MORE ABOUT JUSTICE, MY NEW NOVEL
My agent called to say he’d been asked by a “friend of the White House” to get me to reconsider the plot of my new book, JUSTICE, scheduled for release in late Spring.
“By “friends” do you include the President?” I asked him.
“No, it’s more like the powers behind the throne.”
“Like who?” I asked.
“The higher-ups. You know how it works. You wrote all about it in your last novel.”
“The White House Chief of Staff . . . ?”
“Well . . . the Chicago crowd.”
“What do they want me to change?”
“Have the reporter murdered somewhere else. Take the story out of Chicago.”
“That’s ridiculous. Besides, most of the story takes place in Washington.”
“Exactly. It’s the juxtaposition of Capitol Hill and the Southside that bugs them.”
“But that’s what makes the plot so compelling.”
“Sure, but you don’t understand. They’re used to doing the compelling in Chicago AND Washington.”
“JUSTICE is the best book I’ve written.”
“That’s what worries them. They liked HAVANA PASSAGE.”
“Because they weren’t in the White House when it came out?!
“You’re catching on, Big Boy.”