I guess it’s official now, because Laura Caldwell and I talked about it during her interview for the podcast “Speaking of Mysteries” conducted by Nancie Clare and me (www.speakingofmysteries.com): We’re engaged…in a project together! I’m deeply honored that Laura (Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, founder and Director of Life After Innocence, and author of 14 novels—including her just released The Dog Park) asked me to co-edit this wonderful anthology that she conceived. I’ll let Laura explain it:

“Because of extensive press coverage, our culture is now aware that wrongful convictions happen. Yet still, everyone asks, ‘but why did it happen? And how did they survive it?’ Anatomy of Innocence will answer that by telling in broad strokes the story of the arrest, the trial, the verdict, the first horrible years in prison, etc. Each such chapter will be told by an exoneree via a thriller writer.”

Today, we shook hands with Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Co. (with whom I’ve worked before), on an agreement to publish the anthology. We’ve already lined up a number of our thriller-writer friends, and we’ll be sharing the list soon, but be assured: They’re all major talents with a depth of knowledge about story-telling and a passion for the project. All royalties from the anthology will go to Loyola’s Life After Innocence Project (http://www.luc.edu/law/experiential/lifeafterinnocence/index.html).

Stay tuned–more to come!