Thirty-two books were submitted for the inaugural year of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The distinguished inaugural selection committee included David Baldacci, Linda Fairstein, Morris Dees, and Robert J. Grey, Jr., among others.
Three finalists were chosen: The Reversal by Michael Connelly, The Confession by John Grisham, and Fatal Convictions by Randy Singer.
Best-selling author John Grisham's The Confession was awarded the inaugural 2011 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The Confession explores an attorney’s tireless efforts to save his client from being executed for a crime he did not commit, embodying the spirit of the Harper Lee Prize.
Grisham was presented with the award during a special ceremony September 22, 2011 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
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The Confession
John Grisham
For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn’t understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn’t care. He just can’t believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction. He may even watch the trial of the person wrongly accused of his crime. He is relieved when the verdict is guilty. He laughs when the police and prosecutors congratulate themselves. He is content to allow an innocent person to go to prison, to serve hard time, even to be executed.
Travis Boyette is such a man. In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, he abducted, raped, and strangled a popular high school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement as police and prosecutors arrested and convicted Donté Drumm, a local football star, and marched him off to death row.
Now nine years have passed. Travis has just been paroled in Kansas for a different crime; Donté is four days away from his execution. Travis suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. For the first time in his miserable life, he decides to do what’s right and confess.
But how can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges, and politicians that they’re about to execute an innocent man?
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Fatal Convictions
Randy D. Singer
Alexander Madison is part lawyer, part pastor, and part con artist. When a Muslim imam is accused of instigating honor killings, Alex must decide whether to take the case that every other lawyer in town is running away from. He doesn't realize until it's too late that defending the imam may cost him the one thing in life he cares about most. Fatal Convictions is the story of a lawyer willing to risk it all and the women who must choose between faith and love
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The Reversal: A Novel
Michael Connelly
After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years
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Circle of Lies
Douglas Alan
Circle of Lies is a hot new thriller by Douglas Alan featuring John Delaney, an ex–NYPD detective turned lawyer, and his lovely wife, Katherine Adams, a tough but sexy Atlanta lawyer who gives as good as she gets. Delaney is asked to defend Ted Jordan, a childhood friend who has been arrested for the torture and murder of his law partner. Jordan adamantly maintains his innocence but the police have traced his fingerprints to the dead man's house and a half-million dollars to his bank account. On his way to interview Jordan at the jail, Delaney is approached by a mysterious woman who identifies herself as Ted's friend. She offers to post his bond and warns Delaney to be careful if anyone from the Tissinger Corporation contacts him in connection with the case. Ted insists he has been set up by Tissinger because he accidentally stumbled onto data showing they deliberately concealed information about suicides in a test group for their latest depression medication. As Delaney and Adams start to dig, they are confronted by an NSA agent who tries to warn them off. When a second dead body is found in Jordan's condominium and Jordan disappears, they are left with more questions than answers. But Delaney isn't someone who takes no for an answer, and he and Katherine will stop at nothing to find the truth.
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Dog Tags
David Rosenfelt
Dog-loving lawyer Andy Carpenter plunges into a high profile murder case in which a rogue German shepherd police dog may be the only hope for its owner, an Iraq war vet and former-cop-turned-thief accused of murder
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Innocent
Scott Turow
More than twenty years after Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto went head-to-head in the shattering murder trial in Presumed Innocent, the men are pitted against each other once again in a riveting psychological match. Now over sixty years old and the chief judge of an appellate court, Sabich has found his wife, Barbara, dead under mysterious circumstances. Molto accuses him of murder for the second time, setting into motion a trial that is vintage Turow-the courtroom at its most taut and explosive.
