Rule of Capture
by Ona Russell
ISBN 978-1632930477
Sunstone Press, February
18, 2015
$24.99
www.amazon.com
www.onarussell.com
www.sunstonepress.com
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Rule of Capture is a legal mystery that takes place in Los Angeles
in the 1920s. What inspired you to write a historical novel set in that time
and place?
As for the era, it really
found me. I situated the story in the 1920s because I was led there by the news
clippings that formed the basis of my first book. After becoming fascinated
with the period in general, however, especially after realizing how similar it
was to our own time, I decided to stay there. Los Angeles was another matter.
In trying to figure out the setting of my next book—I had initially planned a
series that would include every state in the Union!—I came across a little
known but incredibly important court trial held in L.A. in 1928. This led to
other discoveries that I thought could provide interesting plot twists. Plus,
my grandfather owned a shoe store in L.A. that I decided to weave into the
narrative. Also, I was born in L.A, my daughter and parents live in the city,
and it was a relatively close place to do research. So, voilà! Los Angeles!
2. Like Rule of Capture, your first two novels, O’Brien’s Desk and
The Natural Selection, feature a real person, juvenile social worker and
counselor Sarah Kaufman, as their heroine. What’s special about Sarah and how
did you come to choose her as the star sleuth for your mystery series?
I was introduced to Sarah
while doing research for O’Brien’s Desk. O’Brien was my husband’s
grandfather and a prominent judge in 1920s Ohio. He frequently appeared in
newspapers of the day, accompanied by his court appointee, Sarah Kaufman. I was
immediately struck by Sarah, a Jewish woman who had made a name for herself in
a male-dominated and gentile environment. She was a working professional at a
time when few women left the home and a civic leader involved in all sorts of
Progressive causes. But she also lived with her siblings, never married, and
was an aspiring writer. This gave her a complexity that I thought could be
developed. The more I read and imagined, the more convinced I became of her
fictional possibilities. As a Jewish woman myself, I identified with her, so much
so that I laid flowers on her grave to thank her for inspiring me. In life she
was a crusader for justice; in fiction she’s the same. And I’m proud to say
that as a result of my first book, she (the real Sarah Kaufman) was inducted
into the Toledo Civic Hall of Fame.
3. There are strong
elements of feminism and civil rights, especially with regard to religion and
race, in all of your novels. What made you decide to pursue these thematic
issues in your historical series and in this new novel?
Well, I’d have to say that
it’s a combination of personal experience, education and history. I come from a
family that values diversity and human rights. I approach the world from this
perspective, and when I encounter opposition, I react. With respect to religion
in particular, I’ve experienced my fair share of intolerance, and my reaction
has taken many forms, including writing. Writing is for me a way to work
through these experiences, to lay them bare and alter the narrative to my
liking. Since the 1920s saw the rise of the KKK and all manner of bigotries,
it’s natural, given my bent, that I would be drawn to these topics. My academic
training was also a factor in my interest in such themes as it both exposed me
to the pervasiveness of intolerance and taught me the importance of examining
the context in which it occurs.
4. What do you find the
most fascinating about the historical genre?
Emily Dickinson put it
best: “Tell all the Truth but tell it Slant.” History is a powerful form of
knowledge, but it is often told dryly and with a limited focus. I like the
ability to bend history, to tell it “at a slant,” to be as faithful as I can to
the facts but even more so to truth. I like research and getting the details
right. But I love bringing unknown or underappreciated people and events to
life. To do that, you sometimes have to fill in the missing pieces. Historical
fiction gives you the permission to do so, as long as what you construct is
consistent with the character and the time. I really believe that this kind of
excavation and reimagining of the past is my calling. I feel most alive when
I’m involved in the process of resurrecting the dead. The historical genre also
allows me to teach about the past, to show its correspondences to the present,
for instance, while entertaining with (hopefully) a compelling plot.
5. What would you like
readers to remember most about you and your books?
Hmm. I guess that I take my writing
seriously, that I work very hard to have the stories ring true. I promise
readers that I will present them with some historical facts that they’ve
probably never heard of before. Also, although I’m a mystery writer and proud
of it, I’m not a formulaic one. I want readers to remember that there are no
simple answers, and my books don’t offer any. But I value readers’ opinions and
am open to their criticism. Well, to a point. To be absolutely honest, I want
to be able to say, in the words of actress Sally Field: “You like me!”
6. Are you working on a
new Sarah Kaufman novel and, if so, what can you tell us about it?
Yes and no. Sarah will be a
character in the next book, but not the protagonist. She’ll be older and act as
a kind of adviser. The story will take place in the 1940s, during WWII. And
that’s about all I can say without giving away a critical piece of Rule of Capture.
