Local lawyer Woody Hanstein’s fourth novel is selling well.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – Local trial lawyer Woody Hanstein’s fourth novel has all the ingredients of a legal thriller: murder, tattooed thugs, embezzlement, sex, drugs and even a little Patsy Cline.

Readers in Farmington apparently think “Mistrial” has all the ingredients too. It sold 25 copies in the first five days it was on the shelves at Devaney Doak and Garrett, an independent bookseller in downtown Farmington.

“People aren’t just reading this book out of any local social obligation,” said bookshop owner Kenny Brechner. “People have been waiting for this for a long time. There is certainly far more interest for this than a lot of titles.”

“Mistrial” follows Pete Morris, a small-town lawyer in the fictional town of Piedmont, who finds himself searching for the truth after a seemingly simple operating under the influence case turns out to be part of something bigger.

What separates “Mistrial” from the long docket of mysteries out on the market is Hanstein’s sense of reality and his setting.

“It’s rooted in real life,” Brechner explained. “He creates a very genuine atmosphere. It’s a good old-fashioned hard-boiled mystery.”

Unlike cookie-cutter mysteries where the plot is as transparent as Saran Wrap, the conclusions of Hanstein’s novels don’t all add up. That’s on purpose, the author said.

“I don’t think in life, especially in criminal cases, everything is neat in the end. Life just isn’t that pat,” Hanstein explained.

And although certain descriptions of the town of Piedmont, like the warm people or its location near the Canadian border sound a bit like Hanstein’s hometown of Farmington, it is a fictional place, he stressed.

Brechner said what makes Hanstein a good writer is he sticks true to writing what he knows. But Hanstein isn’t Pete Morris and the cases and the criminals he writes about aren’t from his own practice.

“I’ve had much stranger cases than I could even imagine let alone write about,” he joked, admitting though that his law career does carry over to his writing. “A good trial lawyer is a storyteller. You really got to pick the right words.”

An adjunct law professor at the University of Maine at Farmington and that college’s men’s rugby team coach, Hanstein had never taken a creative writing course before he entered into the ring of writing.

“I always liked reading, but I never really thought about writing until about five years ago,” he said.

He follows the motto stressed in all basic English composition classes – show don’t tell. He picked up that bit of wisdom at a writing conference a few summers back.

As a busy trial lawyer, Hanstein makes time to write. Sometimes he goes for stretches where he writes every day, other times, when his caseload is full, he’ll go for weeks without.

Hanstein said he doesn’t see himself quitting his law firm any time soon to become a professional word peddler. But, if a big city publishing house or Hollywood came knocking at his door, Hanstein said he would definitely let them in. “I certainly wouldn’t turn down fame and fortune,” he admitted. “But it’s not beating a path to the door.”

For now, he’s content to enjoy the small victories he’s had in the court of literature: A student in one of his kid’s classes wrote a book report on one of his novels, and during a recent busy day in court, the judge called him over and asked when his next book was coming out. For Hanstein, that legitimizes what he is doing.

There will be a party celebrating “Mistrial,” published by Audenreed Press of Brunswick, and its author at Devaney, Doak and Garrett at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec 5.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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