Marc Kadella Legal Mystery Series by Dennis Carstens

A serial killer is on the loose in Minneapolis and the head of the investigation, Minneapolis police Lt. Jake Waschke, is feeling the pressure to find him. To make matters worse, the killer strikes again, this time across the river in St. Paul, and his victim is the daughter of a prominent politician... moreA serial killer is on the loose in Minneapolis and the head of the investigation, Minneapolis police Lt. Jake Waschke, is feeling the pressure to find him. To make matters worse, the killer strikes again, this time across the river in St. Paul, and his victim is the daughter of a prominent politician. Just when the investigation seems to be going nowhere, the police catch a break when the killer strikes yet again, except this time there is a witness who gets the police, including Jake Waschke chasing the killer through the streets of Minneapolis. During the chase Jake gets a good look at him and realizes his problems are only beginning when he recognizes the man and realizes he must do whatever is necessary to protect him. A patsy is found and an arrest is made. The patsy’s fate is placed in the hands of criminal defense lawyer, Marc Kadella, when the brother of the accused turns out to be a former client of Marc’s. The case has heat and publicity far beyond anything Marc has ever dealt with and he tries to beg off. He knows he is over his head with a case of this magnitude and also realizes it could destroy his practice and drive him into bankruptcy. The brother convinces Marc to take the case playing on their past relationship, guaranteeing payment of his fees and Marc’s own belief that the man is innocent. As the case progresses, Marc, aided in the investigation by a stunningly beautiful private investigator, becomes more and more convinced his client is being framed. But, unless he can uncover who is framing him and, more importantly, why, an innocent man is going to take a very serious fall, Marc will be helpless to prevent it. less

COURTROOM DRAMA MEETS THE NEWSROOM--with a heaping dose of murder mystery--in this trio of pulse-pounding legal thrillers… Minneapolis criminal attorney Marc Kadella knows the best and the worst of the law—from corrupt police officers to crooked judges, with a handful of unforgettable clients in between... moreCOURTROOM DRAMA MEETS THE NEWSROOM--with a heaping dose of murder mystery--in this trio of pulse-pounding legal thrillers… Minneapolis criminal attorney Marc Kadella knows the best and the worst of the law—from corrupt police officers to crooked judges, with a handful of unforgettable clients in between. Highlighting the beginning of his career, this collection features Marc’s involvement with an accused serial killer, the family of an influential (and irresistible) socialite, and the young mother of a missing toddler caught up in a media circus. Chock-full of grit and street savvy, this action-packed legal thriller series is a Grisham fan’s dream. (And we dare you not to fall in love with Marc’s best friend, badass private investigator Maddy Rivers). We guarantee you’ll tear right through these first 3 novels, now bundled in a page-turning box set.BOOK ONE – THE KEY TO JUSTICEFinancially embarrassed, getting a divorce, living in a shabby apartment, and distinctly short of clients, Marc Kadella’s beginning to question why he ever went into the law when a friend brings him the case all Minneapolis is watching--defending an accused serial killer. If he wins, it could turn his life around— if he blows it, he better go into sales.It's a classic David-and Goliath setup, and the author’s got some pretty fancy twists in store as Kadella unravels a complicated plot to set his client up, and Maddy battles demons that just keep coming at her. Fans of John Grisham, Richard North Patterson, and of course the most beloved lawyer sleuth of all time, Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, will gobble up this one and go back for the rest of the series.BOOK TWO – DESPERATE JUSTICEAfter winning the case of a lifetime, Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer Marc Kadella welcomes the new energy his career is receiving. Another lawyer asks him to represent the co-defendant in a murder trial resulting from a petty crime that spiraled out of control—the somewhat “accidental” murder of the nephew of Vivian Corwin, grande dame of the influential Corwin family. Disarmingly charming and still downright sexy at sixty-eight, there’s more to Vivian than meets the eye. You just gotta love a society doyenne who can toss off, “… if I wasn’t a lady, right about now I would f--- you.”Marc has no illusions about why he’s being brought into the case, or what will happen. What he doesn’t know is that he’s gotten on the wrong side of a crooked judge; he just knows the guy hates him and will do everything he can to make life miserable for Marc and his client.BOOK THREE – MEDIA JUSTICEAn adorable—and photogenic—two-year-old girl is kidnapped, and, when her remains are found, her twenty-two-year-old widowed mother Brittany is arrested for her murder. But before she can even be charged, she’s been tried and convicted by the media., at the center of which is Melinda Pace, a cynical, mostly-functioning alcoholic Minneapolis television personality with a “legal news” show called The Court Reporter. Not even in the alternative universe of television news could she be described as a reporter, since she makes no attempt at or pretense of presenting the truth, or even the facts. She does do a great job of producing through-the-roof ratings and whipping the public into a frenzy—with tragic consequences. less