About Author
I am the quintessential late bloomer. At 28 I returned to school and incrementally earned a BA, MA and ultimately a PhD in literature from the University of California, San Diego. Teaching for years in various colleges and universities, I developed courses that combined my interdisciplinary interests: from “Poetry and the Workplace” to the “Truth of Historical Fiction” to “Literature and the Law,” a topic on which I also write and speak extensively. I am also a credentialed mediator, a practical outgrowth of my academic focus on finding common ground.
Becoming a novelist was, however, less deliberate—one might say accidental—as the story of O’Brien’s Desk found me rather than the other way around. But now I’m hooked. My second book, The Natural Selection, was a California, San Diego and Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist and I am nearing completion of a third. When not writing, I enjoy hiking the beach trails in my hometown of Solana Beach, California, with my husband, neurotic dog, and, when lucky, our two grown children.
A Few of My Favorites
Mystery: Ian Piers, An Instance of the Fingerpost
Poet: Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"
Novelist: George Eliot, Daniel Deronda
Lawyer: Clarence Darrow
Quotes: "In spite of illness, in spite even of the arch-enemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways."
—Edith Wharton
“The past is never dead, it’s not even past”
—William Faulkner
Press Release:
Solana Beach, CA – San Diego author Ona Russell
announces the release of her third Sarah Kaufman historical mystery novel, Rule of Capture (ISBN 978-1632930477). Rule of
Capture follows the first and second books in the critically acclaimed
Sarah Kaufman series: O’Brien’s Desk (ISBN
0-86534-416-7) and The Natural
Selection (ISBN 978-0-86534-628-4). O'Brien's Desk was nominated for a
Pen/Faulkner award, and The Natural
Selection was a finalist in the 2009 San Diego Book Awards, the 2009 Next
Generation Indie Awards, and the 2009 California Commonwealth Club Book Awards.
The Natural Selection was also
nominated as the New Mexico Book Awards 2008 Best New Paperback. `
Set in Los Angeles in 1928, Rule of Capture finds Ohio court officer
and civic trailblazer Sarah Kaufman at the trial of C. C. Julian, a suave
huckster who knowingly over-issued stock in his petroleum company. Swindling
thousands out of their savings, Julian and his cohorts were notorious in their
day, and as one of their victims, Sarah is in the city to see that justice is
served. But when a former acquaintance, the beautiful Rita Fuentes Bradford, is
murdered, Sarah finds herself drawn into a search for Rita’s killer.
Plunged into a tense, ethnic tug-of-war between the
Jewish and Mexican communities in the “melting pot” of early L.A., Sarah
becomes involved with the handsome and powerful Carlos Martinez, a Chicano man
both living the American Dream and engaged in subversive activity. While the
relationship between Sarah and Carlos heats up, Sarah’s lover, journalist
Mitchell Dobrinski, decides to visit Los Angeles to report on the trial and
keep an eye on Sarah. But Mitchell gets more than he bargains for, learning not
only of Sarah’s infidelity, but her discovery of a cover-up that threatens to
break the city at the seams. Laced with historical details from 1920s Los
Angeles—when oil was booming, Hollywood was young, and Tijuana was the
frontier—the story also shines a light on the ruling class corruption and
ethnic prejudices that continue to this day. In providing a tantalizing glimpse
into Southern California’s past, Rule of
Capture holds a mirror up to its present.
Like the highly-praised O’Brien’s Desk and The Natural Selection, Rule
of Capture is a rich, layered narrative that challenges simple assumptions
of right and wrong. It is a must-read for historical mystery lovers who crave
evocative details, engaging characters, and sociological themes that center on
race, class and gender, particularly on the power these categories confer or
deny. Masterfully written and researched, Rule
of Capture introduces readers through actual courtroom testimony to the
individuals behind the once infamous C. C. Julian oil scandal, while drawing us
back into the world of Sarah Kaufman and her unending quest for justice.
“Los Angeles is a city of contradictions,” said Russell,
“built on optimism and despair, settlement and displacement. It is a city of
dreams and nightmares, renewal and dissolution, tolerance and bigotry. And as
many writers before me have discovered, it is a city of hidden crimes, and thus
a ripe setting for a mystery. It is one of the darkest
of these crimes that forms the basis of my story and that teaches my
protagonist—a real historical figure who I adopted as my fictional sleuth—that
a victim of injustice can also be a victimizer.”
Russell
holds a Ph.D. in literature from the University of California, San Diego and is
a credentialed mediator. Teaching for years at various colleges, she created
courses that combined her interdisciplinary interests, including Literature
and the Law, a topic on which she has written and spoken extensively. Russell was born in Los Angeles and now resides
with her husband in Solana Beach, California.
For further
information, please contact:
Paula
Margulies Communications
8145 Borzoi Way
San Diego, CA 92129
858-538-2047
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