Magnolia State author and former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Randy Pierce will return to Starkville Thursday to promote his latest book, “The Peter Bay,” at the Starkville Friends of the Library meeting and the Book Mart & Cafe.
Pierce said he drew on his experience in the legal field to write the courtroom drama, a sequel to Pierce’s first book, a self-published novel, “Pain Unforgiven,” which has been reedited and will be re-released alongside “The Peter Bay.”
Pierce’s newest book reintroduces readers to characters from “Pain Unforgiven,” including the continued story of attorney Grant Hicks who is living in a small town in South Mississippi. In the new book, Hicks reluctantly agrees to defend a childhood friend accused of murder.
The book is a little more fast-paced than its prequel, Pierce said, and has plot twists that “Pain Unforgiven,” which was driven primarily by relationships between characters, didn’t have.
“Now (in) “The Peter Bay,” the reader and the people that love Grant will be able to see him in action more (in) more of your typical style of a legal thriller,” Pierce said.
Pierce is as excited for readers to see his latest work and the re-release of “Pain Unforgiven,” which was first published in 2010. At the suggestion of his editor and publisher, Joe Lee, head publisher at Dogwood Press, Pierce began editing “Pain Unforgiven” while Lee was looking over “The Peter Bay.”
Pierce said “Pain Unforgiven” has always had fans, but six years on from initial publication he recognizes that the book wasn’t as well written as it could have been, calling it “overwritten”. He made his own edits, cutting several thousand words, and sent the new version of the story to Lee who also took his pen to it.
“We removed 17,000 words and it didn’t affect the arc of the story,” Pierce said.
The result is a better written “tighter book,” Pierce said. He’s eager to see the reactions of old fans to the new edition.
Already working on his fourth book, Pierce said he got into writing because he realized that he needed to do something other than work. “Write a novel” had always been on his bucket list, he said so he began writing a manuscript about six years ago and ended up enjoying the writing process so much that he has not stopped. He initially planned on writing a legal thriller when he first penned “Pain Unforgiven,” but it ended up being a “redemptive story” instead, he said. Now, “The Peter Bay” is the story he originally intended to write all along. He wants people to laugh and cry reading his books, as well as experience the sounds, smells and sights of Mississippi.
“I like writing books that move people,” he said.
Pierce is the director of the Mississippi Judicial College in Oxford. In addition to “Pain Unforgiven” and “The Peter Bay,” he has written Magnolia Mud, a novel about a Mississippi governor’s race. He will speak at the Starkville Public Library Thursday from noon-1 p.m. and will sign copies of his books from 3-5 p.m. at the Book Mart & Cafe.
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