Some said it wasn’t much of a change, from defending criminals to making up legal thrillers. And they may be right. But the living of it has been quite an adventure and a walk of faith — not only for Joe but for his entire family. When he walked out the door of the law firm and went home to write he didn’t have a publishing contract. In fact, all he had was an idea for a character and the bare outline of a story. With that, he went home to write. And liquidate assets.

“We’ve been married more than 20 years. So,
together we had accumulated some financial
assets, but not enough to produce a livable
income,” Joe explains.

That meant their investments would have to be
liquidated. And that’s what they did. “We
liquidated and we borrowed some. And then we
liquidated some more.”

When the financial assets were gone, they turned
to their furniture.“ One day the money started to
run out. My wife smiled and said, ‘Let’s sell the
furniture.’” And that’s what they did. And the
writing flourished.

Had he merely written a hard-edged novel with
earthy language, he would have been picked up
by a traditional publisher. If he had written a softer novel with a more explicit message, he would have found a Christian publisher years ago. But Joe wanted to write a novel with a hard edge
without an explicit language. And he wanted any
message the book might have to come from the
experience of reading the book, not from telling
the reader the point.

Writing a story like that was exhilarating. Finding
a publisher proved a challenge. Then, Joe found
Jeff Dunn, an editor with RiverOak Publishing, an
imprint of Cook Communications Ministries. “Jeff
was looking for well-written fiction with a realistic
edge that didn’t beat the reader over the head
with the message. I was sure I had the book he
wanted.”

RiverOak soon purchased Joe’s first novel, Sober Justice, and struck a deal for a follow-up book. In September 2004, Sober Justice introduced readers to Mike Connolly, a down-and-out, 50-something attorney, battling alcoholism and a disintegrating life. It also introduced the world to a new type of Christian fiction. One that wasn’t afraid to tackle spiritual issues,and didn’t soft-sell the story or water down the writing.

“I want to write like Ernest Hemingway, tell a
story like Mark Twain, and produce books that
grab the reader by the throat. To do that, you have to keep the story razor sharp.” His wife, Joy, sees to that. ”She’s my first and best editor. She keeps the story from going too far.”

Apparently Joe hit the mark. Sober Justice and
the sequel Double Take both sold out their first
printings in their first month on the market.

Double Take continues the story of Mike
Connolly. Still sober, but struggling, Connolly
defends a former police detective accused of
conspiring to murder an heir to a shipbuilding
fortune. The story takes readers on a steamy tour of the Gulf South as Connolly faces corruption in high and low places.

Best-selling author Cassandra King was among
those who found Double Take's story irresistible.
“The exciting twists and turns of the plot kept me turning pages way into the night . . .”

Electric Beach, the third in the series, was
released in May 2006. It takes Mike Connolly to places in town and in himself where he's never been – including places he doesn’t want to go.

Night Rain was released in April 2007, to the
delight of many fans. And, the fifth book in the
series, The Deposition, became available in
August 2007.

Joe lives in lower Alabama with Joy and their two
young children.