Showing results by author "Kate Wilhelm" in All Categories

Five years ago Barbara Holloway gave up practicing law, disillusioned with a profession that put politics before justice. Then she receives a phone call, with a simple message: "I need you."

Private eye Charlie Meiklejohn is called in by insurance companies to investigate a suspected serial arsonist. The arsonist, Carson Danvers, has been on a fanatical crusade since the loss of his wife and son, burning down a series of old, shut-up wooden buildings in which random outbreaks of madness and murder have been occurring. Meiklejohn begins to follow the criminal's trail, but finds himself teaming up with his quarry to face the source of these strange outbreaks: a malfunctioning alien space probe.

In a small town, everyone knows everyone else's business. But in Brindle, Oregon, there's a secret nobody wants to see. Todd Fielding, a newly married young woman, comes to Brindle for a job with the local newspaper, which plans to celebrate the town's centennial by printing photos and letters from the town's history. But the relics of the past hide a dark secret.

Controversial author and scholar David Etheridge is not the kind of company an aspiring politician wants to keep. But ambitious senator Robert McCrutchen has a history with Etheridge that he's desperately trying to keep under wraps: 22 years ago, both men were investigated in the still-unsolved death of a young coed.

It started with a promise, a pact. It became a secret that no one must tell - that their parents were dead and gone, including the one they'd buried in the backyard.

Now the McNair children are growing older, discovering love, college, and careers. But their lie haunts them. Their home holds them captive. Only the horrifying truth of their mother's death can set the children free. And only the truth can destroy them all.

Mitch Arno always meant bad news for the coastal town of Folsum, Oregon. When they ran him out of town 17 years ago, he left behind a wife with two daughters and a family that never wanted to see him again. When he returns, he brings trouble in the form of a lot of suspicious money. As Barbara attempts to counsel Mitch's wife about the money, a second form of trouble arrives: Mitch's corpse.

Elizabeth Kurtz has taken her small son and fled her ex-husband and his mother after finding a file of explosive material incriminating the family. Although the wealthy family employs a detective agency to find her, she manages to elude them. When Elizabeth finally contacts Barbara Holloway for help, the defense attorney finds the woman dead.

When a seemingly simple case turns complicated, respected attorney Barbara Holloway must rethink her game plan. Gregarious Las Vegas entertainer and ex-con Wally Lederer claims he's turned his life around. But when Jay Wilkins, a childhood friend, accuses Wally of stealing a valuable artifact, it's up to Barbara to ferret out the truth. Wally swears he's innocent. But when a murder takes place and the police name Wally as their prime suspect, Barbara knows he is in serious trouble.

Travis Morgan’s case seems open and shut: A plot to kill his estranged father, fundamentalist preacher Arlie Morgan, goes awry and his bullet slays an innocent bookkeeper. Two eyewitnesses seal Travis’ fate. But despite damning evidence and an admitted hatred of his father, Travis staunchly maintains his innocence. Beseeched by his anguished mother, veteran defense attorney Barbara Holloway agrees to represent Travis. With the support of her father, attorney Frank Holloway, and crack private investigator Bailey, Barbara reveals a zealot, his ultrarich backers, and unimaginable atrocities.

Hiram Granville, a modern Leonardo, secured more than a thousand patents during his lifetime, often just ahead of others who had already been working on the same ideas. His son, John, an economics genius, never lost a cent in the stock market—or any other financial deal—and was investigated for insider trading on more than one occasion. Now Cat, a documentarian; her researcher, Mercy; and Cracker Jack, an electronics whiz, are doing a film about the Granville clan. What they find as they research the family is madness, suicide, and a frightening glimpse about what it means to peer into the future.

Barbara Holloway has a reputation for taking on the toughest cases - and winning them. But this time she's up against an unbeatable opponent - her father, the lawyer who taught her all she knows.

Barbara Holloway is a low-key attorney in Eugene, Oregon, who left her father’s high-powered firm to handle small legal problems for local residents and ponder her next move. But while trying to sort out her own future, two people, desperate for help, show up on her doorstep: former pro football player Martin Owens and his wife, Binnie. Binnie, who is mute, met her husband when she sneaked aboard his boat while it was docked in Haiti and smuggled herself into the US.

Because he is poised to desecrate the dreams of so many, it's no surprise that somebody dares to stop him in cold blood. When David McIvey is murdered outside the clinic's doors, lawyer Barbara Holloway must use her razor-sharp instincts and take-no-prisoners attitude to create a defense for the two members of the clinic accused of his murder.

A gripping, poignant, and masterful courtroom novel, The Best Defense is a major work from one of America's most popular writers.

Constance Leidl and Charlie Meiklejohn are an unlikely pair of detectives. He is a former arson detective; she is a psychologist. Together, the husband-and-wife team has a knack for unraveling a mystery. "Seven Kinds of Death" is a famous sculpture, but the name takes on new meaning when bodies start turning up at the creator's art colony.

Barbara Holloway is a trial lawyer who tends to take on difficult cases, but this time it seems there's no defense at all. It appears that Vinny Jessup died when his car rolled over on a bad curve on Lookout Mountain. Then the sheriff finds the gunshot wound. With a large insurance policy as her motive, could his much younger wife have staged the death?

When he was a kid, Teddy Wendover had an accident that left him stunted at the mental age of eight. Physically, he's six-foot-two and 28-years-old, but he acts and thinks just like a little boy. Could this big little boy be a killer?

Considered "one of the masters of psychological fiction in America" (San Francisco Chronicle), Kate Wilhelm serves up a chilling puzzle that will keep listeners captivated until the very end.

When Louise Braniff hands Barbara Holloway a large retainer and asks for complete anonymity, the Oregon attorney is both intrigued and suspicious. The woman, a respected music professor, is a member of a group that sponsors worthy causes involving women. And they want Barbara to defend Carol Fredricks, a gifted young pianist who stands accused of murdering the manager of a piano bar.

Chaos has descended on the Valducci family. Gina Valducci's grandmother and mentor, the founder of the family's thriving nursery business, has died. Her death sets off a string of seemingly unrelated events, including two horrific murders. Gina's colleague Jeff stands out as an obvious suspect, with plenty of motivation, opportunity, and means.