For most of his life, R. J. Figura wrote ordinances, legal opinions, briefs and statutes. Now, after more than 50 years practicing law, the retired attorney finally got around to publishing his debut novel, “A Murder in God’s Country.” Released on June 9, the northern Michigan mystery is the culmination of decades of work.
“It all started back in 1980, when our family was on a one week vacation and staying in a little cabin on Glen Lake…it was loaded with paperbacks and at the time I had never read anything by Agatha Christie,” Figura explained. “I became hooked on Agatha Christie and so called cozy murder mysteries, and so I decided 15 years later that I would try to write one.”
Figura began writing in 1995 but the demands of a legal career and raising a family repeatedly pulled him away from the project. “That’s why the events in the book take place in the mid 90s,” he said.
