Author: Gail Ward Olmstead

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

ISBN: 978-1-68513-023-7

Gail Ward Olmstead sets her most recent novel, Miranda Writes, in Connecticut, where we meet Assistant District Attorney Miranda Quinn. Besides being an attorney with an outstanding conviction record, who “rocked in the courtroom,” she also has a podcast, Miranda Writes. The podcast provides legal advice, interviews experts, and presents valuable information on all matters legal.

The narrative unravels when we read about the Kane rape trial. Miranda is on a mission to seek justice for the nineteen-year-old victim, Chelsea O’Hara, who had been battered and raped. However, she acknowledges the case is weak as no witnesses have appeared. The assailant would never be prosecuted. 

A short time after, law enforcement receive an unidentified call from a young lady informing them that the description of the man who attacked Chelsea matched the same person who attacked her. The call originated from an outside phone booth. The police can track down the booth, which brings them to Becky Lewis. Becky had left her fingerprints in the booth. In addition, she was recently arrested for shoplifting; a criminal record is on the file containing her fingerprints.

Becky and Chelsea are bought in by the police, and both identify high school photos of Terry Kane as their attacker. He is brought in for questioning, and the girls pick him out in a lineup as being their assailant. The case is now looking up for Miranda, and she feels it is a “slam dunk.” After all, wasn’t she known among her colleagues as “Quinn for the Win?”

Her strategy was to have Becky on the witness stand and describe what happened to her while revealing to the jury that it was Kane who brutally assaulted her. However, as the poet Robert Burns once wrote: “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” When Miranda goes to the motel, where she hid Becky the night before the trial, Becky has vanished into thin air! The trial against Terry Kane is thrown out, and he walks away a free man. As for Miranda, she loses her job. 

Adding a little more spice to the plot, we discover that Miranda’s boyfriend, Adam Baxter, was an attorney in the law firm that was defending Kane at the time of the trial. As the yarn advances, it is revealed that he is only out for his own gain and doesn’t care whom he hurts.  Nothing will prevent him from attaining a partnership in his firm.

Fast forward three years, where the plot takes a twist. Miranda receives a startling phone call from Becky. She explains to Miranda that her sister, Rachel, has informed her of a young girl who was raped in a park. Becky was positive that Kane was involved in the most recent rape. Becky further discloses some alarming information regarding Miranda’s former boyfriend, Adam, concerning his participation in Kane's previous trial.

Miranda is now determined that she must meet with Becky as soon as possible. She is also surprised by how one phone call could transform her life. After being discharged as Assistant District Attorney, Miranda was dedicating a good chunk of her time to her podcast, filling a gap in her life. The podcast had been top-rated, and she was offered her own daytime television show. Finally, her life seems to be coming together. Will she be able to make amends for having previously screwed up an important case, allowing a vicious criminal go free? Will any more surprises await her? 

Olmstead has crafted a tale of betrayal driven by a flowing narrative style and a fast moving plot with realistic dialogue that gives it the grip of a thriller. The suspense is worth several cups of coffee that will undoubtedly keep you up at night.