New Releases by Steve Martini

Defending a client accused of killing her father, attorney Paul Madriani is drawn into a treacherous conspiracy dating to World War II in this enthralling installment in the New York Times bestselling series. Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds have a new client: Emma Brauer, a woman accused in the “mercy killing” of her aged father, Robert Brauer. Insisting she’s innocent, Emma tells Paul about a package sent to her father shortly before he entered the hospital. Bequeathed to him by a member of his unit from World War II, the box contains a key and a slip of paper. Emma fears that this package is connected to her father’s death. When Paul’s young assistant Sofia is murdered, Madriani is blindsided by the realization that Emma’s fears are well-grounded. Digging into Robert’s military history, Madriani discovers that other members of the Army unit Robert served with have recently died—under similarly suspicious circumstances. When he finds that the box sent to Brauer relates to a mysterious talisman that went missing at the end of the war—a feared Nazi relic known as the “Blood Flag”—Madriani and Hinds realize they are in for the fight of their lives. With Emma’s life on the line and their own safety in jeopardy, Madriani must uncover the truth before the evil of the Blood Flag is allowed to spin a new web.

Defending an innocent young man, defense attorney Paul Madriani uncovers a morass of corruption and greed that leads to the highest levels of political power in this electrifying tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author Steve Martini. One of the most successful lawyers in the country, Olinda Serna is a master at managing money as well as her influential clients. After years of fierce combat in the political trenches, Serna knows all the dirty secrets, where the bodies are buried, and how deeply they are stacked. When she’s killed in a roadside crash in the high desert of Southern California, powerful heads in Washington begin to panic, worried that their secrets may not be safe anymore. Alex Ives, a friend of Paul Madriani’s daughter, is accused of vehicular manslaughter in Serna’s death. Ives claims he had only one drink on the night of the accident, yet he can’t remember anything between the time he left for a party north of San Diego and the moment he woke up in a hospital the next morning. He’s still dazed and a little bruised, but also obviously very afraid. After all, a woman is dead, and he’s sure he didn’t kill her. To save an innocent young man’s life, the brilliant defense attorney must uncover everything he can about Serna and her clients—no matter how unsavory—a search that will lead him into a vortex of corruption, and at its center, a devious killer poised to strike again.

In this short story from the New York Times bestselling thriller anthology FaceOff, Linda Fairstein and Steve Martini—along with their popular series characters Alex Cooper and Paul Madriani—team up for the first time ever. Paired together on a legal conference panel, Assistant Manhattan D.A. Alexandra Cooper and Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Paul Madriani butt heads over a hypothetical case. But Madriani—currently representing a defendant in the suspected murder of an L.A.-area madam—runs afoul of Coop within minutes over the issue of empathy for the victim, real or hypothetical. Still, after the panel there are no hard feelings and the two colleagues plan to enjoy a drink at one of Coop’s favorite New York City watering holes—that is, until they are approached by an audience member claiming to know something about Madriani’s real-life case that will exonerate his client. Cooper and Madriani’s meeting with the source will lead them into the thick of a global conspiracy that reaches to the highest echelons of power—and ultimately, justice will be done. For more exciting pairs, check out all eleven short stories in FaceOff!

For a limited time, meet bestselling author Steve Martini''s hero Paul Madriani in this special, discounted digital edition of Guardian of Lies, including excerpts from The Rule of Nine and Martini''s forthcoming Madriani thriller, Trader of Secrets (available May 31). In Guardian of Lies, fate has bound attorney Paul Madriani to a young Costa Rican woman accused of a horrific crime, ensnaring them both in a frightening conspiracy that ranges beyond U.S. borders. A Cold War nightmare is being reshaped for a new century—a threat too terrible to imagine yet too real to be ignored—leading Madriani, his partner Harry Hinds, and the fugitive Katia directly into the path of an unstoppable, very angry assassin. From the halls of American justice to the jungles of South America and a dark secret buried since the days of Castro''s ascendance, the race is on to prevent the unthinkable—by unveiling the hidden truth protected by the "Guardian of Lies."

