Author Spotlight: Judith Fournie Helms

Judith Fournie Helms grew up in southern Illinois, and attended college and law school in Chicago. She became a founding partner of a law firm based in Chicago with offices on both coasts, and was recognized as a ‘super lawyer” and a “leading lawyer” by her peers.

Retired from the practice of law after thirty-three years, Judith now lives and writes fiction in Virginia where she lives with her husband, also a writer. They have two daughters, one biological and one adopted, and three granddaughters. She is passionate about women’s issues. As a result, her novels present female protagonists and cadres of female characters of every description.

 

I grew up in southern Illinois, then moved to Chicago for college and law school. I did spend a year trying to write plays between college and law school while working my day-job in a 100-year-old hardware store in downtown Chicago. When the play-writing  didn’t work out, I attended law school. There were few women in the law when I graduated in 1978. I was offered one position, took it, and fell more deeply for the law every day of my thirty-three-year career. I was fortunate to work with a group of people who became my dearest friends. We split off to form our own law firm in 1986. (I used that experience as background for my novel which is due to be released on September 3, 2025, “Statures of No Limitations.”) In 1979, I met my husband in court. (Yes. We were opponents). Now we’re planning our forty-fifth wedding anniversary and want to celebrate with our two daughters and their families. The girls are ten years apart. My infertility issues after our first daughter was born resulted in our adopting our second daughter. (Infertility is a theme in my debut novel, “The Toronto Embryo,” and in the murder mystery I’m now working on. And adoption is a central element of my fourth novel, “Blue Ridge to Bolivia,” which will be released after “Statures” by The Wild Rose Press.) My husband, Larry, is also a writer. Once we retired fourteen years ago and moved to Virginia to be near family, he joined a local writers’ group. I decided to give it a try. The moment I put pen to paper to create a short story to read to the group…I was hooked.

I try to write every day because creating stories and characters fills me with joy. When I’m not at my desk, I write stories in my head. What I love most about the process is how the characters take over the story. In other words, I may have a plan for what a character will do next, but it’s just as likely the character will refuse to do it, and insist on going in an entirely different direction. Like most writers I know, the pleasure is in the creation. It’s hard to pull ourselves away from that to “promote” our novels. But I do realize that it is a necessary part of the process. I recently heard a writer say that when she published her first book, she just sat and looked at Amazon to watch the sales mount up. Of course, there were none. Literally thousands of new books come out every year. That’s why I’m so grateful to Literal Literary for the opportunity to let you all know about my stories.

I think of my genre as Women’s Fiction. Many men have read my novels and said they’d enjoyed them, have recommended them, etc. But I’m most interested in exploring life from the perspective of my female characters. Female friendships seem to me to have both profound depth and, so often, the lightness of robust humor and delight. The next paragraph lists my published and upcoming books. You’ll see that one of them has a male protagonist. But the people whose reactions to this mysterious gentleman have the most serious consequences are the women in the community.

Grudge Tiger, soon to be re-released as The Case of the Grudge Tiger, tells the story of a family zoo fighting for survival when a young man is mauled when he enters the tiger cage, and files a lawsuit. The defense lawyer comes up with a creative theory, the zoo’s only hope. But it requires her to prove that the tiger “holds grudges.”

Statures of No Limitations, (RELEASE DATE 9/3/2025) features three women lawyers; a dwarf, an obese woman, and a “Barbie,” who face limitations in their practice of law because of their looks. Against the odds, and with humor as their touchstone, they start their own law firm. Their struggle challenges their careers, but the future of their friendship seems to be on a separate trajectory.

Blue Ridge to Bolivia is under contract with The Wild Rose Press, and is in process. A tragic auto accident in the Blue Ridge Mountains leads survivor Suzanne down a path to discovery that her true birth story is treated by everyone around her like a state secret. She enlists two women friends, a fellow attorney and a stand-up comic, to help her get to the bottom of the mystery–in Bolivia.

SEN presents a mysterious stranger moving into a mountain community. As soon as he arrives, residents begin to develop mysterious diseases. People die. But amiable Sen seems to keep busy creating his “clubs” and doing everything in his power to bring people together. Is he also hurting them? Why? (SEN is in the final editing process).

The Killing of the Professor. The woman lawyer protagonist in this, my first murder mystery, has a bad case of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Jane Baker’s drive for perfection leads her to make herself the prime suspect in the killing of a professor who had a history of abusing students. (The Killing of the Professor is in the final editing process).

The Killing of the Monsignor. (A sequel to The Killing of the Professor).  Jane Baker is back, now a public defender. Her first felony murder client is a woman with many secrets, and the obvious suspect. Jane’s boss has a different idea of their prospects and advises their client to plead guilty. How far will Jane go into insubordination (again fueled by her OCD) to do things her own way? (I’m still writing this one and having so much fun!)

               “I knew it would help to talk it out with Danni because she’s a wise woman–in spite of her inexperience with men. My old stomach ache was starting to come back, but I tried to ignore it. As Danni and I walked down the block toward the park, we came across a tall young woman holding hands with a little boy, probably four or five years old and wearing a t-shirt and shorts. No one else was around to witness it when he pointed at us and said, “Look, Mommy. A big and a little.”

                Still upset about Marnie, I immediately jumped down the mom’s throat. I walked up to her and said, “Ma’am, you really should teach your son not to comment out loud on people’s looks.”

                She leaned toward me and said softly, “He was talking about the dogs.”

                I looked down at my LITTLE standing a couple of feet from Danni’s BIG. “Oh, Sorry.” I hurried to escape the scene of my faux pas, requiring poor Danni to practically run to keep up with me….”