practising lawyer I can appreciate the "time" challenges she writes about in her reply. Our exchange follows.

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Susan

I have been practicing law in Saskatchewan since 1975 and write a book review blog called Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan.

I just read Escape Velocity and greatly enjoyed the book. I would have read it sooner but did not see it in Canadian bookstores. Earlier this year I requested the Sleuth of Baker Street bookstore in Toronto to get me a copy. I believe they got it through your American distributor.

I had previously read and appreciated The Last Billable Hour and hoped you would write more legal mysteries.

I was curious to try to find out why you had not written more books after The Last Billable Hour and went on an online search to find out more about you. My quest proved more difficult than I expected. I did end up writing a pair of posts on my search.

Here are links to my posts concerning your books and yourself:

Wolfe, Susan – (2014) - The Last Billable Hour; (2014) Who is Susan Wolfe?; (2017) - This is Susan Wolfe; (2018) - Escape Velocity and Georgia Griffin and Ken Madigan in Escape Velocity

I would be interested in knowing if you were trying to keep a low profile when I was searching or whether my internet sleuthing skills are simply deficient.

In reading the bio on your website it refers to you bailing on the practice of law and then returning to practice. Could you advise what took you into being a lawyer?

I have found a couple of interviews you have done online since Escape Velocity was published.

In a blog talk radio interview you advised the length of time between your books was a reflection of family financial need sending you back to work as a lawyer and the challenge of balancing “baby, book, law”. I am familiar with that challenge. During most of my legal career I have written a sports column. Writing time was easier to manage for me as it was a weekly column. Late most Sunday evenings while my sons were growing up I would write my column. To have tried to write more would have been impossible.

I expect most writers of legal fiction would have made Georgia a lawyer. I thought you could have written Georgia as a young lawyer instead of a paralegal. Why did you choose to have her a paralegal?

From what I read in one interview the book you are working on at this time is not a legal mystery. I do hope you will consider writing another book featuring Georgia and Ken. I thought they were an amazing legal team.

If you are able to respond and willing I would post this letter and your reply.

All the best.

Bill Selnes

**** 

Hello Bill,

Thank you for your interest in my second novel, Escape Velocity, and my writing career so far. I will try to answer your recent questions.

After I published The Last Billable Hour in 1989, I found it necessary to return to being a lawyer full-time. We had a second daughter that year, and we needed two incomes to support our family in Silicon Valley, which was fairly expensive even then. I very much wanted to write a second novel as well, and for many years my dilemma (trilemma?) was “Baby, book, law. Baby, book, law.” At one point I decided to go to Starbucks two mornings a week from 5:30 to 7am in order to write, and my 8-year-old daughter came with me to give me support. She would quietly sit and do homework so that I could concentrate. Unfortunately, I became a little frantic after a couple of months, because those writing sessions squeezed the last seconds of free time out my schedule. So I gave up and went back to just “Baby, law.” I do, however, remember those writing sessions with my daughter very fondly.

So I worked full-time and enjoyed my work and then, when our finances permitted, I stopped practicing law entirely and wrote Escape Velocity.

You asked whether I was trying to keep a low profile between my two books. My first answer was no, I was just busy. But may on some level I did want to keep a low profile. It was painful for me not to be writing, and maybe I just didn’t want anyone to remind me what I was missing.

You asked why I became a lawyer. I felt I was a serious person who needed a career, and law was a good choice for me because it involved writing, focused analysis, and justice. I am glad I chose it. I’ve been very happy with my legal career.

You also asked why I made Georgia a paralegal instead of a lawyer. That was strictly dictated by my plot. I needed to have a main character whom other people would underestimate, even forget about, because that allowed her to be a fly on the wall for many very senior meetings she would otherwise not have access to. The executives treated her as invisible. I don’t believe they would have treated even the most junior lawyer in such a dismissive manner. Note, however, that the real hero of the book is Georgia’s boss, Ken Madigan. He is based on a boss I had when I first went in-house, and I dedicated the book to him.

I hope these answers are helpful to you and your blog readers. Please let me know if I can be of further help. It’s always a pleasure to talk about my books.

