Springfield author's book with James Patterson hits No. 2 on New York Times Best Seller list

Andrew Sullender
Springfield News-Leader
Cover art for "The Jailhouse Lawyer" by James Patterson and Nancy Allen

Three years after topping the New York Times bestseller list, Springfield author Nancy Allen made the list again this week — this time at the No. 2 spot for her legal thriller "The Jailhouse Lawyer."

"I am feeling fabulous about lucky No. 2," Allen told the News-Leader. "It is different because when it happened in 2018, I was so bowled over by making No. 1, the experience was hard to get my head around it. But this time, now that it has happened for the second time in 2021, I'm able to enjoy it more."

Co-written by bestseller James Patterson, "The Jailhouse Lawyer" was only beat out by Liane Moriarty, author of "Big Little Lies."

Allen's previous bestseller "Juror #3" was also co-written by Patterson, who has sold more than 300 million copies of his books — making him one of the most successful authors of all-time.

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Allen said she celebrated her success by "going out on the town" in Springfield with her husband, who she credited with convincing her to make the leap into writing after a career in law.

As a lawyer, Allen served as assistant Green County prosecutor before teaching at Missouri State University.

Allen said she didn't start writing fiction until her 50s.

"I had always wanted to write a novel because I was an English major back when I got my degree at MSU in the 1970s. And so one day I decided I was going to write," she said.

That novel was the first in her "Code of the Hills" series, which is a legal thriller and mystery set in the Missouri Ozarks.

Allen calls herself a "self-taught" writer but credits much of what she has learned to her collaborations with Patterson.

"He has taught me more than I can even tell you. And it is the kind of experience that money can't buy. And not only that, I'm being paid for it," Allen said. "The opportunity to work with the most successful writer in the world, and that title belongs to James Patterson alone, has been an enormous privilege, but also an education."

"The Jailhouse Lawyer" tells the story of a public defender who "tries to do her job and ends up in jail."

While set in Alabama, Allen said the genesis of the novel came from a 2019 Missouri state Supreme Court ruling.

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That case banned the use of debtors prisons in Missouri — ruling that judges cannot threaten defendants with more jail time over an inability to pay jail fines.

Allen said "The Jailhouse Lawyer" centers around poor defendants who face this very issue.

"We talk about the abuses being subjected by the debtors' prisons that are all over our country. Most people don't know that this is going on, and we were able to shine a light on it, and expose that problem in our justice system," Allen said. 

See Nancy Allen talk about her book at the Springfield Public Library

Allen added she will be hosting a conversation with St. Louis Post-Dispatch Columnist Tony Messenger, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the topic, at the Springfield Public Library on Dec. 7.

Given Springfield's high rate of COVID-19 cases over the summer, Allen declined to host any book signings. Instead, signed copies of her book are available at the Pagination Bookstore and Springfield Barnes & Noble.

Allen and Patterson are already working on their next collaboration, and she has a solo book coming out next year titled "Renegade."

"I am very fortunate, indeed," Allen said of her writing career.