Hatred, Ridicule and Contempt is all about a UK libel case, set in Birmingham in the early nineties. Solicitor Alex Harris goes into battle on behalf of his newspaper client, the Black Country Herald, the defendant in an action brought by former footballer turned PR consultant and charity organiser Jonjo Donnelly, who took offence at an article in the newspaper about his aid convoy to Romania and a subsequent feature that allegedly tainted him even more. And at the same time Alex is faced with the need to go into battle on his own behalf when a petty internal professional dispute escalates and takes a distinct turn for the worse...
I first came up with the idea for Hatred, Ridicule and Contempt many years ago and was inspired to bring the project into fruition after a trip this summer to the Deep South of the USA, where coincidentally the greatest legal thriller writer of them all, John Grisham, has based many of his best works. Is there a niche for a new one set in the UK? I would like to think so.
