Mysteries of Judas – Lawyer puts down the legal pad to pen a novel

Twenty years ago, local lawyer Van R. Mayhall Jr. set out to read the Bible and the Koran in their entirety and became intrigued by the “logical inconsistencies” surrounding Judas. Like a criminal lawyer, he explains, “What Judas did wasn’t in doubt, but his motive and what happened to him afterwards was unclear.”

The mystery of Judas puzzled Mayhall, so he started writing. His debut thriller, Judas the Apostle, pits a language professor, Dr. Clotile Lejeune—estranged from her military father and her hometown of Madisonville for 25 years—against a nefarious billionaire over an ancient jar inscribed with Judas’s name. When Thibodeaux Lejeune is murdered in his home under strange circumstances, Cloe returns to Madisonville for the funeral with her soldier son J.E. She is bequeathed the earthen jar, which also interests the Vatican.

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Mayhall has practiced corporate and business law here for 40 years, now as a senior partner at Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP.

While two of Mayhall’s children are also lawyers, his daughter Robin is a writer (and copy editor for 225), and his father wrote a memoir about his experiences during WWII, Cranking Up a Fine War. “They instructed me,” he says. He knew he didn’t want to write nonfiction, but use the theological mystery of Judas as the “intellectual backbone” for a novel about family, faith and good over evil.

Soon, Mayhall was enjoying the writing process and his characters, who were created out of the places he wanted to write about, namely Madisonville, which is his wife Lorri’s hometown. “The book wouldn’t have been possible without her,” Mayhall says. “She read every draft and encouraged me at every step.”

Mayhall also credits the skills he learned as a lawyer, “discipline, the ability to solve problems and accomplish goals,” with helping him. He writes every day for an hour, usually on a yellow legal pad. He is already writing two follow-up books. The second will feature Cloe and many characters from the first, as well as the Sicarii, assassins intent on expelling the Romans. The third book focuses on the end of days and includes a twist on the story of the Seven Seals. Mayhall calls this one “truly creepy.”

Judas the Apostle is an iUniverse Rising Star selection and available through online book retailers.