Book picks similar to
Key Witness by J.F. Freedman


fiction
legal-thriller
legal
j-f-freedman

Grand Jury


Phillip Friedman - 1996
    Their case is rushed before the grand jury.Susan Linwood and David Clark are strangers before being asked to serve in the name of justice. Yet as prosecutor Dan Mahoney presents the drug-conspiracy case, they soon become completely absorbed with the proceedings–and increasingly with each other.As Mahoney struggles with facts that refuse to fit the crimes his superiors have told him to pursue, Linwood and Clark are launched onto a treacherous path to Hong Kong and China, to the edge of disaster *uncovering an ultimate truth with chilling, worldwide implications.

The Heart of Justice


William J. Coughlin - 1995
    In a staggering turn of events, Judge Murray finds himself trapped by his love for his new wife and his dedication to the law. His decision, no matter how it turns out, will change the course of his life with everything on the line: his honor, his reputation, his marriage, even his own skin. First as a man, then as a judge, he must confront what is at the heart of justice.

Inadmissible Evidence


Philip Friedman - 1993
    And he's not about to let millionaire real-estate tycoon and community hero Roberto Morales slip out of a murder charge--not again. Morales is being retried for the rape and murder of his mistress, Mariah Dodge. Estrada knows he needs a miracle to nail a conviction. But his sweat, pain, and emotional investment lead him to a gut wrenching possibility: the man he is trying so hard to convict may, in fact, be innocent. His life and his career hanging in the balance, Estrada struggles toward the truth. What he finds is...inadmissible evidence....

After Dark


Phillip Margolin - 1995
    Reynold's client - and the chief suspect - is none other than the icy but celebrated prosecutor Abigail Griffen, the Justice's estranged wife. Tracy's research plunges her into a web of betrayal and revenge, of secret deals and hidden passions. At the heart of the case lies a twisted truth - and when the verdict comes in, she will discover that nothing is as it seems...after dark.

Tainted Evidence


Robert Daley - 1993
    Now, the former deputy NYPD commissioner, "New York Times" correspondant, and acclaimed author of "Prince of the City" and "A Faint Cold Fear" presents his boldest novel ever. "Tainted Evidence" focuses on New York Assistant DA Karen Henning, a woman about to find her ambitions at war with her principles and her loyalties torn by her passions. When a desperate, drug-dealing murder suspect guns down five cops in a Harlem police raid gone wrong, the city's long-simmering racial unrest explodes in uncontrollable turmoil, both in the courtroom and on the street. Caught in the middle, Henning is tempted to break her own personal taboo. She falls in love with her star witness - and the storm it unleashes can shatter her life, and even the system she has tried so hard to defend.

Trial By Fire


Nancy Taylor Rosenberg - 1996
    But when she finally persuades the authorities to reopen the case, the most unexpected suspect of all is indicted--herself!

9 Scorpions


Paul Levine - 1998
    The airline CEO calls in a favor from a newly appointed Supreme Court clerk -- a former stripper he put through law school and took as a mistress. To what lengths will she go to secure the swing vote and keep her past a secret?

The List


Steve Martini - 1997
    Gable Cooper has penned a novel to kill for. Six million dollars in book and film rights are looming just off the table for this unknown author. But there is a problem: Gable Cooper doesn't exist. Abby Chandlis is an attorney turned novelist and the creator of Gable Cooper. In an age when glamour, not grammar, is often the secret to selling books, Abby has an intriguing plan to keep her writing career alive: find a charismatic male face to pose as the phantom author for the knock-dead thriller she has written. Jack Jermaine is a man with dangerous good looks and a shadowy past. Trained by the military to kill, his obsession is to pen a blockbuster book. He has a trunk filled with rejected manuscripts and a gnawing problem that has turned him bitter: Jack can't write. Desperate to find a man to play the role of Gable Cooper, Abby is about to give up when Jack forces his way into her life. Reluctantly she is convinced that Jack's humor and looks will clinch success for her novel. She uses her legal wits and makes a deal with the devil. Jack becomes Gable Cooper. When Jack is propelled into the orbit of celebrity, Abby finds herself at once seduced and trapped by her own creation. Success turns to terror.The story careens from the Pacific Northwest to New York City and finally through the islands of the Caribbean as Abby races for her life to the one person she can trust--the one person who can prove to the world that she wrote the novel, and put an end to the nightmare that was once her dream, the dream of making The List.

