Paul Madriani

The Supreme Court is one of our most sacred-and secretive-public institutions. But sometimes secrets can lead to cover-ups with very deadly consequences. Terry Scarborough is a legal scholar and provocateur who craves headline-making celebrity, but with his latest book he may have gone too far. In it he resurrects forgotten language in the U.S. Constitution-and hints at a missing letter of Thomas Jefferson's-that threatens to divide the nation. Then, during a publicity tour, Scarborough is brutally murdered in a San Diego hotel room, and a young man with dark connections is charged. What looks like an open-and-shut case to most people doesn't to defense attorney Paul Madriani. He believes that there is much more to the case and that the defendant is a pawn caught in the middle, being scapegoated by circumstance. As the trial spirals toward its conclusion, Madriani and his partner, Harry Hinds, race to find the missing Jefferson letter-and the secrets it holds about slavery and scandal at the time of our nation's founding and the very reason Scarborough was killed. Madriani's chase takes him from the tension-filled courtroom in California to the trail of a high court justice now suddenly in hiding and lays bare the soaring political stakes for a seat on the highest court, in a country divided, and under the shadow of power.

"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.

"Steve Martini is an expert at good old-fashioned, gimmick-free storytelling." -Steve Berry, author of The Paris Vendetta "Take it from a prosecutor-Steve Martini has created one of the most charismatic defense attorneys in thriller fiction." -Linda Fairstein, author of Lethal Legacy 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.

"Steve Martini ranks among the top authors of legal thrillers." -Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "You like Law & Order? Or even a John Grisham novel? Well, Steve Martini is one of the best of the best when it comes to crime thrillers." -Asbury Park Press The reasons why Steve Martini is one of the most popular thriller writers around are abundantly clear in Trader of Secrets: an ingenious plot, great characters, gripping storytelling that combines the legal expertise of John Lescroart, Brad Meltzer, and Scott Turow with the heart-pounding political intrigue of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor. Superstar crime novelist Linda Fairstein says, "Take it from a prosecutor-Steve Martini has created one of the most charismatic defense attorneys in thriller fiction," referring to Martini's fearless yet very human series protagonist, defense attorney Paul Madriani. In Trader of Secrets the crusading lawyer is on the trail of dangerous criminals who are trying to steal state-of-the-art weapons technology…with nothing less than the future of America at stake.

Navy SEALs are the military's elite-highly trained, deadly, and sworn to secrecy about the details of their dangerous and confidential missions. So when one of the men goes public about a high-profile assassination abroad, all of his comrades are thrown into peril. In this riveting novella, attorney Paul Madriani comes to the aid of a Navy SEAL who is pursued by his own government and facing possible prosecution for disclosures he says were made by others. When the soldier disappears, Paul finds himself ensnared in a deadly game of intrigue that forces him to track the man down before it is too late.

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.

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.