the
BOOKS
The Joe Dillard series spans
9 books.
“Pratt’s richly developed characters are vivid and believable, especially the strong Southern women...in this brilliantly executed debut.” - Publisher’s Weekly
2.4 million copies sold in the last two years and growing. “It’s Scott Turow and Grisham...maybe the most compelling I’ve read in a decade.” - Ken Bruen
29,000+ reviews on Amazon with a composite rating of 4.6 out of 5 “The trial scenes...are electric.” - Huffington Post Author Scott Pratt is ranked higher in the Amazon Store than Blake Crouch, John Grisham, and George RR Martin.
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the
SERIES
Legal Thriller Twelve 1hr Episodes in
Season 1
East Tennessee Attorney JOE DILLARD defends the worst of the worst - and feels guilty as sin. His newest client is a strip-club waitress accused of murdering a preacher. Joe believes she’s innocent, and will take on a corrupt legal system to prove it. But to do that, he’ll have to confront his own family demons, with his case - and life - in the balance.
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SOUTHERN NOIR
The homes, hills and forests of Appalachia hide
dark secrets.
Addiction is rampant. Preachers spend collection money at strip clubs. Sly madames record them. Cops and politicians scheme to win convictions. Killers and rapists go free. Families conceal years of abuse‌ But also, couples come together. Siblings reconcile. Second chances are earned.
APPALACHIAN JUSTICE will paint a stark portrait of suburban and rural America, offset by a warm Southern charm: like Breaking Bad meets Friday Night Lights.
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JOE
DILLARD
JOE DILLARD - 40s, East Tennessee defense attorney - a good man burdened by his past. Gets up early, walks out in his boxers to get the paper. In shape, drives a truck, uses too much mouthwash.
Raised by a single mom after dad was KIA in the army, Joe and big sister Sarah suffered years of abuse from their uncle - a cop - who raped Sarah when she was just nine and terrorized young Joe. They never told their mom - but she must have known. Joe kept silent out of fear and shame, today he’s wracked by guilt. He could have done more. He’s seen cases where victims have fought back, even killed their predators. So why didn’t he? As an attorney, Joe believes passionately that those in authority should play by their own rules. That’s why he defends even the most despicable clients - to keep corrupt cops, judges and prosecutors in check. His problem is that the system is rigged to value winning and money over the truth, and damn near everyone is a liar and a cheat. This enables Joe to find legal loopholes and free his clients or reduce their sentences... ...which is how, by trying to be good, Joe ends up helping his uncle...
plenty of bad people. People just like
He has nightmares of floating on a raft with no paddle, towards a raging waterfall. He’s tired of defending guilty clients and ready to change careers, when he meets an innocent young woman an abuse survivor - accused of a gruesome murder she swears she didn’t commit...
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THE
FAMILY
Joe’s
FAMILY is the beating heart of the series:
CAROLINE, 30s, Joe’s insightful, keen, loving wife. Warm, strict, open yet conservative. Sarcastic, funny,
strong. Raised with old-school notions of a Southern woman’s place. Living in the modern world and wants a piece of that freedom. Studied dance, but now works part-time at a medical testing facility while holding down the house and daughter Lily’s packed schedule. Caroline has seen how Joe’s job has changed him and wants him to quit. She supported him all this time, now it’s her turn. She wants to travel, maybe open the dance studio she always dreamed of. More importantly, she and Joe could have a chance to fall in love again. Maybe Joe would finally open up, and let her in on the secret that seems to haunt him…
SARAH, 40s, Joe’s sister, an addict and repeat offender with a small scar on her eyebrow from a fight
with her dealer. Street smart, closed off, selfish but honest, does what she wants. When Sarah was nine, she was raped by her uncle. Little brother Joe witnessed it but was too small and afraid to save her. He’s spent his entire life trying to make up for it, including helping Sarah out of many run-ins with the law. Neither of them has recovered from the abuse, and Sarah feels she is too far gone for redemption. Joe’s daughter LILY, 16, artistic, transitioning into womanhood, reminds Joe of the beauty and joy in a life filled with cruelty - but as she grows, so do the danger and temptations in the world around her.