The Old Weatherman dreams of a plan that could be his swan song, an attack to drive a stake through the heart of the right-wing establishment and bury it for good. Now he''s found the money, the ideal weapon, and the professional who knows how to use it. And he has set his sights on the perfect target at the very seat of the United States government, in the heart of downtown Washington. It will be a strike heard round the world. San Diego defense attorney Paul Madriani is still reeling from the trauma of a near nuclear explosion he helped avert at the naval base in Coronado. Threatened by federal authorities to keep quiet about the close call in California, Madriani is now faced with a new problem in the steely-eyed and alluring Joselyn Cole, a weapons control expert, who believes he has to go public with what he knows if they have any hope of stopping a similar event in the future. But Madriani has been linked to the murder of a Washington, D.C., political staffer, and authorities believe a shadowy figure called Liquida—a hired assassin known as "the Mexicutioner"—may be responsible. And this man, as the last survivor of the attack in San Diego, might be driven by a bizarre and horrifying star-crossed vendetta, and might now be looking for Madriani himself. What Madriani and Cole begin to fear is that the Old Weatherman and this madman have joined forces and intend to pull the city—and the country—into a vortex of terror before Madriani and Cole can find answers to the enigma that is "the rule of nine."

Murder reaches deep into the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court in this latest thriller featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani, now published by William Morrow Controversial law professor Terry Scarborough rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. With the publication of his new book—which claimed that the U.S. Constitution and some lost writings of Thomas Jefferson supported racial discrimination—he only added fuel to the fire. When he’s found beaten to death in a San Diego hotel room and a young man with connections to neo-Nazis is charged with first-degree murder, defense attorney Paul Madriani eagerly signs on to the case. The passionate and wily litigator believes it isn’t just about power and race. He’s betting there’s a deeper mystery to this defendant—and that he may be just as much a victim as the deceased. Amid the glare of cameras and the jeers of protesters, Madriani buckles down, digging deep to find the evidence he needs to unlock the truth. And no one will stand in his way—not an officer of the U.S. government or a sitting Supreme Court justice.

“The sort of compulsive page-turner that keeps readers up at night….Both timely and scary….Guardian of Lies more than satisfies.” —Washington Times Defense attorney Paul Madriani is caught in a web of deceit and murder involving Cold War secrets, a rare coin dealer who once worked for the CIA, and a furious assassin in Guardian of Lies, the most entertaining novel yet in the New York Times bestselling series. Steve Martini, #1 bestselling author of Shadow of Power, Double Tap, and other acclaimed Madriani thrillers, demonstrates once again why he’s one of the genre’s masters, along with John Grisham, David Baldacci, James Patterson, John Lescroart, Brad Meltzer, and Scott Turow.

L''avocat Paul Madriani soupçonne son nouveau client, le Dr David Crone, d''être coupable du meurtre d''une jeune femme, dont le corps mutilé a été retrouvé sur une plage de la baie de San Diego. Tout accable le scientifique qui clame pourtant son innocence. À mesure que le procès avance, Madriani dévide un écheveau d''affaires compromettantes : Crone aurait participé à des manipulations génétiques. Il aurait aussi eu une liaison avec la victime qui menaçait de le quitter et de communiquer ses sulfureuses découvertes à un laboratoire rival. Le mobile semble donc établi, jusqu''au jour où le principal témoin à charge est retrouvé mort : Crone paraît tiré d''affaire... Mais Madriani doute encore. Un thriller judiciaire impressionnant, au suspense mené de main de maître.

New York Times bestselling author Steve Martini takes legal thrillers to a new level in this Paul Madriani novel about a soldier''s secrets and a government''s lies... A beautiful businesswoman, founder of a high-tech software company catering to the military, is found dead, two tightly grouped bullet wounds to her a head—a “double tap,” the trademark of highly skilled assassins. Paul Madriani takes the case of the man accused of the crime: a career soldier who refuses to explain the mysterious gaps in his military résumé. Faced with an uncooperative client, Madriani begins a dangerous search for the truth—in the soldier''s shadowy past, in the victim''s deadly secrets...

In this gripping New York Times bestseller, a double murder leads lawyer Paul Madriani into a web of international intrigue and conspiracy. The verdict on The Jury was unanimous. Larry King in USA Today called it “a cracklin’ good read” and Publishers Weekly proclaimed it as “one of Martini’s best novels to date.” Now, The Arraignment takes Madriani into uncharted territory—into the minds of men whose murderous greed knows no bounds...and onto the front lines of the South American drug war.

Lawyer Paul Madriani is called upon to defend a brilliant research physician--who just may be a killer--in this riveting new novel by the bestselling author of "The Attorney".

