The Saundra Gray Affair centers around a congressman whose public life is wrecked when the young intern he is romantically involved with goes missing. Where did the idea behind this novel come from?

The idea behind the story came from the Gary Condit-Saundra Levy affair in 2001, about which the reader can learn more using GOOGLE or Wikipedia if interested. My novel is set in the 1980s, with a moderate Democratic congressman from Iowa and his chief of staff as the central characters. To me, the incident highlighted many of the flaws in our political culture, while also containing the elements of a very good whodunit. Throughout my own long career in Washington, I noticed there is a frequent disparity between the truth and what the public believes based on media coverage and the spinning by various interest groups for political reasons. I thought the Condit-Levy affair illustrated that disparity as well as anything I had experienced in my career.

The novel spans decades rather than focusing on a single investigation. Why was that broader timeline important to the story you wanted to tell?

Rather than focusing exclusively on Saundra Gray’s disappearance, I wanted to give the reader a broader sense of who Congressman J.D. Clay is. Thus, there are a few chapters leading up to the disappearance providing both early biographical information as well his activities in Congress. I hoped the reader would view him as the kind of congressman they would want to vote for—at least in terms of his approach to politics and policymaking if not positions on issues. Thus, the reader would feel a sense of loss from his downfall. Many political figures otherwise admired have been forgiven for affairs. But a false accusation of murder is a far different animal.

Did you always know where J.D.’s journey would end, or did his character evolve during the writing process?

Because there was so much of the Condit incident to draw from, I knew J.D.’s political journey would end in a similar manner. His personal journey after that is my own invention but I had a general idea of how I wanted to end it, given the theme. (See next question.) In terms of his character, I had a very firm idea at the outset of what represents to me the ideal politician which I wanted to portray.

What do you hope readers take away from reading your novel?

I hope most readers will take away from this a sense of their own public responsibility to remain skeptical about being driven to a conclusion by the media and interest groups with a vested interest in one angle of a story. Socrates said true wisdom is knowing you know nothing. That’s an obvious overstatement but I think what he was getting at was knowing what you don’t know. This can be a very difficult task in an information-saturated world. But an open mind and intellectual curiosity helps!

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