O’Brien’s Desk
My journey to writing novels began with a scrapbook. Inside the leather-bound memento were hundreds of yellowed news clippings, family secrets, and an introduction to Sarah Kaufman, a remarkable civic leader who would become my fictional sleuth for three books. The revelatory material opened a door that led me back to the 1920s, to famous and unknown courtrooms, to forgotten, overlooked, or suppressed history, to mysteries waiting to be solved.
Sarah Kaufman
Judge O’Brien O’Donnell is a beloved public figure, presiding over a range of important Ohio court cases. Progressive, compassionate, ahead of his time, he advocates for female suffrage, for rehabilitation over punishment, and is founding member of the NAACP. His name is even mentioned as a Democratic candidate for president. The people love him, the press follows his every move. But when he ends up nearly dead in a psychiatric ward, it is only his colleague Sarah Kaufman who is determined to discover why.
Robert Penn Warren Fiction Award nominee
"An intriguing and thoroughly researched story that gives us insight into the moral dilemmas of 20th Century America. A well-told story that does not leave us with easy answers."
"Sarah Kaufman is an engaging protagonist, thrust into an authentic, sociologically driven mystery involving issues which still resonate today. The author handles the societal attitudes of the period with a sure and sympathetic hand, and with an eye for their parallels in the 21st century."
"O'Brien's Desk is a terrific read because of its riveting story and because so much of the author's identity is invested in the events it so vividly portrays."
"This is an engaging example of that popular cross-genre, the history/mystery...The daily details, smoothly integrated into narrative, give her tale a pleasing, authentic ring...Sarah's crusade to save her beloved bosses' sanity (and his job) in the middle of an election year draws her down some enjoyably puzzling paths."
"When one of Ohio's most well-known judges fathers his first and only child, a blackmailer precipitates a chain of events resulting in the judge's near-fatal breakdown. The judge's most trusted friend and colleague, Sarah Kaufman, must unravel the clues behind the machinations. Confronted at every turn by polarized forces ranging from progressive reform vs. political corruption to racial tolerance set against sanctioned bigotry, she learns that the secret of the judge's success lay in balancing and compromising between these forces...a role that eventually made him a target, and now she is next. A thrilling, suspense-filled, and vibrantly told novel."
"Author Ona Russell has woven an intricate mystery around real people and events in Toledo during the first part of the 20th century. She has blended historical fact with fiction to create an intriguing story of the blackmailing of a prominent judge."
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