Mélanie, la séduisante épouse du politicien Jack Vega, a été abattue à coups de revolver. Aucun doute pour la police : la coupable est Laure, la première femme de Jack, à qui ce dernier intentait un procès visant à lui retirer la garde de leurs enfants. L''avocat Paul Madriani, dont Laure est la belle-sœur, est effondré : tout accuse la jeune femme. Entreprise sans aucun espoir de succès, sa contre-enquête l''amène cependant à d''étranges découvertes. Ce meurtre n''est-il pas une aubaine pour Jack Vega, menacé d''une instruction judiciaire pour corruption ? Que sont devenus les voisins de la victime, disparus dès le lendemain du meurtre ? Pourquoi la police refuse-t-elle obstinément de prendre en considération ces aspects de l''affaire ? Ce n''est qu''aux toutes dernières pages que nous découvrirons une vérité plus trouble encore que tout ce qu''on pouvait supposer. L''auteur de Principal témoin, avocat lui-même, nous offre ici mieux qu''un haletant thriller psychologique : une critique de mœurs où sont explorées la corruption et la lâcheté du monde politique et étatique, la partialité de certains policiers et de certains juges. Et aussi le désarroi d''adolescents abandonnés au gré des adultères et des divorces...

A child-custody battle leads to murder in this mystery, starring lawyer Paul Madriani of San Diego. It happens when a woman demands a share of her parents'' $87 million lottery win, or she will remove her child from their custody.

Jocelyn "Joss" Cole, a burned-out public defender from L.A., has opted for a quieter life in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. Joss has no significant clients other than a group of commercial fisherman suffering from a strange and serious illness, a condition that doctors cannot diagnose, and which Joss believes has an industrial cause. Then into her office comes Dean Belden, a well-heeled client in search of a lawyer to help him set up a business in the islands. Within days Belden is subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. Less than an hour after testifying, and before Joss can discover what happened in the secrecy of the grand jury room, Belden dies in a fiery explosion of his float plane on Seattle''s Lake Union. Gideon Van Ry is a nuclear fission expert and a scholar in residence at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California. One of his duties is to update the Center''s database, an extensive catalog listing fissionable materials and weapons of mass destruction. Gideon is troubled by the apparent failure to account for two small tactical nuclear devices missing from a storage facility in the former Soviet Union.The two weapons were last seen in packing crates, to be shipped to an American company called Belden Electronics. Gideon has been unable to locate this firm, and now he is left with only one possible lead, the lawyer who incorporated the company-Jocelyn Cole. Fraught with tension and suspense, Critical Mass is Steve Martini at his electrifying best. It is the story of what can happen in a world where private hate and public apathy combine to uncork the sleeping but deadly genie of nuclear terror.

Des policiers soupçonnés de pratiques douteuses font l''objet d''une enquête menée par le juge Armando Acosta. Or, tel l''arroseur arrosé, le juge Acosta, ce citoyen au-dessus de tout soupçon, voit ses mœurs mises en accusation. Il a en effet été surpris en compagnie d''une jeune femme, dont il aurait tenté de monnayer les faveurs... Une procédure est lancée contre lui, ce qui ne déplaît pas à ses ennemis de prétoire, en particulier l''avocat Paul Madriani. Ironie du sort, c''est à Paul Madriani que le juge Acosta fait appel pour se sortir de ce guêpier. Comment assurer la défense d''un client pour lequel on n''a aucune sympathie, et sans être convaincu de son innocence ? L''affaire est complexe, et le procès qui oppose justice et police révèle certains désirs de vengeance, des ambitions inassouvies et des rivalités troubles qui ont, sur ces êtres supposés respectables, des effets dévastateurs. Des personnages magnifiques, souvent cruels, dans une tourmente de coups bas et de faux-semblants.

Abby Chandlis, an attorney turned novelist, created Gable Cooper as the author of her bestselling novel. With six million dollars in film rights on the line, she needs Jack Jermaine to front for her non-existent author.

Lawyer Paul Madriani tackles another thrilling case in this explosive mystery from New York Times bestselling author Steve Martini. When Judge Armando Acosta is charged with soliciting a prostitute, attorney Paul Madriani is less than sympathetic. Nevertheless, Madriani is forced to defend his old nemesis. And when the policewoman who snared Acosta is brutally murdered, Madriani wonders if the judge is also the executioner.