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Featured Author -
August 2005
R. Barri Flowers |
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Featured Author -
August 2005
R. Barri Flowers |
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For more than two decades, R. Barri Flowers has carved out a niche for himself as a literary criminologist by writing thirty academic and textbooks in criminology, criminal justice, law, and sociology. In taking a page from the 19th Century Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso, who many called “the father of criminology,” Barri sometimes jokingly refers to himself as the “great grandson of criminology.”
A graduate of Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice, where he received his M.S. in 1980, Barri’s first published book came in 1983, with the publication of his thesis, CRIMINAL JURISDICTION ALLOCATION IN INDIAN COUNTRY (Associated Faculty Press, 1983). Today the book is widely regarded as one of the best sources for understanding the law as it relates to crimes committed on the reservation.
It was in 1996 that Barri began to move into commercial writing with the publication by St. Martin’s Press of what would become a bestselling true crime book, THE SEX SLAVE MURDERS. This frightening tale of a husband and wife serial killer tandem is now in its 7th printing and still going strong.
Long desiring to tap into his expertise as a criminologist and true crime writer on a fictional level, Barri added to his academic and true crime writing and became a novelist in 2000 with the iUniverse publication of his female private eye mystery, DEADLY SECRETS IN THE MOTOR CITY . This was followed in 2001 with an iUniverse published Jack the Ripper mystery, IN THE DARK OF NIGHT, in which Barri, a Ripperologist, got to toss out a theory or two on the infamous Whitechapel serial killer.
Barri made his way into commercial mystery fiction in 2004, with the publication by Dorchester of his legal thriller, PERSUASIVE EVIDENCE, which drew rave reviews.
His second Dorchester legal thriller and police procedural, JUSTICE SERVED, was released in August 2005, and Barri’s especially excited to bring this one to the reading public.
“Given my understanding of the law and criminal justice, I thought it might be interesting to develop a plot that involved enforcing the law outside the system by someone who feels that justice has not adequately been served to represent the public’s best interest,” says Barri.
Deciding against creating a typical vigilante who went after serial killers, rapists, or child molesters, Barri turned his attention to domestic violence as a topic to build his story around that could lend itself to an edge-of-your-seat thriller with a killer who was at once feared and applauded by many.
Having written nonfiction books on domestic violence, including DOMESTIC CRIMES, FAMILY VIOLENCE AND CHILD ABUSE (McFarland, 2000) as well as homicides and serial killers, such as in MURDER, AT THE END OF THE DAY AND NIGHT (Charles C Thomas, 2002), Barri would seem to be well equipped to take on this dual subject matter in a novel.
“As males are predominately the aggressors in serious intimate violence and females by and large the victims, I chose to stick with this typical pattern in my tale,” Barri notes, “though I know that there are a growing number of cases when females have been shown to be the more violent abusive partner in incidents of domestic violence.”
In JUSTICE SERVED, a ruthless killer, dubbed the “Vigilante Batterer Killer,” is preying upon men accused of beating the women in their lives. Each victim found a way to slip out of the justice system, only to be met by his worst enemy in a deadly showdown.
Investigating the crimes are Police Detectives Ray Barkley and Nina Preston. Among the list of suspects is Criminal Court Judge Carole Cranston, who presided over the court appearances of all the victims and has dark secrets she is in no hurry to share. Barkley finds himself smitten by the attractive judge, while his partner and ex-lover, Nina, sees Carole as quite possibly a cold-blooded murderess.
As the romance heats up between the detective and the judge, the body count rises. When Barkley becomes a target of the killer, the only questions left are is his lover the culprit? And will he survive the night that the murderer intends to be Barkley’s last...?
In rating JUSTICE SERVED 4-STARS, Romantic Times writes:
"A clever mystery with many suspects.... Vividly written, this book holds the reader's attention and speeds along."
Along with JUSTICE SERVED, Barri has written a mystery suspense short story, “Death By Trial and Error,” that will be published in October in the Sisters in Crime anthology, MURDER ACROSS THE MAP (Top Publications, 2005).
Barri, who lives in the scenic Pacific Northwest, is currently putting the finishing touches on his next Dorchester legal thriller, STATE’S EVIDENCE, due out in 2006.
Here’s a sneak peek at what Barri believes may just be his most complex and spellbinding plot yet...
At the same time Wilameta County Sheriff’s Department homicide detective Stone Palmer is investigating the rape and strangulation of a local young woman, Adrienne Murray. A suspect, Manuel González, is taken into custody.
What seems to be an open and shut case for Beverly and Stone is suddenly challenged when González, a career criminal, claims he murdered the judge. Is it a case of mistaken identity? Or two desperate and violent men looking to manipulate the system for their own self interests?
In this spine tingling legal mystery, nothing is what it seems and no one is safe!
Below are reviews of PERSUASIVE EVIDENCE:
"An excellent look at the jurisprudence system .... will appeal to fans of John Grisham and Linda Fairstein." -- Harriet Klausner
"Compelling detective mystery." -- The Best Reviews
"A superb legal thriller." -- Midwest Book Review
"Raw, primal, thrilling, incredible—one of the best books that I have read. I was completely riveted from the first page." -- Romance Readers at Heart
"It has all the aspects of a perfect mystery, and thankfully, it isn't so predictable you figure out what's going on." -- RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
" Interesting "whodunit" that kept me guessing until the end .... found the story to be quite engaging with all around solid pacing, plot and delivery." -- APOOO BookClub
" An absorbing legal thriller .... Flowers’ forte lies in the vivid well-developed characters he creates. The interactions of his characters and the conflicts that arise serve to make the story a compelling page-turner." -- Romance In Color
"All the elements of a great mystery book, suspicions, red herrings, evidence and witnesses. If you are into mysteries, this would be the book for you." -- Romance Review
Barri welcomes feedback on JUSTICE SERVED, PERSUASIVE EVIDENCE, or any of his many other titles. E-mail comments to him at: BarriBorn2Write@cs.com
For news on appearances, future books, and contests giving away autographed books, gift certificates and more, visit the home page of R. Barri Flowers at: rbarriflowers.homestead.com
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Barri’s most recent crime-based nonfiction titles include THE PROSTITUTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS (McFarland, 2005), MURDERS IN THE UNITED STATES (McFarland, 2004), MALE CRIME AND DEVIANCE (Charles C Thomas, 2003), KIDS WHO COMMIT ADULT CRIMES (Haworth, 2002), and RUNAWAY KIDS AND TEENAGE PROSTITUTION (Greenwood, 2001).
In Eagles Landing, California, Assistant District Attorney Beverly Mendoza is assigned the case of prosecuting a man charged with murdering a local judge, Sheldon Crawford, and sexually assaulting the judge’s wife, Maxine. The suspect, Rafael Santiago--who once vowed revenge against the judge for sending him to prison--is picked out of a lineup by Maxine Crawford.