Best regards,

Susan

Georgia Griffin and Ken Madigan in Escape Velocity

In my last post I reviewed Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe. It is an excellent book. In that book  I loved Georgia Griffin. She was the best character I have read in legal mystery fiction since Sebastian Rudd in Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham.

Her determination is humbling. She is living in her car when she arrives in California. Until she receives her first pay cheque Georgia is stretching every dollar:

She’d found a second outfit at Goodwill, and another shirt for her pantsuit, so she would never have to wear anything more than twice a week. Hard to keep her clothes decent with her car for a closet, … Did they have an iron at the homeless center? Lousy having no refridgerator, but she was pretty sure they had one here (work) in the kitchen she could use, and four nights a week they served a hot dinner at church on First Street if she could get there on time.

Even when she starts being paid she plans to stay living in car until she has enough money to bring her teenage sister, Katie-Ann, from Arkansas to California and rent an apartment for the two of them.

The enthusiasm Georgia and Katie-Ann have for a simple apartment in a shabby building is powerful. They are grateful for the chance at a new life.

Almost as striking and certainly as impressive is the head of the legal department, Ken Madigan. He is the type of lawyer real life lawyers aspire to be in their lives. Ken does his work with integrity and determination. He treats his staff well and inspires confidence.

At the same time Ken and his wife are friendly to Georgia and want her to do well. Finding out she desperately needs a few hundred dollars for Katie-Ann’s bus fare they loan her the money. It is a pleasant fictional surprise that people can simply help someone in need with no ulterior motive.

Ken is strong willed but not aggressive and certainly not as ruthless as Georgia.

Georgia’s background has left her a driven personality. She is not driven to seek promotions. She is striving to be indispensable to ensure she can keep her position as a paralegal. The security of a job is more important than advancement in the company. She does not want to keep living in her car.

Equally wanting to keep the company successful so they need paralegals she decides to use family skills for the betterment of Lumina Software.

She is a master manipulator having been thoroughly trained in conning people. Her father is a skilled con artist though not skilled enough to avoid being in jail.

Georgia puts in a word with the possessive wife of the supervisor of the Always Pigheaded (Accounts Payable) obstructionist lady. She somewhat subtly suggests the AP lady is interested in her supervisor. Within days AP lady is gone from the company.

At the same time Georgia is risking dismissal if her manipulations should be detected.

She is not a saint. Some of her schemes have more serious consequences than losing a job. Georgia has a limited moral compass. There is more than a touch of the vigilante in her personality.

What a concept for a legal team – a clever woman and a principled man – working together to solve challenging legal issues while maintaining a genuine personal friendship. I would look forward to reading more books featuring Georgia and Ken.

****

Wolfe, Susan – (2014) - The Last Billable Hour; (2014) Who is Susan Wolfe?; (2017) - This is Susan Wolfe; (2018) - Escape Velocity 

The Last Billable Hour by Susan Wolfe

The Last Billable Hour by Susan Wolfe (1989) – Howard Rickover, just graduated from law school, gains an unexpected job with Tweedmore & Slyde (T & S), the hottest firm serving Silicon Valley. Through skill and determination they are swiftly gaining clients though their office is in San Mateo rather than the Valley. Most of their clients are SVM’s (Silicon Valley Millionaires) who have made fortunes in the computer industry. Howard simply longs to be SMS (Silicon Valley Solvent). 

Howard is known in the firm as How, Big How or Howie. Shortly after being hired he is caught up in the maelstrom that is life for a neophyte lawyer in a busy law firm. Everything is new. The demands of partners are unreasonable. How to address the expectations of clients is intimidating. He is left scrambling long into nights and weekends to try to keep up. Howard is exhausted. 

While unrealistic in real life for him to be given such responsibility Howard has been designated to be a leading member of the firm’s new estate planning department. As the firm works to achieve its lofty goal of being a leading full service American law firm it needs to expand from handling the corporate and litigation needs of the Valley to include the estate needs of its suddenly wealthy clients. 

It is immediately and continually stressed to Howard that the golden thread through all the departments is the “billable hour”. In increments of 6 minutes he is expected to bill through the day and into, if not through, the night. Non-billable hours are a sin. While he is not given a billing target the partners make clear his future with the firm will be brief if his total billable hours are modest. 

