Months of research pays off for gran as book proves a hit
Debut novel set in legal world reaches top 10
A grandmother’s painstaking research into the legal world has seen her debut novel charting inside the top 10.
Former government advisor Clare Baldock from Linton Road, Loose, wrote high octane Out of Court after spending months looking at the legal system.
The 69-year-old, who was also a business manager at Cornwallis school for more than a decade, based the book on an earlier short story she had written.
It tells the story of barrister Olivia Bailey who is forced into a clandestine out of court alliance with her adversary, the highly suc- cessful Michael Gordon-Jones QC, after a major fraud trial is abandoned.
As the bizarre case progresses an unlikely suspect is identified and Olivia struggles to resist the growing temptation of Michael.
Mrs Baldock said: “Out of Court is a tale of murder, suspense and emotional entanglement.
“I wrote a short story called A Lawful Weekend and a dear friend, who is also a writer, said I should make it the start of a novel. That was more years and rewrites ago than I care to remem remember. A lot of legal and police procedural research was required to turn the short story into a convincing novel, but it was worth it.”
The mother- of- three, who has seven grandchildren, lives with her husband Neil and has only just allowed her family to read her finished novel, despite it receiving a five-star reader review on its release and reaching number nine in Amazon’s crime chart. She said: “I paid for a professional edit for Out of Court and I followed most of the advice and did a major rewrite.
“Other than my close writer friend Lyz who helps with the editing and proof reading, I didn’t show Out of Court to anyone else before it was published.”
For more information, go to Amazon and search for Clare Baldock, where the Kindle and paperback versions of Out of Court are available.