Frank May’s practice leans heavily to estate planning. Murder cases are way out of his line. But when his client, Stanford law professor Peter Prosser, is found murdered at home, Frank becomes deeply entangled in yet another violent death. Prosser had been writing a detective novel; Frank has the only copy of the manuscript, minus the crucial last chapter. Far from a literary masterpiece, the novel features the (thinly disguised) members of the Soames family, the family of Prosser’s ex-wife — and even a pudgy character based on Frank himself. Can this badly-written novel tell us why Prosser died and who killed him? Mysteriously, real-life events start paralleling events in…

They have mules. The past is more stubborn. Aftermath is a story spun from persistent memories of the Civil War and its violent sequels, from Appalachian culture and the often tragic history of the South. Cynthia and J.P. Kinsor, both survivors, each face seemingly impossible challenges. Cynthia, wearing a mysterious past as she lives her struggle, journeys well beyond the realm of conventional behavior. Still, the unlikely couple confronts their troubles with mutual affection. All with the support of colorfulneighbors and friends — who make up a well-developed cast of characters who stand opposed to the violence of night-riding terrorists, the “Whitecappers,” agents of bigotry and hate. The late Paul…

Espionage comes to the U.S.-Mexico border and Northern Australia, and a family of intense and fiercely loyal Americans get caught up in the intrigue. By 2008, a global cocaine cartel is expanding aggressively. In remote Arnhem Land of northern Australia, ocean vessels, trucks, and vans move the cocaine to urban markets—and the cartel uses hidden tunnels to deliver it across the California-Mexico border. The cartel’s planes, sea vessels, trucks, and drones counter U.S., Mexican, and Australian law enforcement’s own technologies. But the Iraq War has disrupted transnational law-enforcement’s cooperation. In 2009, the new Obama Administration seeks renewed transnational law-enforcement cooperation against the cocaine cartel. Rep. Sarah Donaldson’s congressional intelligence committee…

Frank May’s law practice is mostly estate planning. Nothing is further from his mind than murder … but mysterious deaths somehow seem to pursue him. This time, it’s the body of a woman, murdered and hidden on the grounds of the home in Los Altos Hills, California, owned by a new, young client, Freddy Lucas. Freddy was adopted by a couple who disappeared in the Amazon jungle; he was raised by his immensely rich great-aunt, Clara Fisk, who left him most of her money — but who also left a sizable gift to Freddy’s mother, if she turned out to be alive. Many women come out of the woodwork to…

The offshore oil platform known as the Emerald Rose is an explosion waiting to happen. And just as surely, it’s a blizzard of lawsuits waiting to happen. Robert Herrick is “the lawyer for the little guy.” Against his better judgment, he finds himself drawn into representing more than 100 plaintiffs suing the Emerald Petroleum Company. Careless managers have killed dozens of innocent victims by taking risks like replacing drilling fluids with sea water. But the other side is represented by a former street fighter named Jimmy Coleman. He’s the head of litigation at the mega-firm of Booker & Bayne, where he commands an army of associates who can find arguments…

Lawyer Frank May is, as always, reluctant to get involved in murder cases. But when his young client, Margot, comes back from a vacation with her husband and finds the dead body of a woman in their house, Frank is drawn in despite himself. Who was this woman? And when another murder occurs—this time on the campus of Stanford University—you have to wonder: Are the two deaths connected? And does a quirky Hungarian violinist have something to do with the case? Baffling questions, to be sure. But in the end, Frank finds the surprising key that unlocks the mystery. … A new QP Mystery, in the series The Frank May Chronicles.…

The buzzer sounds from inside the jury room to signal a verdict. A sharp, unnatural noise—full of promise and danger. But when the judge reads the verdict, it isn’t what anyone has been expecting. Robert Herrick is the lawyer for William Grant, who is badly injured. But now, Robert’s chances of helping his client seemnonexistent, even though the jury has rewarded two other plaintiffs from the same accident with huge damages. The pain of this impending defeat is overwhelming. But Robert forces himself to keep fighting for William Grant. The lawyer on the other side is Jimmy Coleman, a no-holds-barred former gang member. Jimmy now is head of litigation at…