It wasn't until after World War II that the Supreme Court finally ruled women should serve on juries. Almost a decade later in 1957, it still took Twelve Angry Men to acquit an innocent man. Is it any wonder, then, that in 1952 it would take eleven angry men plus one curvaceous lady-librarian to save an innocent woman?

That curvaceous juror is Verdict: Déjà Vu 's 28-year-old Miss T. Iris Ginge. Iris has the curves of a “living doll,” a nun’s scruples, and a War Department decoder’s mind. (Kate Beckinsdale, perhaps?)

I would be pleased to provide you samples of Verdict: Déjà Vu and even more pleased to send the complete manuscript (about 100,000 words).

To avoid giving away the ending of the mystery in a plot synopsis, I can provide you with a taste of the slightly tongue-in-cheek style of Verdict Déjà Vu, as well as a demonstration of my plot-development approach with a short story ("The Odds of Death") featuring my protagonist and her sidekick. (A 6,000 word synopsis is available for you to give to editors.)

I have uploaded the sample documents and “The Odds of Death” to Adobe’s new, secure www.Acrobat.com (a convenient way to get around the problem of awkward email formatting and firewalls that chew up attachments). As soon as you request these materials, I will email you a private link to the documents.

Verdict Déjà Vu isn't just another cozy with a great librarian sleuth. It's unique: a noir courtroom drama from the juror's point of view.

It’s the Post-War Era, the Fifties, the era of no gray areas. Everything is good or evil, black or white: people, police cars, nuns’ habits, nurses’ caps. Cuba is little more than a big American casino and Castro no more than a clean-shaven, young shyster. It's an era when Cubans can still be millionaires and fly first-class to Chicago. Unfortunately for one retired Cuban millionaire, he can also be found murdered in a suburban driveway with his skull punctured in three places like a bowling ball.

After the cops discover wealthy Cuban émigré Maria Alvarez drenched in her elderly husband’s blood, her trial becomes the hottest circus-ticket in Chicago. The press buzzes about the sole lady juror, a librarian with a photographic memory. When she refuses to convict the “Bloody Mama,” all hell breaks loose: Iris is accused of selling her vote, threatened with death, stalked, and finally hit with the mother-of-all long-suppressed memories of the day her cop father was convicted of corruption and killed in a barrage of bullets escaping from Cook County Jail. More than one person in Cook County has something to hide, including P.I.-wannabe meter maid, Calamity McClurg, who volunteers to help Iris “investigate.” From then on, Iris has no choice but to follow the breadcrumbs where they lead—into a Grimm’s fairytale of memories, where fathers betray daughters and daughters seek revenge.

***

I'm a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature (University of Chicago), a nonfiction book author, and a short-story author, including three stories in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. The latest is reviewed at: http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook51914.htm .

My website and Publisher's Marketplace listing explain my credentials:

www.ccmambretti.com
www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/ccmambretti.html

Like my protagonist, I was traumatized by service on a criminal jury. As catharsis, I now take "the talking cure" on a widely read blog about jury duty, which I call "Postcard Mysteries":

http://blog.ccmambretti.com/

Please email me at ccm@ccmambretti.com to:

__ Request a partial and “The Odds of Death.” (I will promptly give you access to the secure www.Acrobat.com environment, where you can download any of the documents you wish.)

__ Request the complete manuscript in electronic form or paper form.

This writer is looking for an agent.

Dr. Susan Sunwolf wrote about my novel "The Juror Investigates" (a.k.a. VERDICT: DEJA VU):

Insert low bow of appreciation [HERE] for bringing to the spotlight the problem of hung juries! Two decades of being a trial lawyer and one decade of being an academic scholar studying juries tells me that the important thing is that JURORS feel a hung jury is a failure [consequently, I spent considerable time in my national trial advocacy teaching attempting to help attorneys address the issue]. I'm anxious to read your work [scurrying off to Amazon].

The webzine "Guide to Classic Mysteries and Detection" (http://members.aol.com/MG4273/classics.htm) says of my short story "Dead of Winter" (AHMM, Dec. 2007):

Catherine Mambretti's "Dead of Winter" (2007) is an impossible crime story, set in 1609 Virginia. The characters include Pocahontas, and the sleuth is the Native American shaman Redhunt. The historical detail is rich and fascinating. The murder is a variation on a known gimmick, but original in its plot use to create this sort of "no footprints near" impossible crime.

Fictionwise reviewed the ebook version:

Catherine Mambretti brings to life the period of the early European settlement of America in the "Dead of Winter." When Kokoum, husband of Powhatan Princess Pocahantas, is found dead in the woods, suspicion falls first on the starving white "cutthroats," then on Edward, a white slave of the Powhatans, and finally on Pocahantas herself, before the shaman Redhunt, Edward's master, determines what truly happened.

