The defense
No romance or no physical intimacy at all.
Closed door. No anatomical or crude language.
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Blurb
"If you're a fan of John Grisham, Scott Turow, and Brad Meltzer, then you will be a fan of Steve Cavanagh's The Defense." —Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Radiant Angel Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turns out the two aren't that different. Former con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn gave up the law a year ago after a disastrous case, and he vowed never to step foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. The head of the Russian mob in New York City, on trial for murder, has kidnapped Eddie's ten-year-old daughter: Eddie has to take this case whether he likes it or not. Using his razor-sharp wit and every con, bluff, grift, and trick in the book, Eddie has only forty-eight hours to defend an impossible murder trial. And if he loses this case, he loses everything.
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Defence
Same con-man lawyer, same 48-hour mob ultimatum e this is the UK edition, so identical courtroom tension with a bomb instead of a snatched child.
The plea
Same con-man lawyer working an impossible courtroom trick under threat, only here it's a locked-room puzzle with less mob menace and more twisty plotting.
Missing Mother-to-be
Kidnapping and criminal muscle again, but the captor-captive dynamic turns romantic here, with heat and a guaranteed happy ending instead of courtroom stakes.
Phantom
Mafia menace and murder carry over, though this trades legal maneuvering for a gothic, explicit obsession story with a stalker at its center.
Bare necessity
A total tonal switch: instead of courtroom peril, a comic starting-over story with warmth, romance and a guaranteed happy ending.
Happiness for beginners
For when you want the opposite of hostage-clock tension: gentle small-town romance, found family, no violence, cozy hopeful close.