Jeff Sherratt's Life Takes a Novel Turn
By Richard Irwin, Correspondent, Long Beach Press-Telegram

Jeff Sherratt is a fun guy. The Downey native really enjoys writing mystery novels, and it
shows whenever he talks about his books, which include "Six to Five ... Against" and
"One, Two & Even."

The Newport Beach resident is currently halfway through his third book, which is yet
untitled.

"Titles are one of the last things I pick. I like to give the manuscript to 30 or 40 friends
and get their input first. Then they all suggest a title and I choose the one that we all like
best," the 64-year-old writer explained.

For most of his life, Sherratt had been a businessman, owning various companies that
made and sold food products. A few years ago, he sold his business and began his
writing career.

"I've always read a lot, and one Christmas Eve I was finishing a mystery novel. I told my
daughter, Kristin, who also reads mysteries, that my favorite author's latest book didn't
seem as good as his earlier works," Sherratt recalled.

"She said, 'If you don't like it, write your own.' And I thought if a smart lawyer like Kristin
thought I could write a book then maybe I should," the budding novelist said. "So I wrote
the first few paragraphs for a book and showed them to my younger brother Dennis over
dinner Christmas Eve. He said, 'Where's the rest of it?' "

Over the course of the next year, Sherratt plugged away at his first book, handing the
completed manuscript for "Six to Five ... Against" to his brother the next Christmas Eve.
"It took me six months to write the novel, then Kristin and I edited the book over the next
six months," Sherratt said.

The book was dedicated to his mother, Dorothy Rose Sherratt, who saw the first draft,
but passed away before the book was finished. The first novel was set in 1972 in
Downey, where novice attorney Jimmy O'Brien gets involved in a murder case.

"My characters are all based on real people, composites of real people I've met over the
years. People say, 'But you've never been an attorney, and I said that as a businessman
I probably spent more time in the courtroom than most lawyers ever do," Sherratt said.
For the police procedures, Sherratt counts on advice from his brother-in-law, Tom, who
was a homicide detective for the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department before his
retirement.

Sherratt loves to write, but he says it involves a lot of hard work.
"I write everything out on a legal tablet in longhand first. That way I don't think anything is
carved in stone, and I feel free to change anything before typing it into the computer in
the afternoon," Sherratt said.

The local author finds the input from friends and family to be invaluable.
"In my first book, Kristin said I had to change the ending. She said it was too predictable,
so we discussed it at length and I realized she was right," Sherratt explained.

He said he writes from past life experiences, whether it be about drinking too much or
attending high school in Downey.

"I couldn't have written these books when I was younger. I didn't have the experiences
that I write about now," said Sherratt.

Does he have enough experiences to continue his string of novels?

"I think Robert B. Parker was right when he said the average person has enough
personal experiences to write three fiction books. After that, they have to make it up,"
Sherratt said.

Sherratt will join 11 other award-winning mystery writers from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
for the "Mystery on the Menu II" luncheon in the Skyline Room of the Cerritos Library,
18025 Bloomfield Ave., Cerritos.

The other writers participating in panel discussions and book signings are Cara Black,
Jerrilyn Farmer, Bill Fitzhugh, Denise Hamilton, Sue Ann Jaffarian, Harley Jane Kozak,
Kelly Lange, Mark Haskell Smith, Marcos Villatoro, Jacqueline Winspear and Paula
Woods.