A blog about lawyering with Mary Flood
I'm a fan of courtroom thrillers, a fan of Perry Mason novels and books by John Grisham. And now I'm a fan on Houston lawyer Larry D. Thompson's book So Help Me God.
He practices with Lorance & Thompson and his late brother is the acclaimed Texas writer Tommy Thompson, author of a non-fiction courtroom thriller Blood and Money.
Thompson took a character from his brother's last book Celebrity. The character is an over-the top Texas preacher who Thompson pulled him out of a coma and made a character in his page turner that uses the debate over abortion to build up a big trial with mass media and larger than life lawyers. The discussion of when life begins is central to the trial in the book but almost incidental to the courtroom drama fun. They could be arguing over exploding pick ups with a lot of the same fire.
His courtroom detail is very impressive. His judge is clearly based on Judge Ruby Sondock (he changed her hair color and her last name) and it's as much fun as reading Grisham. Actually, it was more fun than the last Grisham. The overblown lawyers will make you smile, the understanding of the process will make you nod and his loving treatment of Houston pleased me and may do the same for you.
I interviewed Thompson in his northwest Houston offices this week and here's a video of snippets from our talk:
