Cram Down follows a Kansas City attorney who takes on a case involving a couple who had their business funding cut off, only to get mixed up with the mob and a missing bank president. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Many times, the story just seems to be inside of me waiting to come out. For Cram Down, there were several components in play: (a) the inspiration for a community bank came first, (b) followed by the notion that 3J would have to force a plan of reorganization on the bank over its objection, and (c) I’ve always been fascinated with Kansas City history, and I’d been reading books about the Kansas City mob in particular. In each book in the series, there’s always Jazz, and BBQ, and history as well.

3J is an amazing character that readers can be invested in. Was the character’s backstory something you always had, or did it develop as you were writing?

When I started working on the series, I wanted to create a strong, admirable protagonist who would give me a chance to comment on social issues in each book. 3J is a Black, female bankruptcy lawyer in a large Kansas City law firm, which, until recently, was dominated by white men. I am neither black nor female. So, while her character gives me the chance to address social issues (haters, mental illness, when does the ends justify the means, redlining), and have my characters reflect the diversity in our country, I also need to respect that I can never actually know what it’s like to be Black, and a woman, and their struggles to make it up the law firm ladder.

How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?

In Cram Down, I wanted to kick the action scenes up a notch. In the prior book – Unfair Discrimination – 3J must battle a White nationalist who becomes unhappy that he won’t get paid back all that the debtors owe him, and he takes his rage out on 3J and a Jewish attorney. My readers liked the action in UD, so I wanted to create an action-packed story in Cram Down as well.

3J also has a habit of running toward danger, at great personal risk, which continues in Cram Down, and through flashback chapters, we begin to learn more of her bad habit, and where it may come from as she grew up in the Lower Ninth Ward and Tréme neighborhoods in New Orleans.

Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?

Yes.  I have begun to research my next 3J thriller – tentatively named For Cause. It will involve a Deep Fake video that 3J must contend with and save her client from its impact, while trying to prove in court that the video is not her client’s message to the world. She will also continue her habit of running toward danger.

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