Gritty and Witty—A Courtoom Drama Fan’s Dream Collection! Hard-as-nails Minneapolis defense attorney Marc Kadella takes on the most challenging cases of his career in this exhilarating 4 novel legal thriller box set—page-turners all... moreGritty and Witty—A Courtoom Drama Fan’s Dream Collection! Hard-as-nails Minneapolis defense attorney Marc Kadella takes on the most challenging cases of his career in this exhilarating 4 novel legal thriller box set—page-turners all.Book 3 – MEDIA JUSTICE Q: HOW DOES A TELEVISION PRODUCER DESCRIBE THE KIDNAP AND MURDER OF A 2-YEAR-OLD CHILD? A:“I THINK WE HAVE A HIT ON OUR HANDS!” In the third The third Marc Kadella legal mystery, an adorable—and photogenic—two-year-old girl is kidnapped, and, when her remains are found, her twenty-two-year-old widowed mother Brittany is charged with her murder. But before she can even be charged she’s been tried and convicted by the media, at the center of which is Melinda Pace, a cynical, mostly-functioning alcoholic Minneapolis television personality with a “legal news” show called The Court Reporter. Not even in the alternative universe of television news could she be described as a reporter, since she makes no attempt at or pretense of presenting the truth, or even the facts. She does do a great job of producing through-the-roof ratings and whipping the public into a frenzy—with tragic consequences.Book 4 – CERTAIN JUSTICE A PSYCHOPATH'S BACK ON THE STREETS--AND HE'S OUT FOR REVENGE… Marc was torn about his work for Howie Traynor—his first homicide case—but even he was relieved when Howie was put away for forty years… Until, a decade later, his case is re-opened. Seems the former tech in the BCA lab was falsifying DNA evidence to collude with cops in putting away suspected violent criminals. And now not only Howie, but a handful of wrongfully-accused felons, are back out on the streets.Marc and his longtime buddy PI Tony Caravelli don’t buy Howie’s come-to-Jesus act. And when an appeals judge with ties to the overturned cases winds up crucified in his own front yard, they’re convinced a dangerous killer has been wrongfully exonerated.Book 5 – PERSONAL JUSTICE FIRST SHE KILLS HER HUSBANDS, THEN SHE DESTROYS THEIR FAMILIES… Mackenzie Sutherland is shrouded in black at her most recent late husband’s funeral. Mackenzie’s not-so despondent face might tell more observant onlookers she’s not exactly your typical grieving widow—but then, no one can see through her veil. This is by design. Alluring and dangerously attractive, she’s been down this road before.Three times, in fact. In Dennis Carstens’ FIFTH hard-boiled legal thriller, we meet the classic black widow. All of Mackenzie’s late husbands were millionaires. Each died suddenly and quite mysteriously of massive heart attacks (in spite of no history of heart trouble). And each left their children with nothing—and their young, beautiful bride (of about a year or so) with millions.Book 6 – DELAYED JUSTICE FRAUD LEADS TO MURDER. AND THIS TIME, IT’S PERSONAL... Maddy Rivers has her reservations about her new relationship with Rob Judd. Sure, he’s a handsome and brilliant investment analyst in a wildly successful securities management firm. But he’s constantly distracted. It seems something about the firm’s not quite right—or so he finally lets on to Maddy. less

A politically ambitious couple will stop at nothing to obtain the presidency. He is a popular governor of a western state. A philanderer, but charming, good-looking, charismatic, a dream candidate. Thomas Jefferson Carver is a capable administrator and attracts sycophants like moths to a flame. People willing to sacrifice themselves and anyone who opposes him. Darla Bunton Carver is the political brains behind their rise to power... moreA politically ambitious couple will stop at nothing to obtain the presidency. He is a popular governor of a western state. A philanderer, but charming, good-looking, charismatic, a dream candidate. Thomas Jefferson Carver is a capable administrator and attracts sycophants like moths to a flame. People willing to sacrifice themselves and anyone who opposes him. Darla Bunton Carver is the political brains behind their rise to power. Amoral and single-minded to the point of obsession it is her ambition to succeed her husband to become the first woman president of the United States. And nothing will stand in her way to achieve it. Including her husband’s numerous affairs, money scandals, homicide cover-ups, murder and even treason. Whatever is necessary. Their true goal? Power and wealth for themselves. less

