Barbara’s stories may have plenty of action but the real story lies in the heart of her characters. How does man survive his fabulous, or monstrous, family? What drives a woman to go against her instinct to run? What pushes a man over the edge? Or brings him back in an entirely new place? What kind of secrets do we keep even from ourselves?
One background piece to her stories is Barbara’s former career in law. For example, Trap Play (the first Ben Leit story) begins because the killer needs to conceal an ongoing antitrust crime. Revenge Hit follows Ben’s effort to stop a serial killer without the public realizing their beloved game has a killing spree going on. Ben’s challenge in all the books is to build a new life as a former NFL player, to live out his father’s sense of honor and justice—even as he lives in the shadow of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.
But life is not all about sports and murder. Barbara is also working on The Truth of It—all about the lies we tell—which explores the impact of a white-collar crime on three generations of a family.
Work in Progress
Head Injury (Ben Leit Series Book III) – Wife-beater, drug addict, and former NFL lineman, Abe Williams is arrested for the murder of his ex-wife. Even Abe’s lawyer figures he’s guilty. Ben and Mimi might be the only two people on earth who aren’t so sure the guy did it.
The Truth of It – The perfect family, with a mansion in the Berkely hills, with a massive vacation home in Maui, with the luxury cars and luxury friends. Everyone loves them. And everything goes wrong. The Truth of it takes hold of a thread that starts with a white-collar crime and follows the unraveling of a family, all the way to the granddaughter who chooses to face the truth.
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