BEST AUTHOR BEST : ALAFAIR BURKE [1]

 

A prank on a girls' trip threatens a trio of friends in '' The Note,'' the 15th novel by the former prosecutor. Her reading diet includes '' smart lawyers sounding the alarm about attacks on the rule of law.''

.-  What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?

I'm a law professor and former prosecutor and am deeply interested in the justice system and public policy. My current audiobook is '' An Inconvenient Cop,'' by Edwin Raymond, a retired N.Y.P.D. lieutenant who left the department in part because of quota-based policing practices.

In recent years, I've maintained a steady diet of books from smart lawyers sounding the alarm about attacks on the rule of law, people like Preet Bharara, Geoffrey Berman, Barbara McQuade, Andrew Weissman, and Melissa Murray.

.-  Are there times when being a trained lawyer gets in the way of telling a good story?

In a great legal thriller like '' Presumed Innocent ,'' the technical details are not the star. Instead, Scott Turow's expertise infuses his characters and the creation of the world itself.

In hindsight, I used my lawyer brain too much in the debate, because I was insecure trying my hand at a novel. These days, if I find myself writing about the law itself. I ask myself what it adds to character, plot, or setting and then I usually delete it.

Wanda Morris is only three books in, and she's already been compared to Turow, and John Grisham for good reason.

.-  Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?

'' Flowers in the Attic, '' by V.C. Andrews. I was the only kid whose parents would let me read whatever. I wanted, so my dog-eared paperback copy got passed around the grade school playground in Wichita like contraband.

.-  What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?

I don't believe in letting books, whether the ones I read or the ones I skip, make me feel embarrassed. But I do still feel guilty for not reading Plato's Republic in Humanities 110.

I did the unthinkable to a grade-grubbing rule follower like myself and resorted to the CliffsNotes.

The Publishing continues to Part [2]. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.