Hello everyone, I have very exciting news!

My new book, Grievous Deeds: The True Story of Four Years of Fury in Chattanooga Tennessee, is available for pre-sale today! Make sure you use the promo code in this post to get 15% off.

Those of you who read this site regularly know how excited I am about this book! I hope it sells well but, whether it does or not, it is the best thing I’ve written and I’m proud of it.

I’ll be telling you more about the book soon but today I want to celebrate and recognize the many people who contributed to Grievous Deeds. If I mentioned everyone who helped, this post would be at least 14 pages long, so I will just quickly mention a few of the people who brought something unique that helped to shape the book.

I’m not an attorney or a doctor, so I relied on three experts to explain a number of things to me. Dana Fite, public defense attorney, provided invaluable legal insight about the law and courtroom procedures. Dana is very good at explaining the purpose of different hearings and also the perspective of the attorneys.

I was honored to have the opportunity to interview Judge Curtis Collier, Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, who has studied the Johnson case extensively and shared his knowledge with me. Judge Collier helped me to make sense of some aspects of Ed Johnson’s trial that I didn’t understand, and his insight really helped to improve the book.

This is the first book I’ve written that featured someone who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. I had a lot of questions and there is only so much I can glean from reading articles about it. A huge thank you to Dr. Richard J. Levy who explained different aspects of mental health and behaviors, as well as what modern experts might consider when looking at his case.

Thanks to Dana, Judge Collier, and Dr. Levy, I understood the nuances well enough to write about what was happening and why it mattered in a straightforward way.

Every state has its own archiving procedures and methods of historical preservation. I don’t live in Tennessee so finding local experts is very important.  Lindsay Hager, archivist from Tennessee State Library & Archives, was so helpful to me in obtaining the court transcripts (none of which were digitized) that formed the basis of the book. I also worked with local historians like Don Ferguson and Gay Morgan Moore to understand specific points about Chattanooga at the turn of the century. The book contains a lot of wonderful photos and many of them are courtesy of Sam Hall. I highly recommend Sam’s website ChattanoogaHistory.com.

Regarding the writing itself, I really value my brilliant editor, MEB. I need someone who will provide tough, straightforward feedback, which she always does, along with insights and great questions. My publisher, Reagan Rothe, the owner and creator of Black Rose Writing is an unfailingly outstanding partner. And finally, I owe my beta readers more than I can say for sharing their feedback and unique perspectives on the book. Margaret Tilley, Kristin Sherry, Furman Walker, Wes Hamilton, Beverly Pittenger, Harpreet Singh, Mary Ginter, Charlene Nuval, and Pastor Todd Benson, what would I do without them? They invested many hours in reading the book and sharing their feedback, all of which helped transform the story into something more wonderful.

Visit Black Rose Writing’s website to reserve your copy of Grievous Deeds. If you purchase your copy on or before the release date of March 30, 2023, please use the promo code PREORDER2023 for a 15% discount!

It seems to take forever from the time you write a book to the time it is actually published. It’s so exciting to see it all come together! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts when you read the story.