Legal Suspense Thrillers

Sheriff Bill Clancy humbly served the citizens of Maumee County for three decades. He wanted nothing more than to finish his term and retire to the woods he called home. When he’s found shot to death behind the wheel of his own car, every cop in the county is out for blood.

Jeff Stetson has received eight NAACP Theater Image Awards for his play The Meeting, which aired on American Playhouse on PBS. He offers a thought-provoking work of fiction with Blood on the Leaves. Old white men - alleged perpetrators of racial killings during the civil rights struggle - are being brutally murdered in the South. Now it's up to the only black deputy district attorney to prosecute these racially motivated crimes.

New York Times best-selling author Mary Jo Putney weaves a romantic tale into a courtroom thriller, prompting Booklist to hail, “Move over John Grisham.” High-powered corporate attorney Val Covington knows she should avoid mysterious guys like Rob Smith. But when Rob helps her in a frantic race against the clock to save a man wrongfully sent to death row, Val unearths long-buried secrets - and discovers an unexpected passion.

Michael Hart had been convicted for killing his wife and spent 10 years in prison. But now he has escaped, and his lawyer is tracking down new evidence that might clear him. But then the sleepwalking begins.... And one by one, the members of the jury that convicted him are being murdered.

A noted criminal defense attorney, Robert Rotenberg, delivers a courtroom drama that successfully evokes the multicultural city of Toronto even as it keeps readers on the edges of their seats. In the tale, the "Voice of Canada", a radio host, confesses to murder - but the case is far from closed.

Killen Erwin slumps on the other side of the desk, silently waiting for his longtime friend to respond. It’s not a question of whether Thaddeus wants to help, but whether he can. Thad barely survived last week’s savage attack, and for the first time ever, he’s feeling unsure of his abilities in front of a jury. Now, Killen’s life has fallen apart: His wife is brazenly sleeping around, he’s facing charges for driving drunk and causing a death, and a special prosecutor is hellbent on destroying him.

With money and hope in short supply, newly minted attorney Brigham Theodore decides it’s time to lower his standards. He joins a seedy fly-by-night firm in Salt Lake City out of desperation. After he loses his first case - a speeding ticket - he’s convinced his career is over. But to his shock, his boss hands him a slightly more complex case: capital murder.

Desperate to save his vineyard from financial collapse, criminal defense attorney Joe Hennessy agrees to defend Bernard Palin, an accountant accused of embezzling millions of dollars from a children's charity—a shameful and scandalous crime. Promised a hefty payday that could fund his retirement, Hennessy dives into the case, fighting against corrupt law enforcement, hardened criminals, and shadowy powerbrokers. Unraveling decades of corruption, deceit, and betrayals, Hennessy risks everything to win the case for his client.

When Riley Schoenberg strides into family lawyer Sandy Moss’s office without knocking and coolly sits down, Sandy’s more irritated than amused. She has a client meeting to prepare for, and being interrupted by an eleven-year-old girl is not on her to-do list. But then Sandy hears Riley’s pitch, and it’s a killer one: Riley’s father’s been convicted of murdering her mother…and the oddly intimidating pre-teen will do anything to get him out of jail.

In 1993, Marie Gesto disappeared after walking out of a supermarket. Harry Bosch worked the case but couldn't crack it, and the 22-year-old was never found. Now, more than a decade later, with the Gesto file still on his desk, Bosch gets a call from the district attorney. A man accused of two heinous murders is willing to come clean about several others, including the killing of Marie Gesto.

A shocking act of terror brings the Middle East to the point of explosion. As the resulting political conflict threatens to erupt, a young Jewish American lawyer joins the defense team of an arrested but possibly innocent Palestinian. Soon the lawyer's father, a famed criminal attorney, must win the Palestinian's case or risk losing his daughter forever. To do so, he must take into account the tormented history of the Holy Land from every possible angle.

The life of a 10-year-old black girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless young men. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime, until her father acquires an assault rifle and takes justice into his own outraged hands.

Life is good for Assistant DA Jessie Black. She just brought another murder trial to a successful conclusion. Her reputation is growing as a top prosecutor in Philadelphia. And she's engaged to a strong, handsome man she loves. Now it's time to step back, plan her wedding, and look forward to a bright future. But when a young man is brutally butchered in his own home, the courtroom calls to her.

In Chicago’s top law firm, a young lawyer stands on the brink of a brilliant career. Now twenty-six-year-old Adam Hall is risking it all for a death-row killer and an impossible case: Sam Cayhall is a former Klansman and unrepentant racist facing the death penalty for a fatal bombing in 1967. Cayhall has run out of chances—except for one: a determined lawyer who just happens to be his grandson.

Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of this country only four active federal judges have been murdered. Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five.... Nothing is as it seems and everything’s fair game in this wickedly clever new novel from John Grisham, the undisputed master of the legal thriller.

In this bestselling debut, criminal defense lawyer Joe Dillard has become jaded over the years as he's tried to balance his career against his conscience. Savvy but cynical, Dillard wants to quit doing criminal defense, but he can't resist the chance to represent someone who might actually be innocent. His drug-addicted sister has just been released from prison and his mother is succumbing to Alzheimer's, but Dillard's commitment to the case never wavers despite the personal troubles and professional demands that threaten to destroy him.

When Phillip is abducted, his family's hidden secrets and the town's dark mysteries come to light. Josie must confront the prejudices of their small community and uncover the sinister truth to bring her son home. A tale of courage and resilience, this story dives deep into family bonds and the shadows lurking in a seemingly peaceful town.

Former FBI director James Comey takes listeners into the world of high finance and corporate espionage in this riveting thriller.

Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his Black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier. The second will raises far more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly all of his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his ability to think clearly?

When Marshall McEwan left his hometown at age 18, he vowed never to return. The trauma that drove him away ultimately spurred him to become one of the most successful journalists in Washington DC. But just as the political chaos in the nation’s capital lifts him to new heights, Marshall is forced to return home in spite of his boyhood vow. His father is dying, his mother is struggling to keep the family newspaper from failing, and the town is in the midst of an economic rebirth that might be built upon crimes that reach into the state capitol - and perhaps even to Washington.