At an office party Wolfe recounts one of the lawyers gaining laughs by saying partner, Leo Slyde, is met at the Pearly Gates by God as God wanted to meet the oldest man to reach heaven. When Leo protests that he is but 32 God demurs saying his total billable hours mean he is at least 195. 

Leo calls on Howard to change Leo’s personal will. Howard is startled that a young woman lawyer in the firm, Constance “Connie” Valentine, is named as a beneficiary but not Leo’s wife. 

Howard is a touch naïve for a real life law school graduate. He appears to be surprised by the demands upon him. Everyone going to work for a large firm knows the work will be relentless and the hours punishing.  

While Howard parses such matters as “generation skipping trusts” his personal life dwindles into insignificance. 

Everything changes at a party to send off on his honeymoon one of the firm’s lawyers. The lawyers and staff gather in the firm lobby to drink and nibble and gossip. As traditional for lawyers much of the conversation is about how busy they all are at the office. 

The party comes to an abrupt halt when Leo is found stabbed to death in his office. With the elevators locked off it is clear the killer is someone who is at the party.

Detective Sarah Nelson leads the police investigation. Taciturn by nature she is a thorough investigator taping witness interviews. 

She becomes interested in Howard. After listening to a series of lawyers and staff say everyone loved Leo she is intrigued when she asks Howard if he loved Leo and Howard replies: 

“Of course not, I thought he was a flaming asshole like everybody else did. I mean, a successful asshole, I don’t mean to be disrespectful ….” 

Sarah draws Howard into helping her by becoming her informant on the office. Howard has already figured out he is likely to be fired or quit in the near future. He has no loyalty to the firm.

As they move forward a personal relationship builds between Howard and Sarah but credibly rather than the instant leap into intimacy of many modern mysteries. 

It is a lively look at life in a major law firm. Little has changed in the 25 years since Wolfe wrote the book. If anything the pressures and work required of young lawyers has increased. 

Wolfe does well in integrating the mystery into the life of the law firm. The motives for murder are plausible and based on actual law firm issues.

 

Written at a time when authors did not need at least 300 pages to tell a mystery it is a briskly told story that is complete in 182 pages.

I would like to read more of Ms. Wolfe. My next post will discuss that challenge.

Thinking About Legal Assistants

While reading An Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin I was struck by the character Elin Crane. In the book “average” lawyer Charlie Webb is defending the eccentric Lawrence Weiss who calls himself Guido Sabatani. Weiss is certain that he is the re-incarnation of a Renaissance painter.

Webb is feeling overwhelmed when Sabatani refuses to have anyone except Webb defend him on charges of murdering the restauranteur, Gretchen Hall, from whom he took back a painting he sold her because she did not display it publicly, and Yuri Makarov, the bodyguard of movie producer, Leon Golden.

Webb’s modest legal practice has not needed an assistant. He rents space in a suite of offices where there is a slot outside each office door for a lawyer’s card reflecting the constant turnover of lawyers in the building.

Now he is dealing with a case with a huge amount of information.

Webb is grateful when an attractive young woman, Crane, volunteers to help him.

It turns out Crane has personal reasons and motivations for becoming Webb’s assistant. She is far from the woman he thought she was when she joined him.

Webb does not do a background check upon her. He is happy to have an unpaid assistant.

Crane’s deceit prompted me to think about hiring assistants in the real world. At our law office in Melfort when hiring we rely on resumes, interviews and calls to past employers. We explain the need for confidentiality to prospective assistants.

Legal assistants, especially in small offices, must have access to confidential information to do their jobs. They are trusted to be responsible and not disclose office information.

Our experience has been that our assistants have been reliable and discreet.

In Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe, a legal mystery set in Silicon Valley, the lead character is Georgia Griffin, a paralegal in the firm. When I asked Wolfe in an email exchange why Griffin was a paralegal rather than a lawyer she advised:

That was strictly dictated by my plot. I needed to have a main character whom other people would underestimate, even forget about, because that allowed her to be a fly on the wall for many very senior meetings she would otherwise not have access to. The executives treated her as invisible. I don’t believe they would have treated even the most junior lawyer in such a dismissive manner.

