Professor R. Michael Cassidy is no stranger to seeing his work in print. The longtime faculty member is a nationally recognized expert in criminal law and legal ethics. His scholarship has been published in multiple highly ranked law journals, he is the author or co-author of three casebooks in the field of professional responsibility, and he is the co-author of multiple editions of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence.
It was perhaps no surprise that when he decided to turn his many talents to writing fiction, he drew inspiration from a well-known criminal case.
“When the Past Is All Deception was factually inspired by the brutal murder of New England Law Professor Mary Jo Frug in Harvard Square in 1991,” Cassidy says. “I served as a prosecutor in Massachusetts when this grisly crime was committed, and I have been haunted by the slaying ever since.”
The gruesome murder has remained unsolved for more than three decades. Given the savage stab wounds and the fact that no personal belongings were taken from the victim, the police operated on the premise that the perpetrator was someone known to her. The professor’s husband (the late Prof. Gerald Frug of Harvard Law School) was never named as a suspect.
“When I decided to turn my attention from legal scholarship to fiction, I resolved to revisit this “cold case” and use it as a launching pad for my first novel,” Cassidy says. “I have re-imagined the characters, and I have situated their conflicts amid the contemporary culture wars rampant on college campuses today. In doing so, I hope I have drawn faithfully on my experiences as a prosecutor, a law professor, and a Bostonian.”
Cassidy’s novel, set to be released on September 25 from Atmosphere Press, tells the story of Mark Price, a conservative law professor, who finds himself removed from his classroom due to a burgeoning conflict with his students over issues of political correctness. As his problems on campus escalate, they pose complex challenges for his more liberal spouse, Susan Price, a partner at a downtown Boston law firm who has been nominated for a seat on the State Supreme Court.
On her way home from work one evening, Susan Price is stabbed to death near a church in Harvard Square. Susan was hiding something before her death, but what? The homicide at the center of this novel unfolds through shifting perspectives: those of the Prices, their two teenage children, and the lead detective assigned to investigate the case.
Cassidy, who served as Chief of the Criminal Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office before joining the Law School, has served many roles for BC Law over the years, from Associate Dean of Administration and Finance and Faculty Director of the Rappaport Center, to Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, as well as on countless committees. The upcoming legal thriller, set on a college campus, draws heavily on his knowledge of both academic life and criminal procedure. It is now available on pre-order from Amazon.
Early reviews have been excellent. Lyn McCauley, author of Early Release, calls the novel a “cautionary tale of secrets and assumptions,” while Stephanie Martin Glennon, author of The Company of Ghosts, Watching the Detectives, and its upcoming sequel, A Suggestion of Death, says it’s a particular treat for anyone who recognizes the players and those played in Massachusetts criminal courts and universities. “The plotting is so high-octane and the continuing danger so unrelenting that almost anyone—in or outside of law enforcement—might be to blame for a homicide, and anyone could be the next victim. I found it impossible to put the book down once the secrets began being unveiled.”
Nancy Geary, author of Misfortune, Redemption, Regrets Only and Being Mrs. Alcott calls the book “fast-paced, the twists and turns keep the suspense high and the reader hooked…a must-read for all of us who love nothing better than a legal thriller.”
Cassidy says he has enjoyed this recent foray into fiction and is looking forward to seeing how the legal thriller is received. “I am sure many of my present and former colleagues will see parts of themselves in the story, but I assure them that all of the characters are just an amalgam of a lifetime of experiences.” Even the law school in the story has a fictional title, “in order to avoid any negative associations or inferences” about life at Boston College, “a place I love.”