Twice Kissed


Lisa Jackson - 1998
    With the police indifferent and a cryptic suicide note setting up a dreadful possibility, she plunges into a seething world of scandal, intrigue, and illicit desire...and uncovers secret after shocking secret about the sister she thought she knew.But of all the men who loved and hated Marquise Walker, it is her wickedly handsome ex-husband Thane Walker who puts Maggie at greatest risk. Once, she desired him with all the wild, uncontrollable hunger of youth; now he is the man she dares not trust -- a man who could be a murderer. Yet soon Thane draws Maggie back into his dangerous, passionate embrace, where she is vulnerable again -- and where one final, shattering truth could destroy her chance for happiness forever.

Silent Thunder


Iris Johansen - 2008
    . . . It was the assignment of a lifetime. . . . Brilliant marine architect Hannah Bryson has been given the job of a lifetime. A U.S. maritime museum has just acquired the decommissioned Soviet submarine Silent Thunder for public exhibition. It’s Hannah’s job to make sure that every single inch of the legendary nuclear attack sub is safe for the thousands of visitors anticipated. Enlisting the aid of her brother, Connor, they examine the enormous vessel and delve into its long---and lethal---history. But is it really a trap? In the course of their investigation, Connor discovers a mysterious message behind one of the ship’s panels. But before he can figure out what it means, there’s a deadly assault on Silent Thunder. . . .     Though the U.S. government tries to warn Hannah away, she’ll stop at nothing to find the ruthless mastermind behind her brother’s death. Even if it means joining forces with a mysterious man who may be even more dangerous than the enemy she has sworn to bring down. As Hannah finds herself in the crossfire of an epic standoff, her only hope for survival is to unravel the sub’s explosive secret. But someone’s willing to kill to make sure Silent Thunder stays silent. . . . Brisk, exhilarating, and filled with authentic details, Silent Thunder is what you get when you team the biggest name in suspense with the stunning plot twists of an Edgar Award--winning author. Get ready for a page-turning thrill ride!

Dark Lady


Richard North Patterson - 1999
    Once the dead man was an honest lawyer. Now Stella Marz stares at the body of her former lover, hanging from a doorway in a gruesome tableau.For Stella Marz, the search for Jack Novak's killer leads into another bizarre homicide case, back through her own past and through the city where she was born and where now--a good Catholic girl turned career woman--she is in crisis. Somewhere in this city a hidden alliance of big money, big plans, and dark secrets is fueling a great American revival. And somehow Stella Marz will bring the darkness into the light--no matter what it reveals, no matter who it destroys. . . .

Liars & Thieves


Stephen Coonts - 2004
    When he arrives, he finds the guards shot dead and a ruthless team of American commandos killing everyone in sight. Carmellini escapes in a hail of bullets with what seems to be the sole survivor-a stunningly attractive translator, who then steals his car and abandons him after a deadly mountain car chase. But someone else survived the massacre-someone who holds the answers to a deadly conspiracy.Catapulted into a life and death struggle, Tommy must employ all his savvy and skill just to stay alive. But to find out who is hunting him and why, he'll need the help of retired Admiral Jake Grafton. Now they must learn to tell friend from foe as they fight their way through a poisonous wilderness of intrigue, all the way to a presidential convention in New York City-and to the surprising identity of someone standing on the verge of absolute power who has jeopardized the safety of the entire nation to prevent a dark secret from ever seeing the light of day...

The Juror


George Dawes Green - 1995
    The book has been turned into a movie, featuring Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore.

Host


Robin Cook - 2015
    But when her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, enters the hospital for routine surgery, her neatly ordered life is thrown into total chaos. Carl fails to return to consciousness after the procedure, and an MRI confirms brain death.Devastated by Carl’s condition, Lynn searches for answers. Convinced there’s more to the story than what the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn uses all her resources at Mason-Dixon—including her initially reluctant lab partner, Michael Pender—to hunt down evidence of medical error or malpractice.What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing. Hospitals associated with Middleton Healthcare, including the Mason-Dixon Medical Center, have unnervingly high rates of unexplained anesthetic complications and patients contracting serious and terminal illness in the wake of routine hospital admissions.When Lynn and Michael begin to receive death threats, they know they’re into something bigger than either of them anticipated. They soon enter a desperate race against time for answers before shadowy forces behind Middleton Healthcare and their partner, Sidereal Pharmaceuticals, can put a stop to their efforts once and for all.

Billy Straight


Jonathan Kellerman - 1998
    Fleeing into the night, Billy cannot shake the horrific memory of the savage violence, nor the pursuit of a cold-blooded killer. For wherever Billy turns --- from Hollywood Boulevard to the boardwalks of Venice --- he is haunted by the chuck chuck sound of a knife sinking into flesh. As LAPD homicide detective Petra Connor desperately searches for the murderer, as the media swarms mercilessly around the story, the vicious madman stalks closer to his prey. Only Petra can save Billy. But it will take all her cunning to uncover a child lost in a fierce urban labyrinth --- where a killer seems right at home ...