Beyond the Book: Background information when reading Close Case

Beyond the Book

This article relates to Close Case

Close Case is the third in Alafair Burke's Samantha Kincaid series, preceded by Judgement Calls (2003) and Missing Justice (2004). She is a former deputy district attorney in Portland, Oregon who now teaches criminal law at Hofstra Law School and serves as a legal and trial commentator for radio and TV programs, including Court TV. She is also the daughter of crime writer, James Lee Burke. When asked whether she feels she's following in the footsteps of her father she says, "Actually, when it comes to mysteries, you could say my father followed in my footsteps. Many people don't know that he published several works before turning to crime fiction with The Neon Rain, so no one thought of my father as a mystery writer during my formative years. I, however, was a huge fan of the genre. I plowed through the entire Encyclopedia Brown series and used to steal time with my dad's manual Royal typewriter to hammer out page turners like "Murder at the Roller Disco." So, for the record, I beat my dad to the mystery punch!"

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This "beyond the book article" relates to Close Case. It originally ran in July 2005 and has been updated for the May 2006 paperback edition. Go to magazine.