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Overkill
Joseph Teller
Harrison J. Walker—Jaywalker, to the world—is a frayed-at-the-edges defense attorney with a ninety-percent acquittal rate, thanks to an obsessive streak a mile wide. But winning this case will take more than just dedication. Seventeen-year-old Jeremy Estrada killed another boy after a fight over a girl: shot him point-blank between the eyes. No one disputes those facts. This kid is jammed up big-time, but almost unable to help himself. He's got the face of an angel but can hardly string together three words to explain what happened that day…yet he's determined to go to trial. All they've got is a "yesbut" defense, as in: "Did you kill him?" "Yes, but…" Jaywalker is accustomed to bending the rules—this case will stretch the law to the breaking point and beyond.
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The Inheritance
Simon Tolkien
Everyone has a motive, and no one is telling the truth in this complex mystery of deception and betrayal When an eminent art historian is found dead in his study, all the evidence points to his son, Stephen. He was the last person seen with his father, his fingerprints are on the murder weapon, and he was about to be disinherited in his father's will. Stephen's guilt seems undeniable. But as Inspector Trave of the Oxford Police uncovers the stories of the five other people who were also in the house―along with the revelation that the deceased man was involved in a deadly hunt for a priceless relic at the end of World War II―he feels the case begin to unravel. As Stephen's trial unfolds at the Old Bailey, Trave travels to France to find out what really happened in 1944, and the race is on to save Stephen from the gallows. Author Simon Tolkien received widespread critical praise for his first legal thriller, Final Witness. Now, in The Inheritance, Tolkien sharpens his craft even more, deftly weaving psychological suspense and family drama to create a mystery steeped in memories, betrayal, and the long shadow of the past. Part courtroom drama and part historical thriller, The Inheritance is a dark, dynamic mystery that tests the strength of blood ties, loyalty, and the thirst for revenge.
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Betrayed
Robert K. Tanenbaum
From the dark fantasies of a sexual underworld to the darkest realities of a terrorist conspirator, New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Tanenbaum draws District Attorney Butch Karp deep into a combustible courtroom game of politics, power, lies, and murder. Awaiting trial in the Tombs, Manhattan’s infamous criminal detention complex, is Sharif Jabbar, the demagogic founder of a Harlem mosque. Charges against his terrorist attack on the city were dismissed once, and now that the Islam convert is being held on new allegations, New York District Attorney Roger “Butch” Karp is determined to bring him down. He faces formidable competition. Attorney Megan O’Dowd, a radical activist enthralled with revolutionary rhetoric, is going to the mat with the uncompromising conviction that Jabbar is being railroaded by the NYPD. Outside the criminal courts, Karp’s wife, Marlene Ciampi, is pursuing her own investigation. Allegations against indigent Manhattan street vendor Dirty Warren in the murder of society beauty Michelle Oakley don’t sit right with Marlene. Unfortunately her sole ally is religious vigilante David Grale, the charismatic but deranged leader of the Mole People. What Grale knows about city corruption snakes as far and wide as the dank honeycomb of the sewers and tunnels his destitute army calls home. Then Marlene discovers an unexpected— and ugly—parallel between the Oakley murder and the disappearance of another debutante: a treacherous underworld of upscale call girls and the price paid for indulging the wealthiest of men. As she explores these sordid truths, Butch Karp navigates his own tortured waters. What he soon discovers is that everyone, from the conspiratorial Jabbar and O’Dowd to the city’s most powerful, unimpeachable players—has a secret that could either set them free or cost them more than they ever feared. With more than twelve million copies of his books in print, Robert K. Tanenbaum continues to rivet readers to their seats with the kind of explosive thrillers that have made him “a writer worth knowing” (Washington Post ).
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House Rules: A Novel
Jodi Picoult
When your son can’t look you in the eye…does that mean he’s guilty? Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger’s syndrome. He’s hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. He has a special focus on one subject—forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he’s always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he’s usually right. But when Jacob’s small hometown is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob’s behaviors are hallmark Asperger’s, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are thrust directly in the spotlight. For Jacob’s mother, it’s a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, it’s another indication why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And for the frightened small town, the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder? House Rules is “a provocative story in which [Picoult] explores the pain of trying to comprehend the people we love—and reminds us that the truth often travels in disguise” (People).
