John Dobbyn's "Frame Up"

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John F. Dobbyn is a Professor of Law at Villanova Law School and the author of numerous legal books and short fiction. A native of Boston, he received his J.D. from Boston College Law School and LL.M. from Harvard Law School. He practiced law at Burns & Levinson in Boston before going into teaching.

Here he shares some casting ideas for the two leads in adaptations of his Devlin and Knight legal thrillers, Neon Dragon and Frame Up:

My two primary characters are both criminal trial attorneys who were unwillingly thrown together in the first novel, Neon Dragon, and developed such a bond that by the end of that adventure in the inner-not-so-sanctum of the Boston Chinese tong they left their Boston firm and formed a two person partnership. The second novel takes them into the midst of a collision between the Boston mafia and a Russian organized crime group over stolen and forged art.

Michael is twenty-seven years old. He is a former prosecutor turned defense counsel who keeps to a true path on behalf of his clients, his profession, his partner, and himself - even when he has to bluff and lie to do it. He epitomizes John Wayne's definition of "courage." It is "being scared to death, and saddling up anyway."

The closest resemblance to type casting that I can come, knowing Michael inside and out, is my favorite Boston actor, Matt Damon.

Lex Devlin is a bit more problematical. He starts in Neon Dragon having been dragged through some rough years, losing his wife of forty years and being the unwitting target of a syndicate that blackens his good name and honor with unresolved and untrue charges of jury fixing. He is in his seventies and built like a solid block. He is the worst nightmare of prosecuting attorneys and the Angel of Death to young law associates until Michael ventures forth to rescue his reputation, and a more human bond is cemented in Neon Dragon. My choice for casting is hands down the late, great Spencer Tracy. I'm hard put to believe there will ever be another Lex Devlin or Spencer Tracy.

Learn more about the books and author at John Dobbyn's website.

--Marshal Zeringue