National civil rights attorney Ben Crump has penned a seven-figure deal with Bantam Books to write a series of crime novels centered on a Black civil rights attorney.
The series will follow Beau Lee Cooper, a Black civil rights attorney who will “tackle cases of corruption and injustice while celebrating Black love and resilience.”
“I feel it’s important to introduce a charismatic figure to the world who shows the realities of the legal landscape and the justice system through the eyes and experiences of the marginalized and the voiceless,” Crump told Variety, which first broke the news.
“A person of color who allows readers to step into an expansive universe of characters they may never otherwise notice or understand and, in the process, hopefully be inspired to broaden their perspectives and even decide to play a part in moving society towards true justice for all,” he added.
As part of the deal, Bantam Books — which is owned by Random House and has published writings by authors like Maya Angelou, Ray Bradbury and Louis L’Amour — will publish the first two installments of Crump’s crime series.
“I’m excited to share this series, informed by my decades of courtroom experiences and personal relegations, with the world!” he wrote in a statement on Instagram.
Crump, who has represented and won settlements for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Henrietta Lacks, the residents of Flint, Mich., and others, has been nicknamed “Black America’s attorney general” by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
But, he told The Daily Beast, there are “no Black superpower lawyers” in many of today’s legal thrillers.
“Traditionally, you have the legal thrillers that focus on the ‘who did it,'” Crump said. “Well, what I am introducing is the ‘why did it.’”
“And that is going to be a riveting thing when you break down society through an entertaining cast of characters to not only understand how the injustice happened but why it is happening and how we overcame it,” he added.