We work hard in our office not to treat staff as “invisble” but recognize they are usually in the background.

I would say virtually every law office is vulnerable should an assistant be unscrupulous.

The vulnerability of law offices was further illustrated in Proof by Jon Cowan. Grace Jamieson, a paralegal at the Los Angeles law firm of Thompson West, leaves the firm to join fired senior partner, Jake West, in his quest to solve murders that are connected to Thompson West. Her inside knowledge of the firm is used in ways that are definitely unethical and, probably legally wrong.

In An Insignificant Case, Webb is blind sided when Crane reveals she has been using her position for her own purposes.

Using office information for personal reasons would destroy an assistant’s career but to the dishonest that would be of no concern.

I will continue to be confident that our office can rely on the integrity of our assistants while recognizing as a blogger and a reader there are abundant fictional opportunities for authors to create unreliable assistants. 

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Margolin, Phillip - (2025) - An Insignificant Case 

Sleuth of Baker Street is Closing

Dear Marian and J.D.

Thank you (the collective you) for almost 40 years of book memories. Sleuth of Baker Street “is”, too soon to be “was”, my favourite bookstore in the world.

I started coming to Sleuth shortly after you became the owners. I always enjoyed buying books from the two of you.

I thought it fitting your store was in Leaside because Saskatchewan’s most famous author had lived in the neighbourhood in the late 1940’s. W.O. Mitchell, while he was fiction editor of Maclean’s, resided in one of the fine brick homes amidst the grand trees.

Happy expectations would start on the journey to the store. I am not going to claim I thought a lot about the store on the flights from Saskatchewan to Toronto but I would be scheduling time to visit the store. Once in Toronto there would be time to anticipate the visit whether riding the subway up Yonge to Davisville and the bus over to Bayview or driving in from Mississauga if I was at the home of an aunt.

The second store on Bayview was magical to me with the fine bookcases, the hidden door, the inviting fireplace, the Sherlockian memorabilia, the cats and thousands of mysteries.

You were the first mystery bookstore I visited. The wonder of walking into a store full of mysteries reminded me of my first experience of a library. I was 7 years old attending a one room school, Galabank, a couple of miles from our farm in Saskatchewan. My two Grade 2 classmates and I had exhausted the small book collection in the school by November. Later that winter, 62 years ago, our teacher, Mr. Streeton, took a group of us in the back of his grain truck to the village of Ethelton where a regional library had opened. It was the first time I had ever seen a room filled with books. I was in awe. I was overjoyed when I found I could take home 6 books every two weeks. 

My sons equally loved the store. My older son, Jonathan, has never forgotten the winter day when he was so absorbed in a book while sitting before the fireplaee that he did not notice his running shoes had started smoking.

You were great booksellers. When I walked into the store I knew I would get a friendly greeting.

I would browse the store. I focused on the new books as you had the best selection of new crime fiction.

Invariably I would have some questions about one or more of the books. I would wait until one or both of you were free and get your thoughts. I knew I would receive candid opinions.

I thought your expression of pride J.D., recounted several times in Merchant of Menace, of putting good books in the hands of customers was perfect.

Our family enjoyed your section of Bayview. Sharon loved the antique shops. The restaurants were fun. The boys were delighted at McSorley’s Saloon that they could toss peanut shells on the floor.

I visited most often during the 1990’s when I was often in Toronto on blood litigation and the Kreever Inquiry. Visits were less frequent in the 2000’s once our sons were at the University of Calgary and then became residents of the city.

I always enjoyed the store though the atmosphere was not the same when you moved to Millwood. I understood the commercial reasons for the move.

More recently I bought more books through email than in person. I appreciated the prompt service and your efforts to get books not easily available. I specifically remember your efforts to get a copy of Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe when it did not have a Canadian distributor.

In the current location I felt I had more conversations with Marian. It seemed J.D. was often absorbed in golf. 

It was always a struggle for me to restrain myself in the store. Usually I woud get 5-6 books. If there were no weight restrictions on luggage for flights I would have bought more.

I have put up 6 posts on my blog about the store and a post on Marian winning the Derrick Murdoch Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. This letter will be my 8th post featuring Sleuth.

I never figured out whether I preferred recommendations more from J.D. or from Marian.

