True story inspired plot for author’s 25th novel
Q&A
In his new legal thriller, James Grippando spins the story of a woman who was sexually assaulted in college.
Years later — now married and the mother of a 5-yearold daughter — the woman suddenly is arrested for the murder of the man who raped her.
“Most Dangerous Place” — so-titled because FBI statistics show that the most dangerous place for a woman younger than 30 is in a relationship with a man — is Grippando’s 25th novel and his 13th starring Miami criminal-defense lawyer Jack Swyteck.
Grippando, 59, who lives in Coral Gables, Florida, was a trial lawyer for 12 years before publishing his first novel, “The Pardon,” in 1994. Nowadays, he divides his time between writing legal thrillers and working as a consultant for the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner.
He and his wife, Tiffany, have three children. Their youngest, age 12, was the inspiration for the brilliant Ainsley Grace in the novella “The Penny Jumper” (2016).
Grippando spoke recently with The Dispatch before his appearance Wednesday as part of the Thurber House “Evenings With Authors” series.
How did you arrive at the concept for “Most Dangerous Place?”
There was a scare in our family. Our daughter, who was 18 at the time, was living in Seattle and working with the (Northwest Pacific) Ballet. One day she was walking home from a ballet class, and someone stopped and tried to lure her into his
car. She turned and ran, freaked out and called home. Nothing happened, but we were 2,000 miles away and really upset, of course. I called the Seattle police and asked whether they could send someone to talk to her and they said they couldn’t — only if she had been assaulted and if she’d reported it.
That struck my interest in how unreported sexual assault is. I launched into research and that’s when I came across the true story of a woman who was sexually assaulted in college in the 1990s. ... She moved to Switzerland, moved on with her life, got married, had a daughter and moved back to Boston, where she was charged with the first degree murder of the young man who had raped her in college.
From a lot of levels, that made a very compelling novel.
What happened to the real-life woman?
She was sentenced to four years. I don’t know how much time she actually spent.
Not to give anything away, but what happens to your character is a bit different, isn’t it?
Yes, I was hoping to keep readers guessing about her.
You must enjoy keeping company with Jack Swyteck.
Well, when I wrote “The Pardon,” I never intended him to be a series character. It was just a great father-son story — the criminal defense lawyer and his father, (the fictional Florida governor) who signs death warrants. Then, in the 1990s, when email was just catching on, I started getting a flood of emails wondering what happened to Jack. Did he get married? Was he still doing death-penalty work? My editor said, “Why don’t we let them know?” So, “Beyond Suspicion” (2002) became book two in the series.
What’s your next Jack Swyteck book and when does it come out?
It’s already finished, with the working title, “A Death in Live Oak,” and will probably come out about this time next year.
How does it work dividing your time between writing and working as a legal consultant?
I’m really at a stage in my writing career where I don’t write 200 pages and they land in the garbage can. That used to happen. Having the law practice keeps me from going down rabbit holes as I write. Now when I sit down to write it’s because I feel the inspiration of a story, not the pressure of a deadline.
I represented victims of (convicted Ponzi scheme criminal) Bernie Madoff at the law firm and wrote “Need You Now,” which has a Madoff-type of character. And I wrote “The Penny Jumper” about high-frequency trading after our law firm was representing Goldman Sachs. But I’ve never had a case that became the actual blueprint for a novel. What I take away from a case are (invented) characters or a bit of a scenario.
Have you been to Columbus before?
I have. My grandmother used to live on High Street, and she used to cook for the football team back in the days of Woody Hayes. ... I think Ohio State was the first college campus I ever set foot on. I remember my grandmother showing us the cafeteria where she worked.