To the layman, the legal system, with all its bureaucracy and jargon, can seem like a bit of a drag. That’s why legal thrillers are the perfect way to skip the closed doors and follow all the twists of a high-stakes case, with the added satisfaction of seeing justice served. Here, we’ve picked ten of our favorite legal thrillers so you can get an inside look without having to report to jury duty.
Against the Wind by J. F. Freedman
Forced out of his firm, Will Alexander, formerly the top criminal lawyer in Santa Fe, is left with one client: a gang of four rogue bikers accused of committing a gruesome murder. Despite the evidence, Will believes they are innocent. Against the Wind showcases a trial in which outlaws, by choice or design, must band together for a chance at redemption.
The Hanging Judge by Michael Ponsor
The Hanging Judge is based on the experience of the author, Michael Ponsor, who in 2000 presided as a federal judge over the first capital case in Massachusetts in over fifty years. When a gang member is arrested for a drive-by shooting that claimed the lives of a rival drug dealer and a hockey mom, the Honorable David S. Norcross must navigate community outrage, media pressure, gang retribution, and romantic entanglements as he presides over the first death penalty case in the state in decades.
Primary Justice by William Bernhardt
William Bernhardt’s eighteen-book series stars Ben Kincaid, Tulsa’s newest upstanding defense attorney. In Primary Justice, the first book in the series, Ben is working his first day as a lawyer, arranging an adoption for one of the firm’s biggest clients. But his grunt work takes a turn when the adopting father is found hacked to pieces in an alleyway, and Ben must venture down a fearsome path to investigate the killing.
Bad Lawyer by Stephen Solomita
In Stephen Solomita’s Bad Lawyer, Sid Kaplan, a down-and-out attorney, takes on a case defending a violent, drug-addicted battered wife, who may or may not have killed her husband in self-defense. Priscilla Sweet is far from being an easy client and comes with dangerous friends, but Sid knows that winning the case will make him famous again—either on the front page, or in the obituaries.
The Saberdene Variations by Thomas Gifford
A case isn’t necessarily over after a victory. A killer earns an early release and sets his sights on the family of the lawyer that jailed him. The Saberdene Variations follows the charismatic Victor Saberdene and international crime reporter Charlie Nichols as they face the repercussions of the fateful trial that set it all in motion.
The Little Death by Michael Nava
The first book of the acclaimed Henry Rios Mysteries, The Little Death chronicles a burnt-out public defender’s search for a wealthy drug addict’s killer. In his investigation, Rios finds himself knocking on San Francisco’s most gilded doors, where he discovers a family warped by a fortune that someone is willing to kill—and kill again—to possess.
No Lesser Plea by Robert K. Tanenbaum
When a vicious sociopath tries to dodge a brutal murder charge by claiming he is incompetent to stand trial, Manhattan Assistant DA Roger “Butch” Karp teams up with firecracker Marlene Ciampi to make sure justice is served, even in a dirty and cynical judicial system. No Lesser Plea is book one of Robert K. Tanenbaum’s bestselling Butch Karp legal thriller series.
Deaken’s War by Brian Freemantle
Deaken’s War takes the legal thriller to a new setting when Richard Deaken, a washed-up international trial lawyer, is hired by soldiers in a vicious African civil war on the brink of erupting into unprecedented bloodshed. Deaken must negotiate a ransom—$50 million worth of arms in exchange for the arms dealer’s son—a deal made more perilous by the fact that the guerillas have also kidnapped Deaken’s wife.
Blood Echoes by Thomas H. Cook
Based on court documents, police records, and interviews with surviving family members, Blood Echoes details the infamous Alday mass murder and the following trial. In 1973, four young men, three of them escapees from a Maryland prison, were arrested in Georgia on suspicion of committing one of the most horrific murders in American history. It begins with the bodies of Jerry Alday and his family over their cozy Sunday dinner; the horrors continue in the courtroom.
Death at Charity’s Point by William G. Tapply
Death at Charity’s Point follows Boston lawyer Brady Coyne’s investigation into the suspicious suicide of a prep school teacher. The victim is the son of a previous client, Mrs. Gresham, who insists that George would never have taken his own life. What Brady uncovers as he digs deeper into George Gresham’s supposedly spotless past makes him more and more certain that Mrs. Gresham is right.