Author Kerry Stevens is a lawyer, and who better than a practicing lawyer to write a book about courtrooms and the legal workings of a trial. “Blood Ties” (Sept. 1, 2016, Kitsap Publishing) is, in the words of the author, “a tale of murder, love and deceit.”
I met with Kerry and we had a delightful time talking about her adventures. She has traveled throughout Europe and the U.S. She told me about going to school in Salzburg, Austria, and how hard it was because all the Austrian students were so far ahead of the training she’d had in the U.S.
Kerry has been published in several legal journals too. One article was about watching a criminal case when she was in Northern Ireland, regarding seven young men fighting for Irish freedom; and another story was about how she had to go to court for illegally selling ice cream.
This is the story she told me:
“This was during my college days. I got a job selling ice cream from one of those little trucks that drives around your neighborhood playing loud and obnoxious music. I thought it was the perfect job; however, in five days I had three encounters with the police.
“The third day on the job I was stopped by a young man who bought a snow cone. After the transaction was complete, he grabbed me around the throat, started choking me and ripping off my dress. Then he grabbed me by the hair and started to drag me into the woods. Fortunately, I got away from him at that point and ran to a neighboring house. When the police finally arrived, they couldn’t locate him. I decided I did not want to let one bad experience ruin my ‘perfect summer job,’ so I went back to work driving the ice cream truck.
“The next day, a police car came up behind me with lights on, and I thought he wanted an ice cream bar. Wrong. He asked for my license and I produced my driver’s license. He told me I needed a peddler’s license and wrote me a ticket. I was furious. Here I was driving around with music blaring while apparently doing something illegal. At that point, I quit.
“The ice-cream-truck company assured me they would ‘take care of it,’ but when I went to court there was no one there to ‘take care of it’ except me. After calling out a whole list of people charged with drug dealing, assault, possession of a deadly weapon, etc., the judge called me up and said I was being charged with peddling ice cream without a license. I was mortified. He asked if I wanted a bench trial or a jury trial, and I decided I definitely wanted a jury! He set a day for trial and I panicked.
“The only attorney I knew was the head of the probate department at Minneapolis’ biggest firm, so I called him. After a few chuckles, he referred me to the newest guy at the firm. The charges were ultimately dropped, and the guy who attacked me was never caught. That was my first experience with the judicial system.”
I asked her about her favorite authors. One is Robert Dugoni (another local lawyer and author in Seattle); she said she’s a “junkie for legal dramas.”
The idea for “Blood Ties” came to her while she was attending a seminar about writing. Something the speaker said started her wondering “what it would be like to work at a law firm where one attorney was accused of murdering another attorney in the same firm.” And that’s how “Blood Ties” came to be such an interesting story for all of us to read.
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Did you know that Eagle Harbor Book Store on Bainbridge Island has a Kids Birthday Club? If you sign up (at either www.eagleharborbooks.com/kids-birthday-club or at the store), your child will get 15 percent off of any book of their choice on their birthday.
This may be of interest too: Liberty Bay Books in Bremerton (409 Pacific Ave.), will be part of the Indies First/Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26. Three authors will read and chat with customers about their books: A.J. Banner, “The Good Neighbor”; Ben Clanton, “Narwhal”; and Toni Yuly, “Cat Nap.” Did you know that Liberty Bay Books also offers Kobo books (for e-book) at Secure.kobobooks.com. Kobo is the independent book stores version of the Amazon’s Kindle.
— Donna Lee Anderson teaches writing and is the author of two novels and a reference book for writers. Contact her at welltold tales@aol.com.