MA DILLARD, 70s, a tough old lady who lives in a nursing home, suffers Alzheimer’s, in and out of
awareness. Joe blames Ma for never acting on the abuse in their home. When her condition worsens and she goes catatonic, Ma becomes Joe’s confessional. Joe’s son JACK, 19, an All-American baseball player who lives away at college. And of course RIO the family German Shepherd with a habit of pissing on Joe’s shoe when he comes home.
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THE
DEFENSE
Allies and persons of interest to
the DEFENSE in Joe’s big case for Season 1:
ERLENE BARLOWE, 40s, shrewd and manipulative owner of a local strip club, possibly a former dancer herself (she won’t tell). Erlene wears revealing clothes with a syrupy Tennessee drawl, ain’t afraid of nobody and knows how to get what she wants. Despite run-ins with the law and religion, Erlene and her deceased husband Gus built a Southern adult entertainment empire. Soon after Gus passed, Erlene took in a scared young woman escaping an abusive family - Angel Christian became the daughter Erlene never had.
ANGEL CHRISTIAN, 20s, real name Mary Ann Rhodes, adopted by an ultra-strict religious family,
mother beat her and father sexually abused her for years. She ran away and ended up working as a waitress at Erlene’s strip club. She came to Tennessee a drifter with no history, and has a combination of striking beauty and child-like innocence that makes people - especially men - want to protect her. Her abusive past strikes a chord with Joe, who sees taking Angel’s case as one way to make up for failing to save his own sister. Joe’s childhood friend and go-to Forensic Psychiatrist TOM SHORT, 40s, a wiry academic with an uncanny ability to diagnose personality disorders and psychotic illnesses. Offers unsolicited advice and insight into Joe’s personal problems. Private Investigator DIANE FRYE, 50s, works with Joe on multiple cases. A retired state Trooper with impenetrable cheeriness despite the darkness her investigations often uncover. Razor sharp, persistent, and always finds what she’s looking for.
RONNIE BARLOWE, 20s, Erlene’s nephew and bartender who also sells drugs - Erlene gets a cut. Ronnie isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to collect a debt or put someone in their place.
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THE
PROSECUTION
There’s no love lost between Joe and the
PROSECUTION:
Special Agent PHILIP LANDERS, 30s, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Joe’s opposite - arrogant and corrupt, a misogynist who comes off charming until you get to know him. Landers once arrested a girlfriend’s ex without cause and lied about it in court. Joe proved the malfeasance - and though Landers suffered no disciplinary action, he’s harbored a grudge against Joe ever since. District Attorney DEACON BAKER, 50s, prudish, plump, bald. Always wears suspenders with a habit of smoking a fat cigar in non-smoking areas. A consummate politician, concerned with winning cases and elections, justice be damned. Has no problem colluding with law enforcement to manipulate evidence in favor of a conviction, and has long-standing personal and political grudges against Erlene Barlowe.
FRANKIE MARTIN, 20s, the D.A.’s newest lead assistant, a bright but unseasoned youngster
four years out of law school who will prosecute Angel Christian and has never tried a murder case. Martin doesn’t know it, but Deacon is setting him up to be a scapegoat.
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THE
VICTIMS
Do these VICTIMS deserve justice - or did they get what they deserved? Reverend JOHN PAUL TESTER, 60s, a traveling preacher from the crime-ridden town of Newport with a penchant for spending collection money on lap dances, liquor, cigarettes and prostitutes. A nasty drunk who spouts scripture as he molests, beats, and rapes his victims. Found dead in a motel room with his penis dismembered.
JOHN PAUL TESTER JUNIOR, 30s, son of the murdered preacher and a Sheriff’s Deputy in a
nearby county. Imposing with mutton-chop sideburns and fierce eyes. Idolizes his father and quotes scripture with manic intensity. When Joe’s defense publicly maligns his dad’s reputation, Junior makes multiple attempts on Joe’s life. But the cops dislike Joe, and Junior is one of them - leaving Joe to deal with him, man to man...
JULIE HAYES, 20s, a troubled and often vulgar stripper, Angel’s opposite. Julie brags about her arrest record and has a serious drug problem. She meets a scared Angel on the run and brings her to Erlene, but soon grows jealous. She tells the cops the preacher left with Erlene and Angel the night he was killed. Soon afterwards, to protect Erlene, her nephew Ronnie poisons Julie with a bad batch of cocaine.