"Dead of Winter," a short story set in 1609 Jamestown appeared in the December 2007 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

Three of my short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, one of which was a finalist for the 2003 Derringer (Long Short Story category). My screenplay, “Come Slowly, Eden” was a quarterfinalist for the 2000 New Century Writers Award. I’m the author of two well-reviewed nonfiction books on educational technology published by McFarland & Company, Inc. (Internet Technology for Schools [2000] and CD-ROM Technology for LIbrarians and Educators [1998]). My unpublished dissertation (1979) was the first critical edition (that is, a "definitive" edition) of the poetry of Katherine Phillips, a.k.a. "The Matchless Orinda," and is widely cited in scholarship to this day. I discovered two previously unknown manuscript poems by Phillips. Several of my articles have appeared in peer-reviewed journals, including an article on the history of medicine in Clio Medica and one on the French influence on 17th century English theater in Comparative Literature. My articles on women anti-suffragists are also widely cited.

I have a Ph.D. from The University of Chicago in English Language and Literature (with specialization in textual criticism and 17th century literature). I have been an editor for The University of Chicago Journals Department, specializing in math, science, and medical copyediting. I have been a video scriptwriter in the computer and corporate training industries. I am a successful entrepreneur and consultant in the field of computer-based training and interactive learning software.

1. "THE POSTHUMOUS WIFE" (literary fiction, about 100,000 words)

"The Posthumous Wife" is set in the Golden Age of Holland against a backdrop of predictions of the End of Days. In tone, it echoes The Girl with a Pearl Earring; in scope it’s Gone with the Wind. It includes healthy doses of historical mystery, spy thriller (spies for the Inquisition), and courtroom drama (a rabbinical bet din).

Ruta, a Portuguese Jewish bride in 1666 Amsterdam, struggles to free herself from her family’s stifling control. After her husband’s ship sinks, Ruta must prove he’s dead or remain forever an agunah (a missing man’s abandoned wife), unable to remarry—unable to do anything without her domineering brother-in-law Maximino’s permission. As soon as she finds the proof of death she needs, Max asserts his levir’s right to marry her. But owning Ruta body and soul isn’t all Max wants. He wants to destroy the entire Dutch Jewish community. Ruta’s only hope is to expose Max as a Catholic king’s secret agent. (Yes, there really were Inquisition spies in European Jewish communities.)

"The Posthumous Wife" was inspired by a rather traumatic trip to Amsterdam during the week of 9/11, 2001. The next day I spent in the Jewish Historical Museum researching my Sephardic Jewish grandfather’s family, where I came across a charming 17th century engraving of a gentleman kneeling to place a chalitsa shoe on a lady’s foot. It led me to the fascinating story of Amsterdam’s Jewish Quarter. After that, themes of freedom of conscience, religious intolerance, and women’s roles in the Judeo-Christian tradition evolved slowly into the story of Ruta Massa, "The Posthumous Wife."

2. "VERDICT: DEJA VU" (mystery, about 100,000 words)(FIRST IN A SERIES OF 'JUROR' MYSTERIES)

VERDICT: DEJA VU (a.k.a. "The Juror Investigates") is a tongue-in-cheek noir. It’s a courtroom drama from the juror’s point of view with a prissy librarian sleuth named Iris and a loose-cannon, meter-maid sidekick named Calamity.

Miss T. Iris Ginge has the curves of a “living doll,” a nun’s scruples, a War Department decoder’s mind, and a librarian’s reading glasses dangling from a chain around her neck. It’s the Post-War Era, the Fifties, before Las Vegas became Vegas. Everything that happens in Havana doesn’t stay in Havana—or, for that matter, in Chicago. It’s the era of no gray areas. Everything is good or evil, black or white: people, police cars, nuns’ habits, nurses’ caps. Cuba’s little more than a big American casino, and Castro no more than a clean-shaven, young shyster. Cubans can still be millionaires and fly first-class to Chicago. Unfortunately for one retired Cuban millionaire, he can also be found murdered in a suburban driveway with his skull punctured in three places like a bowling ball.

After the cops discover Cuban émigré Maria Alvarez drenched in her elderly husband’s blood, the “Cuban Bloody Mama” trial becomes the hottest circus-ticket in Chicago. The press buzzes about the sole lady juror, librarian Iris Ginge. But when she refuses to convict the “Bloody Mama,” all hell breaks loose: Iris is accused of selling her vote, threatened with death, stalked, and finally hit with the mother-of-all déjà vu flashbacks to the day her cop father was convicted of corruption and killed in a barrage of bullets escaping from Cook County Jail. From then on, Iris has no choice but to follow the breadcrumbs where they lead—into a dark Grimm’s fairytale of memories, where fathers betray daughters and daughters seek revenge.

VERDICT: DEJA VU evolved out of my own experience as a juror in a kidnapping and sexual-assault trial in Cook County Criminal Courthouse, where Al Capone was arraigned in 1931 (and where my protagonist’s father was convicted of corruption). After my jury duty, I knew I had to write about the peculiar criminal justice system. I’d been thinking about a librarian-sleuth for some time—libraries and librarians are a built-in market for mysteries. Then I realized that a juror also has great sleuthing potential, and the millions of people who’ve served on juries or been summoned to serve are another big, natural market.

See my "Postcard-sized Mysteries" blog ("all things jury and crime") at http://blog.cccmambretti.com for Jury Expert Dr. Susan Sunwolf's comment on how eager she is to read this book. (If only she could.)