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One Man's Paradise
Douglas Corleone
Hotshot New York criminal defense lawyer Kevin Corvelli was rolling. He had all the right connections to get way ahead. Guilty? Innocent? It didn't matter so long as he won, got in the papers, and got paid. That's until he loses---and loses big---when a client, who was convicted and then killed in jail, is later proven innocent. The media has a field day plastering Corvelli's face all over Manhattan, so Corvelli, disgraced and in a professional free fall, bolts for Hawaii.
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Santa Fe Edge
Stuart Woods
Ed Eagle, the six-foot-seven, take-no-prisoners Santa Fe attorney, is no stranger to murder, corruption, or organized crime—both north and south of the border. Ed has recovered from his encounters with Mexican organized crime and his ex-wife, Barbara—who’s much more dangerous. But now a mysterious new client has come his way, one who may shed light into some dark corners of Ed's past...and put him in danger once more.
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Detour to Murder
Jeff Sherratt
In 1945, the semi-nude body of a woman is found in a two-bit Hollywood motel, a telephone cord wrapped around her throat; face frozen in a grimace of horror. Al Roberts confesses and has spent the last 29 years in prison. Jimmy O'Brien, defense attorney to the dregs of the criminal world digs into the past, igniting a powder-keg that threatens to expose the long-held secrets behind Detour, the iconic Hollywood film documenting Roberts' story. Secrets that could destroy the underground aristocracy that has held power in Los Angeles, city of broken dreams, for years. Jimmy's ordeal takes him from the bleakness of Roberts' prison cell to the seedy streets of Hollywood, frantically searching to find out who took this DETOUR TO MURDER.
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Cold as Ice: A Novel
Stephanie Black
After five patient years, Abigail Wyatt's sisterly care is finally paying off: her younger brother, Derek, is abandoning his self-destructive lifestyle and seeking his parents' forgiveness, thus ending the painful estrangement that wounded the whole family. But just as the pieces are falling into place for the prodigal's return, a woman named Karen Brodie is murdered in a local park, and police name Derek as the prime suspect. Rather than standing firm and cemeting the positive changes in his life, Derek succumbs to his cynical fears and runs from the law, leaving Abigail with her hands tied. Literally. Derek's raw panic convinces everyone that he's the killer, everyone except Abigail, who doggedly maintains her brother's innocence. With the help of Kyle, a charismatic new friend she might be falling for, Abigail digs deep into Karen Brodie's troubled past in hopes of clearing Derek's name. But as she uncovers a sinister plot of greed, envy, and vengeance, this loyal sister must face the painful truth that things, and people, are not always as they seem.
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Greater Love
Robert Whitlow
Tami has just accepted a job with a law firm, but wonders if she made the right decision. With two strong men vying for her heart, she's about to lose both if she can't decide between them. And her new case is anything but simple. When she first meets her client, Tami knows the rough young teen is lying, guilty . . . and utterly terrified of something beyond the charges she's facing. What she doesn't realize is just how far-reaching the effects of this case will be.
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The Left-Handed Dollar
Loren D. Estleman
Joseph Michael Ballista—“Joey Ballistic” to his mob buddies—knows most of the ways to make an illegal buck, or “a lefthanded dollar.” That’s why he’s in trouble again. But his crafty lawyer, Lucille Lettermore—“Lefty Lucy” to just about every prosecutor she’s ever humiliated in court—is determined to free him by getting all his previous convictions set aside, beginning with one for attempted murder. She hires Detroit private detective Amos Walker to investigate the old crime. Walker’s first problem? The intended victim was investigative reporter Barry Stackpole, Walker’s only true friend. Walker’s not thrilled to help get his buddy’s would-be killer off the hook. But money’s money, so he takes the case, though it won’t be easy. For starters, the creep’s ex-wives grudgingly talk to Walker, but he knows they’re not leveling with him. And two new murders tied to the case aren’t likely to make them any chattier. Walker, friendless and desperate for answers, follows a string of leads old and new straight into a war of nerves and bullets in Detroit’s seedy, crime-ridden underbelly.