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THE
CLIENTS
Despite his disdain for these CLIENTS, Joe gives each of them the best defense possible:
JOHNNY WAYNE NEAL, 30s, thin, pale, manicured and arrogant. Hired two thugs to kill his heavily-insured wife. Joe pleads him down from a death sentence to life in prison.
LESTER HANCOCK, 40s, a first-time criminal who shot his best friend for sleeping with Lester’s wife (and trespassing). Joe helps him get a reduced charge.
RANDALL FINCH, 20s, tortured and killed his infant son while high on methamphetamine, wants to die for his crime. Joe takes his case to the state supreme court, in doing so saves a baby killer from the death penalty.
MAYNARD BUSH, 20s, intimidating, dangerous with a violent criminal history, a pure predator.
Manipulates Joe into arranging a conjugal visit with his pen-pal “girlfriend”, then convinces her to assist with an escape attempt that leaves two jail guards dead - one of them a friend of Joe’s. Maynard kills his girlfriend and mother before being caught again, and is found hung in his cell - most likely by guards.
And all that blood is on Joe’s hands…
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the
STORIES
THEMES Family bonds and trauma, guilt and innocence, domestic and criminal violence, abuse of women and children, accountability of authority, duty. The shifting meaning of justice - it all depends on your point of view. And the question: can you be a good person if you help bad people?
FORMAT Each season of APPALACHIAN JUSTICE will feature a single overarching “A” story: a legal mystery in which Joe takes on the corrupt system to expose the truth, with surprise twists and an element of danger. This case resolves in the final episode of each season. Meanwhile, Joe engages in “B” subplots: with his family especially wife Caroline (who wants a better life for them both), daughter Lily, and addict sister Sarah (who goes on a journey of growth and redemption). Every few episodes also begin and conclude “C” subplots involving Joe’s other clients - mostly guilty career criminals who Joe defends by exploiting the broken system.
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THE
SETTING
Johnson City, Tennessee - a thriving town surrounded by small mountain communities. Packed Courthouses, Bloody Motel Rooms, Rural Strip Clubs, Lakeside Cabins, Dive Bars, Chop Shops, Country Diners, County Jails, Suburban Homes, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Trailer Parks, Judge’s Chambers, Backwoods Shacks, the D.A.’s Office, Dark Forests, Mortuaries, Schools, Barns, Creeks, Cliffs, Alleys, Barbershops and Railroad Tracks… The stories in
APPALACHIAN JUSTICE
present a broad and diverse view of the South today.
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THE
FUTURE
NINE Joe Dillard books provide ample source material for future seasons, which can also be taken in new creative directions. Major storylines from the books include:
A rural family of four is slaughtered. A couple is brutally slain. Two teen cultists stand accused, but Joe knows who’s really to blame. A six-year-old girl is kidnapped from bed in Tennessee’s oldest town. Joe desperately searches for her, while his wife fights to overcome breast cancer. A young country music star is found dead, her record company boss accused. Joe searches Nashville’s seedy underbelly for the truth. A lawyer attempts suicide in court. The judge is found hanging from a tree. Joe’s investigation takes him from the halls of justice into his own home. Three young women are murdered. Joe is up against someone extremely powerful. With his family threatened, Joe must ask: when is it reasonable to use violence, even killing, to defend them?
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SCOTT PRATT and NIZAR WATTAD SCOTT PRATT
is the author of the best-selling Joe Dillard books. Steeped in Tennessee culture from a young age, he is a veteran of the United States Air Force and holds a B.A. in English from East Tennessee State University. Scott worked as a newspaper reporter, columnist and editor for daily papers in Johnson City and Kingsport before earning a law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1998. He lives in Northeast Tennessee with his wife, their dogs, and a parrot named JoJo.
NIZAR WATTAD was raised in East
Tennessee, earned a Masters in screenwriting from USC in 2006, and collaborates with Golden Globe winner / two-time Oscar nominated director Hany Abu-Assad. Walt Disney Pictures recruited Nizar to write the first Arabic-language film ever produced by a major studio (The United, Touchstone 2012). He created a story for iOS game Tribal Rivals, which debuted at #1 in the App Store in 2014. His TV crime drama Blood is in development with Element 8 Entertainment, and his work was chosen for the 2008 Sundance RAWI Lab, 2010 Dubai Film Connection, and 2016 Sundance Producer’s Summit. Wattad also teaches and hosts performances, lectures & workshops around the world.