A disgraced attorney seeking redemption. A single mother desperate to regain custody of her son. Two women willing to risk it all to put a sexual predator behind bars.
Former Assistant District Attorney Miranda Quinn is on the brink of a career comeback when she gets a phone call. It’s a witness who disappeared three years earlier, resulting in a violent criminal going free. Miranda was fired as a result, but the witness has re-surfaced with a shocking story, one that implicates Miranda and her ex, defense attorney Adam Baxter. And now, there’s a new victim.
Miranda’s legal advice blog-turned-podcast Miranda Writes is about to become a daytime TV show, but the negative press could destroy her credibility. Will the network stand behind her?
When it comes to the law, Miranda has all the answers, but the questions are getting harder and the stakes are getting higher. The dangerous web of lies she exposes leaves her questioning just how much she is willing to risk. She has the right to remain silent, but needs to speak up… doesn’t she?
Miranda Writes is a story of how far we’ll go to protect those we love and the power of second chances.
A disgraced attorney seeking redemption. A single mother desperate to regain custody of her son. Two women willing to risk it all to put a sexual predator behind bars.
Former Assistant District Attorney Miranda Quinn is on the brink of a career comeback when she gets a phone call. It’s a witness who disappeared three years earlier, resulting in a violent criminal going free. Miranda was fired as a result, but the witness has re-surfaced with a shocking story, one that implicates Miranda and her ex, defense attorney Adam Baxter. And now, there’s a new victim.
Miranda’s legal advice blog-turned-podcast Miranda Writes is about to become a daytime TV show, but the negative press could destroy her credibility. Will the network stand behind her?
When it comes to the law, Miranda has all the answers, but the questions are getting harder and the stakes are getting higher. The dangerous web of lies she exposes leaves her questioning just how much she is willing to risk. She has the right to remain silent, but needs to speak up… doesn’t she?
Miranda Writes is a story of how far we’ll go to protect those we love and the power of second chances.
CHAPTER 1
Despite a brain still foggy from endless champagne toasts, I was
feeling good. Yesterday had been a wonderful day. I finally had
something to celebrate, following the demise of what had once
promised to be a stellar legal career. My blog-turned-podcast,
Miranda Writes, had recently garnered enough attention that the
Sterling Broadcast Group had brought my closest supporters
and me to New York in a limousine to sign a lucrative contract
to host a daytime TV show. Things were looking up after a few
tough years.
We had arrived back to Old Lyme, CT in the early evening
and dropped off my dad and his girlfriend Sally, followed by my
best friend Tracey and her husband Dale. Then, with help from
the limo driver, I had carted all the floral arrangements and fruit
baskets from future sponsors into my house. I was awestruck by
the outpouring of support I had received. When I first started
blogging, I had never imagined that it would lead to this.
Honestly, back then I had been writing to maintain my sanity,
nothing more.
The local network affiliate had already started airing promos
of my upcoming show and I had stayed busy all night, fielding
phone calls, texts and emails from friends, neighbors and former
classmates. The calls stopped around 11:00 p.m., but I had lain
awake for hours, my mind buzzing with topics for shows and
names of legal experts I wanted to invite as guests. I had finally
fallen asleep and was still in bed, debating the merits of a pot of
home-brewed coffee and a slice of multigrain toast versus a
drive-through latte and a cinnamon roll roughly the size of my
head. My phone buzzed beside me. Probably a long-lost law
school classmate or a childhood friend calling to congratulate me
or to wish me well, I guessed. I checked the time as I found my
phone. 5:45 a.m. Too early for a friendly call, I thought with a
flicker of concern. Hmmm, unknown number.
“Hello.”
“Um, hello. Is this Miss Quinn?” The voice was soft but
familiar.
“Yes, this is Miranda. Can I help you?”
“Yes, ma’am. I need to talk to you, Miss Quinn. I don’t know
if you remember me—”
“Who is this?” I asked, barely masking my annoyance. I was
rarely up for a game of twenty questions, and never before I had
my coffee.
“It’s, um. Becky. Becky Lewis.” I sat bolt upright in bed, the
chill I felt having nothing to do with the sudden loss of my down
comforter. Becky Lewis? Yes, I certainly remembered her.
“Becky? Of course, I remember you. What’s um, up?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Quinn. Really, I am. I saw you on TV last
night and I thought I should get in touch with you about what
happened.” I was struggling to follow her. What had happened?
“What do you mean?”
“He did it again, Miss Quinn. He hurt that girl. Just like me
and the other one.” My heart sank. I knew who she meant. Of
course, I did. Three years ago, I’d had the chance to put him
away, and I had blown it. Now he had attacked another woman,
and it was all my fault. This one was most definitely on me. But
I still needed to ask. To be sure.
“Who, Becky? Who is he? What did he do?”
“Terry. Terry Kane. He raped another girl.”
Miranda Quinn is a young, ambitious attorney formerly known at the New London District Court as ‘Quinn for the Win.’ After a precipitous fall from grace a few years before, Miranda has found her footing once again. She created a successful blog and a podcast and has just signed a contract for a TV show with the Sterling Broadcast Group. But an elusive witness from the case Miranda lost and that destroyed her legal career has just reached out to her and asked for help. What should Miranda do: Ignore the witness and proceed with her auspicious new life? Or face the ghosts from her past and try to convict a criminal?
Written in the first person in a conversational style, Miranda Writes nicely captures the voice of its protagonist: an intelligent, high-achieving millennial professional wounded by her previous failures. Through the clever dialogue and Miranda’s keen observations, Gail Ward Olmsted, the book’s author, succeeds in creating a sense of intimacy between her main character and the audience—you feel like you are Miranda’s friend and she is sitting next to you, relating her adventures. The novel introduces an assorted cast of characters that, for the most part, are well-drawn. The notable exceptions are Terry Kane, Eddie DaSilva, and the nebulous John Houghton, who are not fully fleshed out and seem more like cardboard cutout versions of villains.
The relationships between Miranda and her retired cop father, her agent, her best friend, her troubled witness, and her stepmother, among others, are effectively portrayed and convey a sense of community and kinship that makes this an uplifting read. The writing is fast-paced and cinematographic, with enough plot twists and insights into the legal and media worlds to maintain the reader’s interest. All of this is punctuated with some lovely vignettes about life in Connecticut. With all her challenges and messiness, Miranda is the kind of compelling protagonist that we all want to root for.
However, there are a few weaknesses in the plot that strain one’s credibility, and where it seems as if the writer took unnecessary shortcuts. For instance, Miranda sometimes acts too naïve for an attorney with ample experience dealing with criminals. Most importantly, the scene that brings Terry Kane’s trial to its conclusion is unconvincing and anti-climatic. And this is a crucial part of the story, where the main plot thread must be satisfactorily resolved for the reader, in keeping with the conventions of a legal procedural.
If you are looking for an uncomplicated, entertaining novel with a feminist bent—without being preachy or heavy-handed—, Miranda Writes will be a welcome addition to your reading list.