SURVIVAL USED TO MEAN BEING ABLE TO PAY THE RENT.NOW IT’S MORE ABOUT HAVING A TARGET ON HIS BACK.Celebrated criminal attorney Marc Kadella’s playing in the big leagues now. As his renown grows, so does the epic size of the personalities who now seek his representation – along with the complexity and often the distastefulness of the cases. Marc increasingly finds himself at the center of the explosive events of the day... moreSURVIVAL USED TO MEAN BEING ABLE TO PAY THE RENT.NOW IT’S MORE ABOUT HAVING A TARGET ON HIS BACK.Celebrated criminal attorney Marc Kadella’s playing in the big leagues now. As his renown grows, so does the epic size of the personalities who now seek his representation – along with the complexity and often the distastefulness of the cases. Marc increasingly finds himself at the center of the explosive events of the day. He might be mellowing (slightly), as many men would, when gorgeous investigator Maddy Rivers becomes much more than an associate – and more than a friend. But author Carstens consistently delivers intricate, twisty-turny plotting and gripping courtroom drama, to the delight of classic and noir readers alike.INSIDER JUSTICE (Book 8)When celebrated criminal lawyer Marc Kadella takes on the fall-out of a class action suit against a beloved corporate toy company, he discovers a vipers' den of insider trading, sex scandal, political corruption, and murder, in this heart-racing financial thriller.EXQUISITE JUSTICE (Book 9)When a string of police brutality accusations leads to civil unrest, Minneapolis defense attorney Marc Kadella finds himself trapped in a web of racism and corruption—thanks to a drug ring orchestrated by a villain so manipulative even hard-nosed investigator Tony Carvelli’s stumped.CULT JUSTICE (Book 10)The sixties aren’t just a bad memory in the tenth riveting installment of Dennis Carstens’s Marc Kadella legal thriller mystery series. Professor Ben Sokol is exactly as you’d image a single, fifty-something-year-old history teacher, schooled in radical anti-Reagan pacifism of the 80s, an underappreciated, self-believing genius—with a dose of rage bubbling just beneath the surface.MADDY’S JUSTICE (Book 11)Marc Kadella and associate Connie Mickelson are hired to defend a prominent, well-connected firm from a sexual harassment lawsuit involving the firm’s main rainmaker. Peeling back the layers, his investigators Tony Carvelli and Marc’s lady love Maddy Rivers uncover the firm’s connections to drug smuggling, money laundering, and sex slave trafficking. less

WHEN THEY THROW THE BOOKAT YOU, WHO YOU GONNA CALL? You’d better call top Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Marc Kadella.Fixer Burt Chayson had well and truly fixed it this time. About to be charged in a vote-buying scandal, he was overheard declaring that if he went down, he’d take some people with him. Within hours he’s dead, and, at first glance, it looks like a suicide—until incriminating fingerprints are found... moreWHEN THEY THROW THE BOOKAT YOU, WHO YOU GONNA CALL? You’d better call top Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Marc Kadella.Fixer Burt Chayson had well and truly fixed it this time. About to be charged in a vote-buying scandal, he was overheard declaring that if he went down, he’d take some people with him. Within hours he’s dead, and, at first glance, it looks like a suicide—until incriminating fingerprints are found.The suspect—and Marc’s client—is realtor Hope Slade, one of a group of law-breaking former Vikings cheerleaders, now known as the Suburban Housewife Hooker Ring. Hope’s had a little bad luck lately—her husband threw her out, her children no longer trust her, and she’s already facing a plethora of other criminal charges. All she needs is a murder rap.But not only are her fingerprints on the murder weapon but the victim, a client of several of the Housewife Hookers, was last seen with her.Relying on the SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It) defense that’s worked so well for him before, Marc knows he’ll have no trouble coming up with other suspects. But even if Hope’s not convicted of the murder, she faces RICO, prostitution, and money laundering charges.And it’s not just Hope. The Grand Jury’s thrown the book at the entire hooker gang, apparently in an attempt to squeeze them for information on much bigger fish – a major local drug wholesaler. The major local drug wholesaler. And danger shadows them since some of those people the fixer had planned on taking down with him want to make sure the hookers don’t spill Burt’s pillow talk.Carstens has outdone himself, laying out an amazingly intricate narrative that leads to a supremely satisfying flashbang! resolution that nobody sees coming – not even Marc.A must-read for fans of taut legal thrillers like those of John Grisham, Richard North Patterson, Brad Thor, John Ellsworth, and Scott Pratt. less