Jackson Free Press

On March 6, online book review site Feathered Quill Reviews announced that a retired Mississippi judge was one of the winners of the organization's Feathered Quill Book Awards. The awards honor both independent books and those published by large presses in many categories.

Judge James D. Bell, a Mississippi native and former circuit, chancery and county judge, published "Vampire Defense" in 2012 through Sartoris Literary Group in Jackson. The book won a silver medal in the Adult Fiction section of the Feathered Quill awards.

The plot of "Vampire Defense" centers around trial lawyer John Brooks, who is a hard worker but unnoticed. He decides to take on the defense of Hal Boyd, aka the Butcher of Belhaven, who is at the center of a murder mystery rocking the nation. Brooks almost loses his job when he announces that Boyd is not guilty by reason of insanity, because Boyd believes the person he killed was a vampire. Media from all over the world ridicule Brooks for his method of defense, but that becomes the least of his concerns when he discovers that a satanic cult is out to kill Boyd and his defense team.

Bell got his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1977. He opened his law firm, Bell & Associates, that same year and immediately began handling criminal cases. After he and his team won their first five cases, a local trial judge told him that they had the best record in the county for winning those cases. The judge appointed him to handle 20 percent of serious felony and capital cases in Hinds County over the next four years.

In 1982, Bell was elected as a County Court Judge and then, in 1983, he started serving as a special circuit court judge. Over the next six years, Bell tried around 1,200 cases and handled many hearings. In 1986, the Bar Association gave him a 96 percent approval rating, the highest rating received by a county or circuit judge in Mississippi. Bell retired from judge life in 1989 and returned to practicing law.

Over the years since retiring from judging, Bell has been hired as a temporary county judge, circuit judge or chancellor in 22 counties. He is listed in the Bar Register of "Preeminent Lawyers" and "Outstanding Lawyers of America," and has been involved in some of the most significant cases in Mississippi. Bell currently lives in Brandon with his wife Joanne.

"Vampire Defense" is available in paperback and eBook form. For more information, visit vampiredefense.com or judgebell.com.