15 Must-Read Legal Thrillers

A thrillingly suspenseful debut novel and a fierce howl of rage that questions the true meaning of justice. “Every person wrongfully convicted of a crime at some point dreams of getting revenge against the system. In Confessions of an Innocent Man, the dream comes true and in a spectacular way” (John Grisham).

In this “invigorating must-read” installment (Newsweek) of the New York Times bestselling series, Inspector Harry Hole investigates a serial killer targeting Oslo’s police officers.

San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man’s guilt. San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched.

The #1 bestselling author of While Justice Sleeps returns with another riveting and intricately plotted thriller, in which a blackmailed federal judge, a secret court and a brazen murder may lead to an unprecedented national crisis.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Expats. Kate Moore is back in a pulse-pounding thriller to discover that a massive terror attack across Paris is not what it seems — and that it involves her family.

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney for two decades. He is respected. Admired in the courtroom. Happy at home with the loves of his life: His wife, Laurie, and their teenage son, Jacob. Then Andy’s quiet suburb is stunned by a shocking crime: A young boy is stabbed to death. And an even greater shock: The accused is Andy’s own son — shy, awkward, mysterious Jacob. It is the ultimate test for any parent: How far would you go to protect your child? It is a test of devotion. A test of how well a parent can know a child. For Andy Barber, a man with an iron will and a dark secret, it is a test of guilt and innocence in the deepest sense.

New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder returns with an explosive new thriller about a female judge and the one personal misstep that could lead to her — and her family’s — downfall.

The true story of one man so determined to take down two of the nation’s largest corporations accused of killing children from water contamination that he risks losing everything.

Inspired by recent true events, the all-original stories in Witnesses for the Dead are set in motion by the act of witnessing. The characters who populate these pages are not themselves the perpetrators of the crimes they see, but as they grapple with what to do — take action or retreat into the shadows — their lives are indelibly changed.

In his triumphant fictional debut, Stephen Carter combines a large-scale, riveting novel of suspense with the saga of a unique family. The Emperor of Ocean Park is set in two privileged worlds: The upper crust African American society of the Eastern seaboard — families who summer at Martha’s Vineyard — and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school.

Intricately plotted and relentlessly entertaining, The Legal Limit is an exploration of the judicial system’s roughest edges, as well as a gripping story of murder, family, and the difficult divide that sometimes separates genuine justice from the law.

One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong? From the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night …

John Grisham’s legal thriller takes you inside a law firm that’s on shaky ground. Pull up a stool, grab a cold one, and get ready to spend some time at The Rooster Bar.

1920s India: Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female lawyer, is investigating a suspicious will on behalf of three Muslim widows living in full purdah when the case takes a turn toward the murderous. The author of the Agatha and Macavity Award-winning Rei Shimura novels brings us an atmospheric new historical mystery with a captivating heroine.