Are there any other characters you would like to mention as having a particularly strong profile or appeal, that stand out for you personally?

One of my favorite characters is Peter Hale, the main character in "The Burning Man." I use the word character rather than hero because he starts out as a spoiled, ego centered yuppie and develops into a mature adult during his representation of a mentally handicapped defendant in a death penalty case. It was a real challenge to transform Peter from someone you detest to somone you like. I'm also fond of Charlie Marsh of "Fugitive" because he is so complex. He's a con man and nonentity who is transformed into a nationally known celebrity. Charlie has a ton of flaws but, hopefully, the reader will like him by the end of the book.

You were a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa, 1965-1967. In what ways did that experience influence your creation of the mythical African nation of Batanga, where accused murderer Charlie Marsh flees? Charlie seems to be a career crook (or is he? Don't answer--we'll read the book to find out), who for a time redeemed himself by saving a prison warden's life. Accused soon after of killing a U.S. Congressman, he flees to Batanga. He lives there 12 years and apparently has an affair with the wife of sadistic dictator Jean-Claude Baptiste. Hunted by the cruel dictator's secret police, Charlie flees back to the U.S. Here, Amanda Jaffe must defend him on his murder charge in court, while also protecting him from vengeful Batangan agents. How did you put the background together?

All of the scenes in Batanga are realistic representations of the way Monrovia, Liberia looked, smelled, and felt while I lived there. The African characters are invented, although Idi Amin is a template for Jean Claude Baptiste.

The late Sidney Sheldon was once asked in a radio interview why he wrote so many female leads. His answer was (I'll paraphrase from memory): because women have more complex emotional depth than men and it's closer to the surface, more accessible to the writer. You have written Elaine Murray (HEARTSTONE 1978), Betsy Tannenbaum (GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 1993), Amanda Jaffe (WILD JUSTICE 2000, PROOF POSITIVE 2006, FUGITIVE 2009), Ami Vergano (LOST LAKE 2005), Ashley Spencer (SLEEPING BEAUTY 2004), Tracy Cavanaugh (AFTER DARK 1995), Dana Cutler (EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE 2008, co-lead with Brad Miller). I think I'm counting ten out of 14 books centering on a strong female lead, one with a male co-lead (Brad Miller in EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE), and three male leads if I'm not mistaken. How would you answer the question that was posed to Sidney Sheldon?

I decide on the characteristics, including the sex, of the main character depending on the plot and requirements of the book. For instance, originally the hero in GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN was going to be a man, but the villain is a serial killer who dehumanizes women before he kills them. There are several scenes where the lawyer and the villain meet in close quarters where no one could rescue the main character if the villain attacked. I realized that the tension level would be low if the hero is male and the serial killer only goes after women, but the tension level would be through the roof in these scenes if the lawyer was a woman, so I changed the sex of the character because it helped make the book more intense and thus more enjoyable.

In two of your novels you have a male lead who is a defense attorney (THE LAST INNOCENT MAN 1981, Defense Attorney David Nash, and THE BURNING MAN 1996, Defense Attorney Peter Hale). Both books appear to be complex, soul-searching novels about a male lead not only up against a dangerous and baffling case, but filled with self-doubt and wrestling with inner demons. You were a defense attorney from 1972 until 1996 in Oregon, where you worked at all levels from local to state and federal, including appearing as an appellate attorney before the U.S. Supreme Court. You represented some 30 persons accused of homicide, some of them facing the death penalty. Is it possible in any way to triangulate between Peter Hale, David Nash, and Phillip Margolin? Or did you know defense attorneys like them? Did your long experience as a defense attorney especially enrich and inform your writing about Nash and Hale? Did you have doubts sometimes? Did you lose sleep? To what extent do you use your life's experiences to shape your fiction? Do you agree with the adage 'Write What You know?'

When I lived in Liberia, West Africa, it was a country without the rule of law and I came to really appreciate our American legal system, even with its flaws. I rarely got emotionally involved in my cases and I saw my job as making sure that the system worked for my client and I always felt that making sure that the system was applied fairly was more important then the outcome of any individual case.

I have not had any of the doubts that plagued David Nash. My experience with the legal system has helped me make my books more realistc. When I write a scene in a murder trial or a scene where a lawyer visits a client in jail I know exactly what happens because I've actually done everything in the book in real life.

The only time I've lost sleep while representing a client was in those cases where I knew the client was innocent or did not deserve to be convicted. Two of the 30 people I represented in murder case had been convicted of murder while being represented by other lawyers but were 100% innocent. It took me four years to free each person and the burden was very heavy.
 
Ditto in some of the battered woman cases, where I believed that my client was a good person who killed to save her own life.

You are noted as being the first Oregon attorney to use the Battered Women's Syndrome to defend a battered woman accused of murdering her spouse. Does this real-life accomplishment mirror your empowerment of women as strong and effective leads in your novels?

See above answer.

Do you feel any differently about writing books with male vs female leads?

No.

Can you tell us what you are planning for Book #15?

My next book is a sequel to EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE and it takes place in the US Supreme Court, where Brad Miler is now a clerk.

Portland, Oregon has been called one of our most literary cities. Do you agree? Do you enjoy working there as a writer?

I love Portland. I am on the board of Literary Arts which sponsors one of the best author lecture series in the country, the Oregon Book Awards, which honors the terrific writers who live in the state, and Writers in the School, which places published authors in high schools and has them teach creative writing. We also have the best bookstore in the known Universe, Powell's.

John T. Cullen writes fiction and nonfiction. He is the author of A WALK IN ANCIENT ROME, Revised Second Edition (Sep 2009; nonfiction/ancient history); LETHAL JOURNEY (Sep 2009, dark thriller based on a true 1892 crime/ghost story); UMNITSA (WW2 espionage thriller);THE GENERALS OF OCTOBER (suspense: what if we had a Second Constitutional Convention?); and nearly two dozen other books--more at http://www.johntcullen.com/.