Mary De La Pena

Mary de la Pena (M.J. to those who know her) met her Prince Charming, a well-known and well-respected criminal defense lawyer, when she worked as a county prosecutor. As with most fairy tales, their story begins with a "cute-meet" when M.J. went against Prince Charming in trial. Although they were adversaries, for them it was mutual admiration and respect at first sight. Shortly thereafter, M.J. left the D.A.'s office to join Prince Charming in private practice.Within a year after that, they were married, and they are still married more than twenty years later.

When not writing, Mary de la Pena continues to practice criminal defense in the De La Pena Law Office with her husband and two other younger attorneys/ She specializes in handling very serious felony trials, specifically for those clients who are charged with rape, domestic violence, and murder with gang allegations. In her career, the State of California has appointed her to represent some of the most dangerous inmates of the California prison system. To her credit as a high powered criminal defense lawyer in Southern California she is well known and respected be local judges and prosecutors for her writings skills as well as her visionary defenses of her clients.

In her free time she has written several police procedural novels in the Murder Most... Series, the Detective Jake Swanson's murder mysteries, and the recently released An Immigrant American Hero. Scruggs and Samantha is her foray into non-fiction.