Little Boy Lost by J. D. Trafford

By Rick Reed

In J.D. Trafford’s LITTLE BOY LOST, his fourth legal thriller, Attorney Justin Glass’s practice is housed in a shabby office on the north side of Saint Louis. He isn’t doing so well that he can afford to work for free. But when eight-year-old Tanisha Walker offers him a jar full of change to find her missing brother, he doesn’t have the heart to turn her away.

In his search, Glass confronts issues of race, power, and poverty in a city coming apart. As simmering racial tensions explode into violence, Justin finds himself caught in the tide. He gives voice to the discontent plaguing the city’s forgotten and ignored, and vows to search for the killer who preys upon them. LITTLE BOY LOST tells the story of what happens when troubled boys go missing and nobody, including the police, bothers to look.

Award-winning author J.D. Trafford, described as “a writer of merit” by Mystery Scene magazine, has topped numerous Amazon bestseller lists, including reaching #1 in the Legal Thrillers category. IndieReader selected his debut novel, No Time to Run, as a bestselling pick. Trafford graduated with honors from a top-twenty law school, and he has worked as a civil and criminal prosecutor, as an associate at a large national law firm, and as a nonprofit attorney. He’s handled issues of housing, education, and poverty in communities of color. Prior to law school, he worked in Washington, DC, and lived in Saint Louis, Missouri. He now lives with his wife and children in the Midwest, and he bikes whenever possible.

LITTLE BOY LOST received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, and is now available for pre-order, and due to be released August 1, 2017.

What will readers take away from this book?

My top priority is to always write a good story that keeps readers turning pages. But, I also want to expose readers to different points of view without pushing an agenda. That is what is so great about fiction. I touch upon societal issues in this book, but I let readers draw their own conclusions.

How does LITTLE BOY LOST make a contribution to the genre?

There are many conversations happening about race, police, poverty, and protests. This is one of the first legal thrillers/mysteries set in the midst of these very contemporary issues.

Was there anything you discovered as you wrote LITTLE BOY LOST?

History is cool, and I work hard to provide a real sense of place. So, I enjoyed learning more about the origins of places in Saint Louis that I’ve seen or driven past thousands of times. For example, Bellefontaine Cemetery was founded in 1849 far from downtown Saint Louis, in part, to safely bury all the people who died from cholera.

You have currently written four legal thriller novels, of which LITTLE BOY LOST is the most recent. How difficult, or easy, do you find it to keep coming up with plots, characters, and endings?

I’ve got many ideas, but an idea isn’t enough. What’s challenging is putting the pieces together in a compelling way. The beginning usually comes easy to me, and I know how I want everything to end. The middle is the messy part. I need to make sure everything aligns and makes sense.

There are currently three books in the Michael Collins legal thriller series. Do you plan to continue that series?

The short answer is, I don’t know. I have some ideas about future books with Michael Collins, as well as a spin-off with some of the characters from that world. It is really a matter of scheduling, and thinking about where I am as a writer now as opposed to thirteen years ago when I began working on No Time To Run. Perhaps the working title of the new Michael Collins’ book could be “No Time To Write.”

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer?

John Sandford’s “Prey” series has influenced me, because he provides a great sense of place to his books. Of course, I am also in debt to John Grisham because he created a market for legal thrillers and legal fiction.

What’s next on the agenda?

Good Intentions is due to be published by Thomas & Mercer in the summer of 2018. It’s a story about a young and arguably unqualified judge whose mentor is murdered just as he comes under public scrutiny for mishandling a child protection case that results in the death of a young boy.

*****

Award-winning author J.D. Trafford, described as “a writer of merit” by Mystery Scene magazine, has topped numerous Amazon bestseller lists, including reaching #1 on the Legal Thrillers list. IndieReader selected his debut novel, No Time to Run, as a bestselling pick. Trafford graduated with honors from a top-twenty law school, and he has worked as a civil and criminal prosecutor, as an associate at a large national law firm, and as a nonprofit attorney. He’s handled issues of housing, education, and poverty in communities of color. Prior to law school, he worked in Washington, DC, and lived in Saint Louis, Missouri. He now lives with his wife and children in the Midwest, and he bikes whenever possible.

To learn more about J.D, please visit his website.