New York Times bestselling master of suspense Steve Martini returns, ensnaring defense attorney Paul Madriani in a web of terror and death being spun in the shadows of America's most sacred and secretive institution—the Supreme Court.

A writer is savagely slain while on a publicity tour—a literary provocateur who craved headlines, but whose last book may have gone too far. His revelations about secret language buried in the U.S. Constitution—and hints about an explosive missing letter of Thomas Jefferson's—may be enough to cause an irreparable tear in the fabric of the nation . . . and perhaps drove a volatile youth to homicide. But Paul Madriani thinks a troubled young man with dark connections has been chosen as a scapegoat to cover up something far deadlier that festers in America's political heart. And in the wake of the strange disappearance of a Supreme Court judge, Madriani must survive long enough to find the devastating answers hidden in the shadow of power.

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Forced to defend his old nemesis, Judge Armando Acosta, when he is charged with soliciting a prostitute, unenthusiastic attorney Paul Madriani becomes concerned when the policewoman who snared the judge is brutally murdered. Reprint. NYT. ...

Paul Madriani's defense of a soldier on trial for murder-and the explosive government secrets it could reveal-propel Steve Martini's latest thriller.

The Arraignment, Steve Martini's most recent bestseller featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani, has proved his most popular yet. Now Madriani is faced with daunting ballistics evidence: a so-called "double tap"-two bullet wounds tightly grouped in the victim's head, shots that could have been made only by a crack marksman. Paul's client, Emiliano Ruiz, is an enigma-a career soldier who refuses to discuss his past though it is clear that he is a battle-tested pro. Ruiz is accused of killing a beautiful businesswoman and guru of a high-tech software empire catering to the military. A key to the case: the murder weapon is one used solely in special operations, where the "double tap" has become the signature of the most skilled assassins.

Ruiz is sitting on secrets-there's a seven-year gap on his military risumi, for which Madriani can find no details. And, more troubling, he discovers that the victim and her company were involved in a controversial government computer program designed to combat terrorists. Madriani finds himself in a deadly legal quagmire-with a client who is unwilling to cooperate and prosecutors who stonewall his every question about the victim's shadowy business and his client's past. Justice, and the unvarnished truth, has never been so elusive-or so dangerous....

Lawyer Paul Madriani is called on to defend a brilliant research physician -- who just may be a killer -- in the most daunting capital case of Madriani's career.

Paul Madriani has ample reason to suspect he's representing a guilty man. Dr. David Crone, a respected medical researcher and principal in mapping the human genome, is charged with the murder of a young colleague: Kalista Jordan, an African-American research physician whose dismembered body was found in a nearby bay.

Madriani's defense is hindered by the secrecy surrounding Crone's research -- which has involved his controversial use of genetic racial profiling. The murdered woman had filed charges of sexual harassment against Crone. Paul is left to piece together a defense while Crone and his colleagues conceal parts of the puzzle.

When a key witness for the prosecution ends up dead, Crone's acquittal is all but assured. Paul's nagging doubts concerning his client are answered with a stunning revelation and a shattering climax....

The lawyer everyone loves is back in the new New York Times bestselling novel...