Written by Nina E. Woody
Photo by Steve Babin

Robert Bailey is the bestselling author of the McMurtrie & Drake legal thriller series. “The Last Trial” is the third novel in the series. For the past eighteen years, Bailey has been an attorney with the Huntsville law firm of Lanier Ford.

EVENT: You’ve had a new book come out recently [on May 8.] What’s it about?

RB: This book is called “The Last Trial” and it’s the third book in the McMurtrie and Drake series. It’s been a number one new release for legal thrillers on Amazon. The story is a murder mystery set in Tuscaloosa, but has flavors of Madison County in it. There are a couple of scenes set in Huntsville and Hazel Green.

EVENT: How do you find the time to write while working full-time and with a family?

RB: (Laughs) Well it’s not easy. My best time to write is early morning starting at around 5 a.m., to get a couple of hours in before work. I give myself a break sometimes, especially if I’ve stayed up late because one of the kids had a late-night baseball game.

EVENT: Speaking of your kids, do they share your love of stories and writing?

RB: My two sons [ages 12 and 13] are into baseball and my daughter [age 7] plays t-ball and loves horseback riding. They enjoy reading, and I think they think it’s cool that their dad’s a writer. They’ve had assignments where they write journals in school; it’s fun for me to watch them do that.

EVENT: How does your family inspire you to write?

RB: I take a lot of inspiration from them. When I was writing “The Last Trial,” both my father and wife [Dixie] were diagnosed with lung cancer. That experience had a tremendous impact on me. It was good therapy to be able to work through my feelings in the story. The main theme of the book is resilience, which took inspiration from what Dad and Dixie were going through. Dad has since passed away but Dixie is in remission. I hope my stories entertain but I also strive for them to give people hope as well.

EVENT: What are you working on now?

RB: The fourth book, “The Final Reckoning,” will close out the McMurtrie and Drake series. It is due to come out in April 2019. I’m also planning to write the first book in a new series which will be a spinoff of the McMurtrie & Drake series.

For more information, please visit https://robertbaileybooks.com