There was never any doubt you loved books. 

I continue to value the excitement of holding a new book and opening it to read the first page. The feel of a book is an important part of my reading experience.

I am sad the store is closing. I am not much for change. I would have been glad to keep buying books from you long into the future.

I am happy you are looking forward to retirement. I expect more golf courses and more cottage life await you.

Best wishes for the future.

Bill

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Sleuth of Baker Street and Update on Sleuth and 2012 Trip to Sleuth and Sleuth of Baker Street in Mid-winter of 2015 and Authors at Sleuth and A Quintet from Sleuth and Marian Misters Bookseller and Award Winner in Toronto, Ontario whose website is http://www.sleuthofbakerstreet.ca/

Bill's 2018 Best of Non-Fiction and Most Interesting

My last post set out my favourite fiction of the year. This post will list non-fiction and most interesting, books that were neither the best in fiction or non-fiction but I found very interesting.

In Non-Fiction Bill’s Best of 2018 are:

1.) Sleuth – Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries– Gail has written a 144 page master class on the art of writing mysteries. I loved her use of examples from her own writing.

She explains why she uses first person narrative:

I like getting inside a character’s head, and I like imagining what life must look like through her or his eyes. It’s a personal call, and I seem to slip into it easily, but it might not be for you.

She encourages writers to make notes of “encounters with people who fire your imagination”.

Whether for reader or aspiring writer it is an excellent book.

2.) Decisionsby Jim Treliving – A co-founder of the immensely successful Boston Pizza restaurant chain Treliving writes about making personal and business decisions. He also provides recommendations on business.

He encourages readers to:

            Trust People with More Confidence in You Than You Have in Yourself

Treliving emphasizes the importance of enthusiasm in life creating stamina and momentum.

In the book he discusses missteps in the development of Boston Pizza. 

He is blunt and invariably direct.

I have kept the book as a reference on making decisions.

3.) Dear Pope Francis– Children around the world were invited to ask a question of Pope Francis. 259 responded with drawings and questions with 30 chosen for this book.

Children ask direct questions and appreciate equally direct answers. Pope Francis is not a conventional Pope. He has reached out to the members of the Catholic church and people in the world who are not Catholic.

There is humour, profoundness and poignancy in the book.

Among the most moving questions was Luca’s question on whether his Mom in heaven would grow angel wings. The Pope’s answer can be found at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhIyA-7J8qw

For Most Interesting my choices are:

1.) Full Disclosureby Beverley McLachlin – It is a good legal mystery involving a young female defence lawyer, Jilly Truitt, in Vancouver defending, Vincent Trussardi, a wealthy businessman against a murder charge.

The title reflects the requirement in Canadian criminal law that the Crown prosecutor is required to disclose to the defence the evidence assembled against the accused.

More subtly in the book there are examples of people, including the accused, failing to provide “full disclosure” of what they know to the lawyers.

What made it Most Interesting for me was the author was the Chief Justice of Canada until the beginning of 2018. Within a few months of retirement she is a successful author.

2.) The Vicar of Christby Walter Murphy -This sprawling saga of an amazing fictional life was written over 40 years ago.

Declan Walsh is a war hero, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court and Pope. Murphy makes it all credible.

It reached the list because Declan Walsh becomes a Pope much like the current Pope Francis including the adoption of the name of Francis when he is chosen Pope.

It is a reminder of how many issues involving the Church remain issues from generation to generation.

And then there are the claims of miracle cures attributed to the touch of Francis.

3.) Escape Velocity by Susan Wolfe – It was a legal mystery that did not  need the murder solved in the book. I was intrigued by the legal issues involved in a billion dollar Silicon Valley software company.

The corporation is being driven by a CEO who frustrates long term employees through a short term emphasis on maximum profits while not maintaining a hard earned tradition of quality products.

It was Most Interesting for me in that the author made the main character a paralegal, Georgia Griffin, instead of a lawyer. She explained to me in an email that Georgia was a paralegal so she could legitimately attend major meetings with the participants being unguarded in their comments because she was a paralegal not a lawyer.

As well Georgia has “special skills” for dealing with people from her the con artists of her family.

All the best to readers in 2019.