Breach of trust

She soon found that wasn’t working for her, and went back to working at the kitchen table. She has since written three more superb thrillers at this table, drawing on her 12 years of experience as a federal sex crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C.

“I guess I’m a creature of habit,” said Leotta in an interview with City Pulse from her home just outside Washington.

The title of her newest book, “A Good Killing,” hints of what is to come. Protagonist Anna Curtis returns home to Michigan to defend her sister, Jody, who is accused of killing a high school football coach who is beloved in the community.

As Anna delves into the life of the coach, she discovers some disturbing signs that suggest a pattern of abusing young women — but she also discovers that her sister may also have an ugly secret, which amps up the tension dramatically.

Leotta points to the 2011 case of Jerry Sandusky, former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach and convicted serial child molester, as the inspiration for her newest novel.

“The coach who molests his students is scarier than a rapist in the bushes,” she said. “He has access and trust. As a mom, I can tell you we talk about these things with other moms.”

Leotta said hardest part of writing her novels is the court scenes, which are elaborate, realistic and dramatic.

“They deal with some hard subject matter, and I have to get them right,” she said. "Especially since I was a prosecutor.”

In the novel, Anna returns to her hometown, the fictional Holly Grove, and discovers that all is not as it seems. Someone, possibly her sister, may have murdered the beloved football coach Owen Fowler, who has led the city’s football team to several state championships. Her sister was the last person to see him alive, and she admits to having an affair with the coach.

As Leotta explores issues of modern vengeance and justice, her character’s high standards are thrown into conflicts which may change them forever. The case pits Anna and her sister against an entire town, and the death threats come hard and fast.

In a great little twist, the sisters find a friend in social media. A figure named Anonymous enters the fray, looking deeper into some real estate transactions involving the murdered coach.

Leotta also has written Detroit, with both its problems and hope, into the book in the character of Cooper Bolden. Cooper is a childhood friend who has returned home from the Afghanistan conflict as an amputee. He has set up in Detroit as an urban farmer, and is soon a paramour to Anna, who had walked out on an impending marriage back in Washington.

Leotta, a graduate of MSU and Harvard Law School, draws heavily on her experience as a federal prosecutor. She said that cases like the one described in her book “happen all the time.”

“I hate to say it, but this subject (of rape by a trusted advisor) is always topical,” said Leotta. “In the ‘50s and ‘60s we didn’t hear about it, but it’s coming out of the shadows. Talking about Bill Cosby and Jerry Sandusky is a good thing.”

She attributes society’s openness to discussion partly to the Catholic Church’s scandals with priests abusing young boys.

“At the time, we had a hard time believing a priest would do that,” said Leotta. “But that threshold has been crossed, allowing us to believe the worst.”

Leotta, who grew up in Farmington Hills, said that although Holly Grove is fictional, some scenes in the book were drawn from childhood visits to her grandmother’s farm in Deckerville.

“I thought about that landscape when I was writing the book,” she said.

Leotta is returning to Michigan for a whirlwind book tour, visiting five cities in five days.

Unlike many authors, who despise or are indifferent to book tours, Leotta loves them.

“As a prosecutor, I was with people all day. As a novelist I’m alone all day. If I am with someone I’m not doing my job,” she said. “On tour, I meet my readers and get to talk with them, unlike when I’m writing and not using my vocal cords all day.”

Leotta’s next book, also set in Michigan, is about university campus rape and it will be on the way to her editor by the time she makes her trip to Michigan.

As a mother and a prosecutor, Leotta offers this advice: “We should be talking to our young children about ‘good-touch/bad-touch,’ and be on the alert for the little signals in children’s behavior that there may be something wrong.”

Allison Leotta

Book talk and signing 7 p.m. Monday, May 18 FREE Schuler Books, Meridian Mall 1982 E. Grand River Ave., Okemos (517) 349-8840, schulerbooks.com