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The Extinction Event
David Black
After Jack Slidell’s discovery of his law partner’s death in an apparent drug/sex killing, he and the beautiful Caroline Wonder are suddenly hurled into a race for their lives, a hair-raising odyssey filled with outrageous characters and violent suspense. Hit men and sinister government agencies hunt them at every turn, but their quest for justice determines more than the guilt or innocence of a dead friend: the fate of the earth and humanity’s survival hang in the balance. A page-burning, pulse-pounding chase-thriller of earth-shattering dimensions, The Extinction Event is also populated with colorful characters almost Dickensian in their energy and flamboyance. This is a book that will stick with you when you are done, a story you will remember for a long, long time.
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Falcon Seven
James W. Huston
A U.S. Navy F/A-18 flying over Afghanistan is suddenly diverted and ordered to bomb a building in Pakistan, where a meeting between al Qaeda and the Taliban is taking place. After destroying their target, the fighter jet is immediately hit by Stinger missiles and the pilots eject over Pakistan. They are captured, assaulted, and dragged through the streets of Peshawar. The world is on edge. The fliers are quickly forced onto a secret Falcon jet headed for the Netherlands, where they’ll stand trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. The building they hit was actually a medical post constructed by Europeans for Afghan refugees---and sixty-five innocent people were killed. It’s up to Washington criminal defense lawyer and former Navy SEAL Jack Caskey to defend the two navy officers and get to the bottom on what is beginning to seem like an orchestrated event. The National Security Council pushes President Obama to employ the act passed under George W. Bush that authorizes the use of force to extract Americans held by the International Criminal Court. While the president initially approves a special operations team to grab the Americans, he later withdraws to cooperate with the ICC. Already fighting a losing battle for his clients, an outraged Caskey works with his contacts in the shadowy world of special operations and CIA operatives to free his clients himself . . . or help them battle through an international show trial and face imprisonment---for life.
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Bomber Bombs: The Ninth Bomber Hanson Mystery
David Champion
When an exotic dancer accuses a popular college football team of rape, the team's handlers try to convince Bomber Hanson and his amiable son Tod to take the case. Despite their resistance to cooperate, Tod is convinced the young football players are innocent, and when Bomber is unexpectedly hospitalized Tod is forced to take over their defense. Fans won't be disappointed in what is sure to be Tod's best performance yet.
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Bodily Harm: A Novel
Robert Dugoni
A Touchstone book. ;"Bodily Harm opens with a big win for Sloane and his new partner, Tom Pendergrass, in a medical malpractice case centered on the death of a child. But on the heels of this seeming victory, an unlikely character, toy designer Kyle Horgan, comes forward to tell Sloane that he's gotten it all wrong. Horgan's the one who's truly responsible for the little boy's death and others, not the pediatrician Sloane has just proven guilty"
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False Convictions
Tim Green
Casey is counting on an open-and-shut case, a sure success for her first effort with the Freedom Project, the renowned charity group dedicated to helping exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. Not only is the Freedom Project giving Casey the chance to help innocent people, but its founder, Robert Graham, is offering Casey a one-million-dollar annual pledge to her legal clinic for taking on just two jobs a year. Her first assignment is to revive the case of Dwayne Hubbard, an indigent black man serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a college student seventeen years ago. Using DNA evidence, Casey expects to easily prove Hubbard's innocence. Yet when she arrives in rural Auburn, New York, she meets immediate and aggressive resistance. Tormented by death threats and assassination attempts, Casey investigates a prosecution apparently rife with lies. From the judge, the lawyers, the jury, to the police, she traces a web of corruption surrounding the destruction of one young man. But in all the chaos, Casey's hardest challenge may be just staying alive.
