Melissa F. Miller Books In Order

Publication Order of Sasha McCandless Books

Publication Order of Aroostine Higgins Books

Publication Order of Bodhi King Books

Publication Order of Maisy Farley Books

Publication Order of Shenandoah Shadows Books

Publication Order of We Sisters Three Mysteries Books

Melissa F. Miller was born in Pennsylvania, US and describes herself as a mother, wife, attorney and crime fiction writer. The author has 3 children whom she admits to love very much. Melissa graduated with an English degree from University of Pennsylvania, with double concentration distinction in creative writing and medieval literature. After college, Miller worked as a part-time editor for 3yrs before joining law school. She holds a J.D certificate from Duquense Law School and has been practicing litigation since 1999, first in Pittsburgh then later on in Washington D.C.

In 2009, Melissa and her husband who’s also an attorney left their mutual firm and moved to South Central to start their own respective offices. The writer says that this gave her more time to concentrate on what she likes doing best and that’s putting pen to paper.

Though Miller was already living the dream of a successful lawyer, she still held onto her ambition of writing fiction novels. She’s the author of Sasha McCandless’ legal-thriller series published by the Brown Street Group. Other titles under her name include Irretrievably Broken, Indispensable Party and Improper Influence.

Irreparable Harm

This is the first legal thriller novel written by bestselling novelist Melissa F. Miller. It follows through the life of a young lawyer named Sasha McCandless in a fastpaced career full of opportunities and dangers alike. After 8 long years of waiting, the main character is about to partner with a prominent law firm and all she needs to do is keep her head low and pray that the deal would succeed.

However, when a small charterplane steered by one of her clients violently slams into a mountain killing everyone onboard, Sasha’s hopes are quickly washed away and instead she gears-up to defend the foreseeable civil lawsuits about to be filed. McCandless soon realizes that the crash wasn’t an accident, but instead the work of an unscrupulous software developer who has made an application that has the ability to control a plane’s steering from the smartphone.

The ambitious lawyer joins forces with a local federal flight marshal as they race towards apprehending the culprit, and preventing a similar disaster from happening in the near future. Nevertheless, people who are close to the case soon start dying mysteriously and Sasha fears for her life as well, she now has to use her legal mind as well as Krav Maga martial art skills to stop the lunatic before he makes her the next victim.

Miller’s Take On her First Novel

According to a recent interview, when Melissa decided to pen down a legal thriller she had already made plans that the lead character would be a young woman. Miller wanted to portray a picture that most women are underestimated in their professions, especially those who are in the field of law. In her book, she portrays Sasha as someone who’s looked down upon by her colleges just because she’s a small woman, but her sharp mind and dexterity soon puts all critics to silence. Even though all of Melissa’s stories are fictional, she incorporates a blend of fantasy with real-life places in her works so that readers can personally identify with the events taking place in each respective scene. The author has also done proper research to ensure that all law facts mentioned in the book are correct.

Most readers have positive comments about this book. Some say that for a first novel it’s highly polished and a true page-turner, it can grasp your attention from the first to last page without one feeling bored at any given moment. The characters are also deep and well-developed, especially Sasha who displays the strong and intelligent side of femininity.

Inadvertent Disclosure

Inadvertent Disclosure is the 2nd novel written by Melissa and follows up Sasha’s story from where it ended in the first publication. It’s been approximately 6 months since a mysterious plane crash altered the course of McCandless’ personal and professional life, she’s now focused towards rebuilding her solo legal practice and cultivating the relationship she has with marshal Leo Connelly, who had previously helped her stop the killer.

When the lead character drives from her hometown Pittsburgh to the rural area of Clear Brook Country, she arrives to find that the town is sharply divided over hydrofracking of oil and gas from the mineral-rich Marcellus Shale. Those that don’t hold a stake in the project as well as environmental activists portend to put a hold on the community’s delicate fabric, unless their demands are met by authorities concerned. Sooner than later, Brook County’s only active judge is assassinated and Sasha finds it hard to simply walk away and forget the case. She works tirelessly to find the culprit but at the same time races against time to ensure that this once peaceful town doesn’t fracture for good. Melissa has intelligently written this book in way that it smoothly blends with events found in the previous chapter, without skipping a scene or confusing the reader. Very few authors have the ability to write in such a detailed way.

Writing style

Melissa’s writing moves can be described as connected and moving in a nice steady pace, she purposely leaves readers in suspense after each chapter so that they can be interested in knowing what happens next from where they left. She uses detailed descriptors to draw attention towards readers so that they can catch where the action lies. Moreover, in spite of the realism found in her crime stoppers’ discourse there’s not even a single chapter with profane language, something that’s very rare in today’s secular literature. Those who have read her books can attest that she’s a master in storytelling, therefore it’s by no surprise that she won the 2012 National Fiction Writing Contest for Lawyers and Physicians with her debut literary work.

Like most writers do, Miller walks around with notepads everywhere she goes so that she doesn’t forget a point when an idea strikes. The author is presently working on a spin-off series with a theme that revolves around one of the characters in Sasha stories, but not McCandless herself. When Melissa F. Miller isn’t practicing law or enjoying some quality family time with her kids then you can bet she’s working on her next book. Just like her lead character “Sasha” she should not be underrated as a lawyer, and most importantly as a writer.

One Response to “Melissa F. Miller”

1. Celia Ann Boyd: 3 years ago

   I loved the Shenandoah Shadows series> Will there be more to it? Great reading.

   Reply