From her sprawling ranch-style home not far from Lockewood Lane in Scotts Valley, novelist Christine Z. Mason beckons readers who enjoy intricate plotting, fascinating characters and an exciting story.
Mason’s new legal thriller, Weighing the Truth, leverages her extensive knowledge gained as the former chief attorney of the State Public Defender’s Office in Sacramento.
“I always thought I would write books,” says Mason, who has lived in Scotts Valley with her husband, Geoff, a UC Santa Cruz math professor, for 22 years. Her two children are now adults. “But I got side-tracked by becoming a lawyer.”
In truth, Mason has packed several careers in between lawyering and writing.
After earning her B.A. in English Literature with an Art Minor at UCLA, Mason studied Literature and Creative Writing at UCLA English Graduate School.
From there she served in the Peace Corps, teaching Art and Photography at the Community College of Micronesia on Pohnpei, Eastern Caroline Islands. While in Micronesia, Mason developed her first adventure story for grade-age children called The Mystery of Nan Madol.
In The Mystery of Nan Madol, a young girl attempts to discover who built the ancient, enormous stone city of Nan Madol. The book was used in the classroom in both Micronesia and locally at Brook Knoll Elementary School, using a reader’s guide written by Brook Knoll teacher Breta Holgers.
It took Mason three years to write her first full-length novel, Boundaries: A Love Story, whichwas published in 2013.
During this time she wrote with no outside input until the document reached 160,000 words. “I pushed it as far as I could on my own to keep it original,” said Mason, who gains inspiration from authors Tana French and Elizabeth George.
She then received valuable editing input from her local writing group, which provided valuable input during the revision process.
For Weighing the Truth, published in 2016, Mason dug into her years of experience as a lawyer. The book, which has received rave reviews from literary publications, revolves around a recently widowed Sacramento defense attorney and her struggles with a client on death row in San Quentin.
It is a painful but redemptive journey of self-discovery.
“I develop characters in an uncomfortable situation,” she says, referring to her writing process. “With Weighing the Truth I had a pretty good idea what I was going to write about.”
A member of the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association, Mason has written articles and book reviews and is active in the literary community.
In 2016 she co-presented a workshop at the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association Conference with author G. Elizabeth Kretchmer on creating villains and bad guys in fiction.
Mason is gearing up for a Bay Area book tour, which may be extended up to the Pacific Northwest.