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Among Thieves
David Hosp
In 1990, $300 million worth of paintings were stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in what remains one of the greatest unsolved art thefts of the twentieth century. Now, nearly twenty years later, the case threatens to break wide open. Members of Boston's criminal underground are turning up dead. But these are no ordinary murders. The M.O. of the attacks suggests the involvement of someone trained by the IRA. But when Scott Finn learns that one of his clients, Devon Malley, was part of the heist, he's quickly drawn into the crossfire, and into the renewed hunt for the missing artwork-a hunt that may cost Finn and his colleagues their lives.
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Law of Attraction
Allison Leotta
A Touchstone book. ;"A thrilling ride through D.C.'s criminal justice, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Curtis makes a series of choices that jeopardizes her career, her relationships, and her very life"
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The Rule of Nine
Steve Martini
In The Rule of Nine, New York Times bestseller Steve Martini sets his popular protagonist, defense attorney Paul Madriani, on the trail of a dangerous extremist who’s hellbent on destroying the entire Supreme Court with one deadly stroke. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette loves Martini’s “richly interesting characters, masterful plots, and beautiful writing,” and his latest blockbuster is a sure bet to enthrall Brad Thor and Vince Flynn readers as well as the ever-growing army of Paul Madriani fans.
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The Devil Amongst the Lawyers: A Ballad Novel
Sharyn McCrumb
In 1935, when Erma Morton, a beautiful young woman with a teaching degree, is charged with the murder of her father in a remote Virginia mountain community, the case becomes a cause célèbre for the national press. Eager for a case to replace the Lindbergh trial in the public’s imagination, the journalists descend on the mountain county intent on infusing their stories with quaint local color: horse-drawn buggies, rundown shacks, children in threadbare clothes. They need tales of rural poverty to give their Depression-era readers people whom they can feel superior to. The untruth of these cultural stereotypes did not deter the big-city reporters, but a local journalist, Carl Jennings, fresh out of college and covering his first major story, reports what he sees: an ordinary town and a defendant who is probably guilty. This journey to a distant time and place summons up ghosts from the reporters’ pasts: Henry Jernigan’s sojourn in Japan that ended in tragedy, Shade Baker’s hardscrabble childhood on the Iowa prairie, and Rose Hanelon’s brittle sophistication, a shield for her hopeless love affair. While they spin their manufactured tales of squalor, Carl tries to discover the truth in the Morton trial with the help of his young cousin Nora, who has the Sight. But who will believe a local cub reporter whose stories contradict the nation’s star journalists? For the reader, the novel resonates with the present: an economic depression, a deadly flu epidemic, a world contending with the rise of political fanatics, and a media culture determined to turn news stories into soap operas for the diversion of the masses. A stunning return to the lands, ballads, and characters upon which she made her name, The Devil Amongst the Lawyers is a testament to Sharyn McCrumb’s lyrical and evocative writing.
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Blind Man's Alley
Justin Peacock
A concrete floor three hundred feet up in the Aurora Tower condo development in SoHo has collapsed, hurling three workers to their deaths. The developer, Roth Properties (owned by the famously abrasive Simon Roth), faces a vast tangle of legal problems, including allegations of mob connections. Roth’s longtime lawyers, the elite midtown law firm of Blake and Wolcott, is assigned the task of cleaning up the mess. Much of the work lands on the plate of smart, cynical, and seasoned associate Duncan Riley; as a result, he falls into the powerful orbit of Leah Roth, the beautiful daughter of Simon Roth and the designated inheritor of his real estate empire. Meanwhile, Riley pursues a seemingly small pro bono case in which he attempts to forestall the eviction of Rafael Nazario and his grandmother from public housing in the wake of a pot bust. One night Rafael is picked up and charged with the murder of the private security cop who caught him, a murder that took place in another controversial “mixed income” housing development being built by . . . Roth Properties. Duncan Riley is now walking the knife edge of legal ethics and personal morality. Blind Man’s Alley is a suspenseful and kaleidoscopic journey through a world where the only rule is self- preservation. The New York Times Book Review said of A Cure for Night that “[Peacock] heads toward Scott Turow country . . . he’s got a good chance to make partner.” This taut, topical, and socially alert thriller delivers on that promise.
