About the Book
It’s a record year for violent crime in Milwaukee.
For hard-charging criminal defense attorney Mason Mitchell, that means business is booming.
Every day, he defends drug dealers, gangbangers, and killers. Every night, he tries to wash it all away with vodka. Now, two new cases will shake the city and Mason’s faith in the system.
When his world becomes a volatile cocktail of bad cops, racial tension, and murder, where will Mason turn for real justice?
About the Author
Lewis Allan is a pen name used by the two authors behind Mason Mitchell — a veteran criminal defense attorney, and a well-traveled freelance writer. These childhood friends reconnected after thirty plus years to create a story that is entirely fictional, except for Clyde, who is 100% real.
Mouse In The Box is their debut novel.
They look forward to continuing their unlikely journey with more titles to come…
Russell Jones loves jury trials. He has conducted over 300 of them, including more than fifty homicide trials. With two decades of courtroom experience as a criminal defense attorney, he is recognized as a leader in the profession, winning several awards for his work.
Now, he draws on the hard-earned knowledge from his day job as he embarks on a new career as a novelist.
He lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Laura and their two dogs – Clyde and Rusty.
Jason Wrubell writes left-handed. When he dropped out of college to join a band, he was the left-handed drummer. After that, he wandered all over, turning his childhood love of storytelling into a career as a freelance writer, producing everything from slogans to short stories, and even slumming it in advertising.
Raised on the Great Canadian Prairies, he now lives with his beautiful wife in her hometown of Vienna, Austria, and is completely baffled as to how he ended up so lucky.
1: For readers new to crime/investigation books what is your elevator pitch to get someone hooked?
Mouse In The Box takes readers behind the curtain of the criminal justice, exposing the shocking reality and human misery baked into the system. Mason’s personal turmoil mirrors his daily struggle to find real justice.
2: What was your inspiration for the book and your character Mason Mitchell?
Mason’s character and the world he inhabits are drawn from Russell’s two decades as a criminal defense attorney in Milwaukee. He knew that the source material from his career had more than enough substance to fuel a compelling story.
3: Can you tell us about any challenges you faced when writing and how did you overcome them?
Co-writing has its own challenges, and we were doing it remotely, separated by seven time zones. This meant we had to stay organized and communicate well to keep things on track. Conversely, the separation worked in our favor allowing each other time and space to develop ideas without being right on top of one another.
4: What is it like to write with another? Have you ever had a disagreement about a story plot?
We went through grade school together but hadn’t spoken in over thirty years, so we had a strange combination of familiarity and newness in our relationship that made for an interesting dynamic. As soon as we reconnected an easy rapport developed that was ideal for a project like this. And while we had a few differences of opinion regarding plot points etc, they were always quickly resolved after a bit of back and forth to make sure the best idea won out.
5: What will you both work on next?
We’ve already started to gather our ideas for book two with Mason Mitchell!
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