About
Scott E. Sundby is a law professor who specializes in helping capital defense lawyers tell their client’s life story to the jury in a way that avoids a death sentence. His non-fiction book A LIFE AND DEATH DECISION: A JURY WEIGHS THE DEATH PENALTY (Palgrave/St. Martin’s Griffin) received a “Highly Recommended” by Choice and was a finalist for the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award. His children’s book CUT DOWN TO SIZE AT HIGH NOON (Charlesbridge/Scholastic) is the hair-raising tale of a haircutting showdown between two barbers in the Old West. His debut novel WORDSWORTH IN BOGOTÁ: A NOVEL (Black Rose Writing) tells the story of a son, Esteban, who spurned his father's narcotics empire to pursue his love of literature, only to now find himself the reluctant savior of the family's crumbling fortunes. Staging an international poetry conference to smuggle cocaine, Esteban changes a number of lives as he plays cat-and-mouse with the DEA. The Godfather with a sense of humor, WORDSWORTH IN BOGOTÁ celebrates those willing to stumble their way to a rejuvenated understanding of relationships and what really matters. WORDSWORTH IN BOGOTÁ is now available for pre-order.
Featured Work
WORDSWORTH IN BOGOTÁ
Father–son relationships are rarely easy and certainly not when the son’s first love is Shakespeare and the father is the kingpin of a drug empire. Esteban Velasquez, however, manages to forge a frosty détente with his father—he studies literature abroad while his father grooms his older brother as the heir.
Now, though, the empire faces imminent collapse, and the old go-tos of bribery and making key competitors “disappear” are no longer working. It falls to Esteban to use his literary talents to save the family’s fortune. Devising an ingenious plan, he wagers the last of his family’s fortune to stage an international poetry conference—Wordsworth in Bogotá—in an effort to outwit the DEA. But in doing so, he must make choices that will forever change the lives of friends and family.
An international crime mystery told with humor and compassion, Wordsworth in Bogotá introduces a memorable cast of characters, from DEA agents discovering their “inner poets” to restless professors yearning to be individuals of action, not letters. Far more than a tale of drug smuggling, this is a story celebrating those who stumble their way to an understanding of what really matters.
