Obiter has always quite liked a nom de plume. The air of intrigue and mystery is probably why books of suspense litter our reading piles at home.

It seems we are in good company, as the Secret Barrister’s latest announcement includes a new ‘identity’, S.J. Fleet. Why the second pseudonym? It is all part of the prolific social media poster and author’s move into a new literary genre, the legal thriller.

TSB describes the series, the first of which is titled The Murderer’s Dilemma and is out in September 2025, as ‘dark and uncomfortable and (I hope) authentic’. The announcement, accompanied by a frankly disturbing author portrait (pictured), set Obiter wondering how much time TSB finds for any actual barristering.

Secret Barrister

However S.J. Fleet is in good company. Obiter’s favourite noms de plume include Henry McCarty’s Billy the Kid; Mary Ann Evans’ George Eliot and the 16-year-old Benjamin Franklin, who signed a series of writings as Mrs Silence Dogood in 1722.

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