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Think Twice
Lisa Scottoline
Bennie Rosato looks exactly like her identical twin, Alice Connelly, but the darkness in Alice's soul makes them two very different women. Or at least that's what Bennie believes―until she finds herself buried alive at the hands of her twin. Meanwhile, Alice takes over Bennie's life, impersonating her at work and even seducing her boyfriend in order to escape the deadly mess she has made of her own life. But Alice underestimates Bennie and the evil she has unleashed in her twin's psyche. Soon Bennie, in her determination to stay alive long enough to exact revenge, must face the twisted truth that she is more like Alice than she could have ever imagined . . . and by the novel's shocking conclusion, Bennie finds herself engaged in a war she cannot win―with herself. With its blistering speed, vivid characters, and perplexing moral questions, Think Twice is a riveting emotional thriller that will keep readers breathless until the very last page.
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The Price Of Revenge: A Novel
Dennis Vaughn
David Fox has a life anyone would envy-a flourishing career as a lawyer, a condo in Denver, and a beautiful girlfriend, Ellen-until he begins investigating a lawsuit against the Denver City Ballet. It seems like a commonplace allegation of misspent funds at first, but soon David finds himself caught in a web of blackmail, betrayal, and dark secrets. To escape, he'll have to answer some uncomfortable questions: Who was responsible for the embezzlement, and how far will they go to cover it up? What precisely is Ellen discussing in those sessions with her psychiatrist? And is telling the truth worth losing everything? The Price of Revenge follows David across boundaries both professional and personal as he tries to find his way out of the maze of intrigue into which he has stumbled.
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When the Devil Whistles
Rick Acker
"High-stakes intrigue that will keep you flipping pages long into the night." --James Scott Bell, bestselling and award-winning suspense author Allie Whitman and Connor Norman loved making the devils of the corporate world pay. Now, it’s their turn. And the price could be their lives. “I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t.” That’s what Allie Whitman tells herself every night as she lies awake. Sometimes she even believes it. But mostly she knows deep down that her inability to make a hard choice has put millions of lives at risk, including her own. Now the only one who can help her is her lawyer, Connor Norman. Unfortunately, Allie’s actions have destroyed Connor’s trust in her--and may destroy much, much more. "Rick Acker is one of the market's best-kept secrets. When the Devil Whistles blends legal thrills, spies, and military action, offering some unique twists. Acker's characters and settings come to life, and he again breathes new ideas into the genre. Fast-paced and thought-provoking, his third book is his best yet." --Eric Wilson, NY Times bestselling author of Valley of Bones and Fireproof "More than once while reading When the Devil Whistles, I had to remind myself that I wasn't reading John Grisham. Rick Acker's pacing and plot are terrific. A wonderful read from a writer I wish I'd discovered sooner." —Angela Hunt, author of Let Darkness Come.
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The Trials of Zion: A Novel
Alan M. Dershowitz
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 Trials of Zion combines the tension of the greatest courtroom dramas with the action of a fast-moving thriller, all set against the colorful backdrop of one of the most complex cultural settings in the world. Filled with memorable characters, this novel offers readers not only compelling suspense, but a panoramic view of the history of a beloved and bitterly contested land, and a sharply controversial perspective on the sources of--and the possible solutions to--the world's longest and most crucial international crisis.
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In the Name of Honor
Richard North Patterson
Military lawyer Paul Terry defends young Lieutenant Brian McCarran, who is accused of shooting his commanding officer, who claimed McCarran was having an affair with his wife
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Injustice for All
Scott Pratt
A criminal court judge is found hanging from a tree. A young employee of the district attorney's office goes missing. In the third book of the bestselling Joe Dillard series, Dillard finds himself in the middle of two volatile mysteries. The primary suspect in the judge's murder is Dillard's son's best friend, and Dillard's wife may have destroyed evidence. Meanwhile, the missing girl turns out to be a mystery far deeper than anyone imagined...