Author Got Blood on Her Boots, Then Wrote a Mystery Thriller;

Mentor Lee Child Offers Novelist Praise

If J.T. Ellison was going to write a good, solid thriller…a really high-caliber thriller…she knew she needed to conduct research. She had to see homicide work up close.

She did. The end result is her widely praised debut ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS (Mira Books).

Her ride-alongs with midnight patrol and Nashville Homicide provided Ellison the knowledge and depth to weave lead character/determined homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson with suspenseful twists and drama as she searches for a serial killer on the streets of Nashville.

“When I started writing the book I realized I didn’t have the background to write the story I wanted to depict.” said Ellison. “The bulk of my experience was reading crime fiction. I knew I needed more research to make the characters rich and realistic.”
She contacted the Nashville Homicide office, and the department not only answered her many questions but invited Ellison to ride along with a Homicide detective. She also went on midnight patrol with an officer. The entire experience provided Ellison with incredible background and detail, while also testing her nerve.

“Midnight patrol is where it happens,” said J.T. “The officer got a call, we ran to the squad car, buckled up and took off. We were headed to a stabbing in the Nashville projects. We got there and I’m following the officer, elbowing my way through a crowd of onlookers. Then I see this guy lying on the ground bleeding with his intestines hanging out. His family is standing around him, staring.

“When it was all over, I looked down and saw his blood on my boots. That made everything very real. The victim died,” Ellison recalled.
“Over the course of the ride-alongs, I got oodles of information… what to do at crime scenes, learned about weaponry. We busted a john, looked at crack houses at three in the morning… the police department was incredible to work with and answered endless questions. In writing the book it was important to me to do their work justice,” said the author. “I wanted to do it right and make their work real.”
J.T. Ellison accomplished that in her page-turning debut thriller, the first of a series for Mira Books. As an ongoing lead, Taylor Jackson is tough, determined and attractive. Her love interest, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, joins her in the investigation for the vicious murderer.

Along the way Ellison was mentored by one of her literary heroes, best-selling author Lee Child. He offered great praise for the author of ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS.

Said Child: “J.T. paints the feel, the context, the background, with deft, subtle, unforced strokes. She develops nuance, character and plot effortlessly. She’s got talent and self-confidence, a truly winning combination.” She lists Child, John Sanford, John Connolly and Michael Connelly as her favorite authors.

Ellison has been an active leader in the crime writing community. She’s one of the founders of the KILLER YEAR, promoting the best debut crime/thriller/suspense authors of 2007. Her short stories have appeared in Demolition Magazine, Flashing In the Gutters, Mouth Full of Bullets and Spinetingler Magazine, and the upcoming anthology KILLER YEAR, edited by Child. She’s also a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters In Crime and Bodacious Music City Wordsmiths.

She and her husband reside in Nashville.