Photo by Erica Techo.
Author Debra Goldstein draws on her experiences when writing, and some of her time playing mahjong helped influence her latest novel.
Caldwell Crossings resident Debra Goldstein always enjoyed reading but never expected she would be an author.
In 2009, she wrote a skit for her Leadership Birmingham group and people responded well. They thought it was funny and encouraged her to write more creative pieces, she said.
“Someone said, ‘You should be writing more,’ and I said, ‘You’re kidding,’” Goldstein said.
At that time, she was an appointed U.S. administrative law judge. She started writing after work, normally between midnight and 4 a.m., and eventually decided to make writing her day job. She walked away from her lifetime appointment and pursued a career as an author.
Goldstein said even though she is no longer a judge, she has not left her past in law behind. Instead, she uses her experience to inspire her writing and characters.
“I kept pulling in legal things, I kept writing these mystery-related stories,” she said. “A lot of my stories will have my legal something.”
Her new novel, “Should Have Played Poker,” came out in April and features 29-year-old corporate attorney Carrie Martin. Martin’s mother reappears in her life after 26 years of absence. She goes to find answers from her father, who lives in a retirement home, and when she arrives at the home, finds her mother has been murdered.
Martin seeks the help of a group of ladies in the retirement home who play mahjong, a popular tile game, in order to solve her mother’s murder.
Goldstein said she came up with the protagonist based on her experience as an attorney. She knew what goes into the life of a young attorney, she said, and then asked herself questions about how her own life could have gone differently. She considered being raised without a mother or being alone or single, and those helped her shape Martin’s past.
She chose to add the mahjong players, who have appeared in one of her former novels, as a comic foil to Martin’s character. Each woman has a distinctive personality, she said, and propel different subplots in the story.
One of the women, Goldstein said, seems flighty and self-centered but can narrow in on important points when she needs to. Another, she said, is working to pair Martin up with her widowed son.
“Of course we have a matchmaker in these, and we have her past love and her new love, so there’s a little undercut of romance in things,” Goldstein said.
The book is categorized between a suspense novel and a cozy mystery, she said, and it’s overall a light read.
“I always bill myself as writing the airplane, bathtub or by the side of your bed fun read, and that’s what it’s meant to be,” she said.
As much as she enjoys classic literature, Goldstein said she wants her books to be a fun escape. She likes to unwind with an easy read every now and then, she said, and she hopes readers will enjoy her books in that way.
“When I was on the bench, I read a lot of heavy things and did a lot of heavy work, so something like this, any kind of murder mystery was just brainless fun,” she said. “But you still have the challenge of a whodunit.”
Goldstein is donating a portion of her book sales through the end of May to YW of Central Alabama’s domestic violence program and the Colat Jewish Family Service’s C.A.R.E.S. program. “Should Have Played Poker” is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other retailers. For more information, visit debrahgoldstein.com.
