A Mara Brent Prequel is on the way!

Hi there!

I’ve been hinting at one of two surprise book releases coming out this year. Well, I’m finally ready to share the details about one of them. But, there’s a story behind my story. 

Since last fall, I’ve been working on the first draft of the next Mara Brent book, Edge of Justice. I won’t spoil the plot of that book. But there were elements of it that harken back to the very first murder case Mara was assigned when she joined the Maumee County Prosecutor’s Office. 

She was twenty-five and fresh out of Law School. Will was eighteen months old, precocious, and she was happily married to Jason. In other words, her world was very different from what it has become in the main series. 

Anyway, as I said, it became necessary for me to work out how her first case unfolded so that I could write a key piece of Edge of Justice. So, I started writing that first case out. What happened at trial. What Mara learned from it. And so on. Before I knew it, I was writing whole courtroom scenes, putting witnesses on the stand, writing opening and closing arguments. It was just supposed to be for me so that I could keep a few important parts of Mara’s backstory straight. 

Well, then I showed it to my husband (who many of you know is crime thriller author, and former police detective, Declan James). There were some police procedural elements I wanted to make sure I understood accurately. Well, Declan read what I had, handed it back to me and said, “You know this is a book, right?”

To which I eloquently said, “Huh?”

I swear, I wasn’t trying to write one. I reread what I wrote. He was right. It was a book. But more than that, I was having a blast getting in young Mara’s head. 

Then Declan said, “You should publish it. Your readers will love it.”

I hope he’s right. Edge of Justice is on the way, followed by at least one more Mara Brent title in the main series. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy taking this little trip back in time to read Mara’s origin story as a prosecutor. You’ll see a few familiar faces. You’ll get to watch Mara as a green prosecutor faced with an impossible task. She’s got to prosecute a case nobody else wanted to touch. 

The book will come out in kindle and paperback on 2/23. Click the button or the book cover below to reserve your copy.

I’ve been in touch with my narrator and audiobook producer. We should be able to get the audio version up by the end of March at the very latest. 

After that, the next Cass Leary book, The Best Lawyer will come out (probably in April). And Edge of Justice is getting close to done as well. Look for that either late this year or very early in 2027. I'll also have that other surprise release coming out this summer followed by the next book in the Mercy Gale series.

Until then, happy reading!

Robin

OOH! And one more thing. As a thank you to my loyal readers, I'm offering this prequel novel at a special preorder price of $3.99 USD. It'll go up to full price on launch so grab it early!