A Conversation with Lawyer and Novelist Anthony Franze

We are delighted to welcome author Anthony Franze to Omnimystery News today.

Anthony's new legal thriller is The Advocate's Daughter (Minotaur Books; March 2016 hardcover, audiobook and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to spend some time with him talking about his work.

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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about the lead character of The Advocate's Daughter.

Photo provided courtesy of
Anthony Franze

Anthony Franze: Sean Serrat is a D.C. lawyer who's on the short list to be the next nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. He's also a man with a secret — as a teenager he and his friends had an altercation with a storekeeper and the man ended up dead. The boys were never caught, but it was the defining event of Sean's life, one that motivated him to become the most prominent lawyer in the country. After Sean's daughter, Abby, a law student, is murdered, Sean starts to fear that maybe his possible nomination — or even his boyhood secret — may hold the truth behind his daughter's killing.

OMN: We introduced The Advocate's Daughter as a legal thriller. Would you agree with that?

AF: Because my main character is a lawyer, The Advocate's Daughter tends to get categorized as a legal thriller. I think it has legal thrills, but I actually think the novel is more of a domestic or family thriller. But I don't care how it's categorized as long as people read it.

OMN: Like Sean Serrat, you're a Supreme Court lawyer. Please tell us about your legal career.

AF: I've been a lawyer for twenty years, and for most of that time worked at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. I remember in elementary school watching a movie about Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court case that assured the poor the right to a lawyer in criminal prosecutions. I now work at the firm that handled Gideon, and the place still embodies the spirit of that case. It's a great and storied firm, and I'm incredibly lucky to get to work on Supreme Court and other sophisticated cases.

OMN: If The Advocate's Daughter were to be adapted into a movie, who would play Sean?

AF: I haven't thought much about it. But I like George Clooney — he was brilliant in Michael Clayton. He also looks a lot like me. (Kidding!)

OMN: What are some of your outside interests?

AF: With a busy law practice, three kids, and book deadlines, I honestly don't have much time for hobbies these days, though I still read a lot. I cherish my reading (and editing) time on the subway to and from the office every day.

OMN: What's the worst piece of writing advice that you've heard dispensed to writers?

AF: I once interviewed Harlan Coben and asked him a similar question. I'll steal his response, which was spot on: The worst advice is "anything that doesn't end with the sentiment, 'Just shut up and write.'"

OMN: What's the best feedback you've received about The Advocate's Daughter?

AF: It was an e-mail from a reader. She told me that the book arrived in the mail the morning her father was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. She said the story helped get her through the hours and hours of anxious waiting. Her father survived and is recovering, and she ended the e-mail with "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." It meant a lot.

OMN: What's next for you?

AF: I'm working on my editor's notes for my next novel, which comes out from St. Martin Press next year. I'm also working on the briefs for a case that will be heard in the Supreme Court next term. It's a lot of work, but I'm lucky to have it.

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Anthony Franze has garnered national praise for his work as a lawyer in the Appellate and Supreme Court practice of a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm. The New York Times, Washington Post, and other major news outlets have quoted or cited Franze concerning the Supreme Court, and he has been a commentator on high-court issues for The New Republic, Bloomberg, and National Law Journal. He lives in the Washington D.C. area with his family.

For more information about the author, please visit his website at AnthonyFranzeBooks.com and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook.

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The Advocate's Daughter by Anthony Franze

A Legal Thriller

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Among Washington D.C. power players, everyone has secrets they desperately want to keep hidden, including Sean Serrat, a Supreme Court lawyer. Sean transformed his misspent youth into a model adulthood, and now has one of the most respected legal careers in the country. But just as he learns he's on the short list to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, his daughter, Abby, a talented and dedicated law student, goes missing. Abby's lifeless body is soon found in the library of the Supreme Court, and her boyfriend, Malik Montgomery, a law clerk at the high court, is immediately arrested. The ensuing media frenzy leads to allegations that Malik's arrest was racially motivated, sparking a national controversy.

While the Serrat family works through their grief, Sean begins to suspect the authorities arrested the wrong person. Delving into the mysteries of his daughter's last days, Sean stumbles over secrets within his own family as well as the lies of some of the most powerful people in the country. People who will stop at nothing to ensure that Sean never exposes the truth.

— The Advocate's Daughter by Anthony Franze. Click here to take a Look Inside the book.