Why I Wrote

Her Father’s Honor

Her Father’s Honor begins with a question.

What happens when a lawyer spends his entire career teaching his daughter to believe in the justice system, only to become the person standing trial?

For thirty-seven years I practiced construction law. During that time I worked with hundreds of lawyers, watched trials unfold, and learned something that rarely appears in fiction. Lawyers do not merely carry cases home with them. They carry expectations, reputations, and family legacies.

Children of lawyers often grow up seeing their parents as larger-than-life figures. They watch them command conference rooms, argue motions, and solve problems that seem impossible. It can take decades to realize that the people who taught us how to succeed may also have made choices they regret.

That idea became the foundation for Her Father’s Honor.

Roberto Sánchez is not simply a defendant accused of jury tampering. He is a father who spent a lifetime winning cases and shaping his daughter’s understanding of justice. Gabriela Sánchez is not simply his lawyer. She is a daughter trying to reconcile the man she admires with allegations that threaten everything he built.

I was interested in exploring questions that have no easy answers.

How much should adult children trust their parents?

Can loyalty coexist with a search for the truth?

If someone you love insists they are innocent, how much evidence would it take before you begin to doubt them?

The courtroom scenes in the novel are important, but they are not the heart of the story. The heart of the story is the relationship between Gabriela and Roberto. Every filing, deposition, and witness examination ultimately leads back to one question:

Does Gabriela truly know her father?

Readers who enjoy courtroom dramas will find a federal prosecution, trial strategy, and high-stakes testimony. I hope they will also find something more enduring: a story about family, aging, disappointment, forgiveness, and the difficult process of seeing our parents as human beings.