Photo Content from Michael McAuliffe
Michael McAuliffe is the author of No Truth Left to Tell and has been a practicing lawyer for thirty years. He was a federal prosecutor serving both as a supervisory assistant US attorney in the Southern District of Florida and a trial attorney in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Michael and his wife Robin Rosenberg, a US district judge, have three children and live in Florida and Massachusetts. For more information, please visit HERE.
Where were you born and where do you call home?
I was born in Washington, DC. I call West Palm Beach, FL, and Chilmark, MA, home.
Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
I love connecting with readers I don’t know other than through my novel. People have strong views of both the characters and the issues raised by the story. That’s great!
What inspired you to write No Truth Left to Tell?
I was a federal civil rights prosecutor at the Justice Department when I was a young lawyer. I travelled the country investigating and prosecuting violent extremists, corrupt cops and human traffickers. I realized the work made for compelling stories of good and evil, of courage and cowardice. The inspiration stayed with me even though it took almost thirty years to complete the journey from idea to paper.
What do you hope readers will gain from reading your novel?
That life’s great challenge is finding one’s place in the world; that a generous spirit and strong character don’t depend on education or wealth or status; one can have them, but own nothing more.
If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I would introduce Adrien Rush to Atticus Finch. They share a love of the law. Finch could help Rush better understand the role of a lawyer facing difficult decisions and that making the right choices don’t protect one from harsh consequences.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your readers. What would it be?
Pursue many paths in life; don’t be held to a direction simply because you are already on it.
Which incident in your life that totally changed the way you think today?
When our first child was born, it changed my sense of my place in the world.
If you could go back in time to one point in your life, where would you go?
Yesterday. I wouldn’t want to take a chance on not living the same life with those I love.
What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
Climb a mountain and stand on the summit with someone you love.
TEN FACTS ABOUT NO TRUTH LEFT TO TELL
1. The novel’s story is loosely based on cases I handled as a young federal prosecutor. I did actually prosecute the leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana for hate crimes.
2. Lynwood (the town where most of the action takes place in the novel) is named after a law school mentor of mine who worked as a lawyer in Richmond, Va.
3. Various iterations of the Ku Klux Klan still exist in many states even though Klan membership is counted in the thousands as opposed to the millions of members in the 1920’s.
4. Criminal civil rights cases brought today (similar to those described in the novel) are at times still based on reconstruction era laws passed immediately after the Civil War.
5. A cross burning can be protected activity under the First Amendment, or it can be a crime––the classification all depends on the specific circumstances of the case.
6. The Lincoln Memorial displays engraved state names either on its marble frieze or its upper band known as the exterior attic. The states included in the frieze are the states that existed as of the start of the Civil War. States that existed as of the date of the memorial’s completion are carved onto the upper attic. Two states, Hawaii and Alaska, are not on either––they are listed on a plaque.
7. Wiretaps now use digital technology instead of analogue tapes with physical levers and knobs to record portions of conversations or calls. The recordings still have to be minimized to avoid recording non-criminal conversations.
8. The Criminal Section is one of the original components of the Civil Rights Division when it was created by Congress in 1957.
9. As horrifying as the reality is, lynchings (similar to the one described in the Prologue) were well attended with large white crowds and were publicized as social events. They are a permanent stain on the national fabric.
10. Auschwitz was the death/concentration camp where the Nazis forced people to have registration numbers tattooed on their forearms. Max, one of the characters in the novel, is based on someone I knew and admired who was a survivor of Auschwitz.
For Nettie Wynn, a victim of the cross burnings and lifelong resident of the town’s segregated neighborhood, the hate crimes summon frightful memories of her youth, when she witnessed white townspeople lynch a black man. Her granddaughter Nicole DuBose, a successful journalist in New York City, returns to Lynwood to care for her grandmother. Rush arrives from DC and investigates the crimes with Lee Mercer, a seasoned local FBI special agent. Their partnership is tested as they clash over how far to go to catch the racists before the violence escalates. Rush’s role in the case becomes even more complicated after he falls for DuBose. When crucial evidence becomes compromisethreatening to upend what should be a celebrated conviction—the lines between right and wrong, black and white, collide with deadly consequences.
No Truth Left to Tell is a smart legal thriller that pulls readers into a compelling courtroom drama and an illusive search for justice in a troubled community.
You can purchase No Truth Left To Tell at the following Retailers:
And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you MICHAEL MCAULIFFE for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of No Truth Left To Tell by Michael McAuliffe.
I went to Israel on my birthday in 2018.
ReplyDeleteFriends has a surprise party for me at a winery it was so fun.
ReplyDeleteMy sister took me out to lunch
ReplyDelete