Jail Coach

Jay Davidovich is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan because he joined the National Guard in the late ‘nineties so that the taxpayers could put him through college. Nine-eleven took him by surprise – “sort of like Bush,” as Jay puts it. His job at Trans/Oxana is to prevent losses that Trans/Oxana has insured against – especially losses that unpleasant people want to happen. After Hollywood pretty boy George Trowbridge plays late-night bumper-car in his Ferrari, which bought an eight-figure Trans/Oxana policy insuring performance of Trowbridge’s Major Performing Artist Contract. Jay quickly realizes that Trowbrigde is going to do some county time. Because there won’t be any director yelling “CUT!” when things get dicey on the inside, Jay figures that Trowbridge won’t be in shape to perform anything once he gets out unless Jay finds him a Jail Coach.

Enter Katrina Thompson whose past includes jail, the Marines, a daughter, and a hustler named Stan Chaladian. The first will help Jay, the second will impress him, the third will charm him, and the fourth with almost kill him – that’s life in the Loss Prevention business.

Mike Bowen, a trial lawyer practicing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is the author of numerous mystery novels, including Screenscam (2002), which introduced Rep and Melissa Pennyworth. Bowen has been a member and moderator of panels at several Bouchercons and has made presentations at numerous other mystery-related events. He wrote the entry on The American Legal System for the Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing, and was a member of the panels that selected the winner of the 1995 Edgar Award for Best Mystery and the 1996 Edgar Award for Best Critical or Biographical Work.

Bowen graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1976.  While at Harvard, he served on the Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review, and was a member of the winning team and was named the best oralist in the Ames Competition (moot court). Bowen lives with his wife, Sara Armbruster Bowen and their younger children, John, Marguerite and James, in Fox Point, a suburb of Milwaukee.