If you like legal thrillers, and recognizing the places that a story plot takes you, Alabama author Robert Bailey’s latest book ought to make its way to your nightstand next week.
Bailey, a lawyer and author from Huntsville, is releasing “The Reckoning,” the fourth and final book in his “McMurtrie and Drake” series, on Tuesday. He’ll kick off the release with a book signing at Books-a-Million in Huntsville. Then, like the characters in his books, he’ll traverse the state of Alabama from Mobile to Montgomery and Tuscaloosa and places in between.
The protagonist in the series, former University of Alabama law professor turned criminal defense lawyer Tom McMurtrie, is battling Stage 4 lung cancer in “The Reckoning.” So one of the familiar places to readers in Bailey’s hometown of Huntsville will be Clearview Cancer Institute.
In the previous books, “The Professor,” “Between Black and White” and “The Last Trial,” McMurtrie, his law partner and former student, Rick Drake, and best friend Bocephus Haynes put away creepy killer JimBone Wheeler. In “The Reckoning,” Wheeler escapes from death row “and vows to bring a reckoning to the Professor and everyone he holds dear,” Bailey said.
The action includes scenes from several north Alabama landmarks, including the Huntsville Botanical Garden and its signature “Galaxy of Lights” Christmas event and the city’s cultural epicenter, the Von Braun Center. McMurtrie, like Bailey, grew up in Hazel Green, so you’ll also follow the action to Hazel Green High School and even the tiny community of Lick Skillet.
Bailey is an Alabama graduate, so there will be lots of Tuscaloosa, but there’s a little bit for Auburn folk too.
Robert Bailey is an author and lawyer from Huntsville.Thomas & Mercer
“The setting of the book spans much of the state of Alabama, from a tragedy in the shadow of Bryant-Denny Stadium to Rick Drake’s chase to find a key witness at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn,” Bailey said.
The climax of the book, Bailey said, takes place with a confrontation in the streets and fields of Hazel Green.
While this book will wrap up the McMurtrie and Drake series, Bailey’s publisher, Thomas & Mercer, has signed on to put out another book, called “The General.”
That book will feature Helen Evangeline Lewis, the district attorney general of Giles County, Tennessee, and Pulaski lawyer Bocephus Haynes, both regular characters in the McMurtrie and Drake series.
“In this spinoff story, General Lewis finds herself on trial in her own county for murder and asks Bocephus Haynes to represent her,” Bailey said.
Book signings
Tuesday: Books-A-Million, Huntsville, 6-8 p.m.
Saturday: The Haunted Book Shop, Mobile, 7-9 p.m.
May 2: Sheffield Public Library, Sheffield, 7-8:30 p.m.
May 7: Giles County Public Library, Pulaski, Tennessee, 5:30-7 p.m.
May 11: Second Read Books, Decatur, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
May 16: Old Town Beer Exchange, Huntsville, 5-7 p.m.
May 30: Page & Palette, Fairhope, 6-8 pm
June 6: Read Herring Books, Montgomery, 6-8 p.m.
June 8: Ernest & Hadley Booksellers, Tuscaloosa, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
June 13: Decatur Public Library, Decatur, 6:30-8 p.m.
July 1: The Hidden Lantern, Rosemary Beach, Florida, 10-12 a.m.
July 1: Sundog Books, Seaside, Florida, 4-6 p.m.
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Haskins writes about points of pride statewide. Email your suggestions to shaskins@al.com, or tweet them to @Shelly_Haskins using #AlabamaProud