Running backs, wrongful convictions, and the Harlem of the West: an interview with Robert Justice

Kia ora and haere mai, welcome to the 236th instalment of author interview series, 9mm, which has been resurrected this year after largely going into hibernation and only occasionally emerging in 2021-2023, for a variety of personal reasons.

Thanks for reading and sharing the 9mm series, and Crime Watch in general (and my work elsewhere) over the years. I've had a lot of fun talking to some amazing crime writers and bringing their thoughts and stories to you. You can check out the full list of of past 9mm interviewees here. What a line-up. With lots more fun to come. Thanks everyone. 

If you've got a favourite crime or thriller writer who hasn't yet been part of the 9mm series, please let me know, and now I'm back on deck more fully, I'll look to make that happen for you. We've got several interviews with cool crime and thriller writers from several different countries 'already in the can' that will be published soon, so lots to look forward to in the coming weeks and months.

Today I'm very pleased to welcome to 9mm a rising star of US crime fiction, Denver author Robert Justice, whose debut novel They Can't Take Your Name was runner-up for the 2020 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award. A sequel, A Dream in the Dark, was recently published, continuing the fight of Liza Brown and Eli Stone against the scourge of wrongful convictions in a flawed criminal justice system.

Denver author Robert Justice, who
is passionate about righting the
scourge of wrongful convictions

Robert is the host of the Crime Writers of Color podcast, and works as a non-profit leader with over thirty years of leadership experience in meeting the holistic needs of people. As he says in the Author's Note to his debut, wrongful convictions are all too real in US criminal justice; conservative estimates of only 1-2% wrongful convictions may seem like an acceptable strike rate, ie 98-99% of convictions are 'safe', but with 2.5 million people in prison in the United States, that means even at the lowest estimates, there are tens of thousands of innocent people in prison! 

Robert is passionate about righting the wrongs of wrongful convictions (he notes that almost 2,500 men and women have already been exonerated in the USA through various means, totalling more than 21,000 years lost) and it is a subject that greatly impacts his crime novels. Robert donated a share of his advance and committed to giving a portion of all future proceeds to his favourite innocence project, The Korey Wise Innocence Project at the University of Colorado. He say, "The average cost to free an innocent person is enormous, and my hope is that this series of books will raise enough money that we might actually be able to say that together we had a part in somebody’s freedom."

You can read more about Robert Justice at his website, but for now he become the latest author to stare down the barrel of 9mm. 

9MM: AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT JUSTICE

Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

I have too many favorites! How do I choose between Attica Locke’s Darren Matthews; Mosley’s Joe King Oliver; Nadine Matheson’s Inspector Anjelica Henley; or Yasmine Angoe’s, Nena Knight?

Let’s go with my most recent favorite crime fiction hero, Glory Broussard, the wonderful creation of Danielle Arceneaux. Glory is an unfiltered, recently divorced, Black woman of a certain age who investigates murders while keeping tabs on her side hustle of as a bookie. What’s not to love?

Dallas Cowboys running back terrorised NFL
defences during his Hall of Fame career 

What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

In my youth, I stumbled upon the biography of Hall of Fame American football player Tony Dorsett and was transfixed. For the next few years, my single-minded goal in life was to play in the NFL, but then I read the biography of Olympian Eric Liddell, and running became my ultimate love. And then I read…

Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) - unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?

The decade prior to my debut novel, I wrote and published four non-fiction books on a variety of topics, including jazz. When I turned to writing novels, that’s also when I went with my pseudonym—Robert Justice - so as not to confuse my readers. My name is Robert and now I write about justice.

Outside of writing and writing-related activities (book events, publicity), what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?

I’m going to have to ignore the parameters of the question and go with writing! I work a demanding job in the non-profit sector meeting people’s basic human needs. It’s rewarding but can also take an emotional toll. Writing (and reading) allows me to rest from the demands of my day-to-day life, as I create new worlds. When I go on vacation, I rarely take a break from writing because it’s not work—writing is the way I unwind!

What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?

Five Points is the historic heart of Denver’s Black community and the setting for my Wrongful Conviction Novels. Before gentrification set in, this neighborhood was where African-Americans in the Mile-High City lived, shopped, attended church and found their doctors, lawyers, barbers and beauticians. In the center of Five Points is The Rossonian, a historic jazz club where all the greats played on their way through town. If you ever make it to Denver, be sure to swing through Five Points—the Harlem of the West.

If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?

Jeffrey Wright, for sure! In American Fiction, he portrayed a middle-age Black fiction writer with a salt and pepper beard. It wouldn’t be much of a leap for him to play me in a movie, though he’d have to add another two inches to his beard.

Of your writings, which is your favourite or a bit special to you for some particular reason, and why?

My latest novel, A DREAM IN THE DARK, feels pretty special. I never saw myself as a fiction writer and at some level the success of my debut, THEY CAN'T TAKE YOUR NAME, felt like a fluke. But now with the release of my second Wrongful Conviction Novel I’m starting to believe I can do this.

What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?

On the day when my debut, THEY CAN'T TAKE YOUR NAME, launched, I went to my local bookstore and to my surprise, my book was at the front of the store on the New Release shelf—face out! I spent the next couple of hours driving to other stores and taking pictures of my book on their shelves. That night I scrolled through my gallery with while sipping my favorite rum.

What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?

A man arrived late to my author talk, cradling a copy of my debut. As I spoke, tears streamed down his cheeks while he continued to hug my book close to his chest. At the signing table afterwards, he shared his wife had recently passed away and that my character, Eli (a man struggling to survive the death of his wife) was helping him face his own grief. We hugged and have kept in touch.

Kia ora, Robert, we appreciate you having a chat with Crime Watch. 

Have you read Robert Justice's wrongful conviction novels? Do you like how crime novels can explore real-life issues through the prism of page-turning fictional tales? Do you have any favourites of this ilk?