Room 553: Real-life story #1

Howdy from Texas,

Readers have asked where the idea for Room 553 came from. While I won’t give too much away, I’ve always thought a lot about truth versus perception and about how the notion of  ‘innocent until proven guilty’ sounds nice in theory, but is it actually reality?

With the release of Room 553 coming up in a few weeks, I thought it would be interesting to share some true stories of wrongful convictions.

You’ll find the first below.

By the way, this does not answer the question of whether my character actually is guilty (you’ll have to read the book for that) but rather takes a look at how evidence is weighed and ultimately (as Max describes) how scary it can be to have a jury of your peers deciding your fate.

Happy reading.

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James Lee Woodard 

Tragedy + time ≠ comedy—James Lee Woodard can attest to that. On New Year’s Eve, 1980, Woodard’s then-girlfriend Beverly Ann Jones was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. The next day, the 26-year-old Woodard was charged with her death.

Despite the prosecution’s key witness—a neighbor who claimed to have seen him arguing with Jones the night of the murder at 3:30 a.m. from a few hundred feet away—being unreliable, at best, and Woodard having several alibi witnesses testifying to his whereabouts that night, James was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He maintained his innocence from day one, continuously writing letters for help, requesting appeals, and filing applications to reopen the evidence. Eventually, 26 years later, his pleas were heard—the Innocence Project of Texas, in cooperation with the Dallas DA’s new Conviction Integrity Unit, took his case. Woodard was released in 2008, after serving almost 28 years in prison.

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“She felt no remorse for drawing blood. In the context of their relationship, it had its place.”

For Max and Laurel, nothing is off limits when they meet in room 553. Their illicit affair is exhilarating, passionate—and dangerous.

Driven as much by compulsion as pleasure, Max can’t stop. His mistress is Jesus on the streets, and Satan in the sack. But when things take a sharp and sudden turn for the worse, he finds himself ensnared in a trap of his own making.

Under heavy scrutiny by the police and the media, Max is hailed as a cold and evasive womanizer. He made mistakes, to be sure. But does that make him a killer?

Unnerving and addictive, Room 553 is a vivid and sensual psychological thriller that weaves a story of cruelty, reckless desire, and blind, bloody justice.

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