Dynamite defense attorney Joseph Antonelli has never lost a case—or felt the sting of conscience for letting the guilty go free. "I can deceive anyone," he says, "and no one more quickly or more completely than myself." Now the man he most admires, the honorable Judge Rifkin, has asked him a favor: Defend a drug dealer accused of raping his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. Yet in D. W. Buffa's The Defense, Antonelli's acceptance of the case sets in motion an explosive chain of corruption, betrayal, and murder that will leave no one unscathed. . . .

It could happen... Bobby Hart, an idealistic young senator from California, thinks that he's escaped the political spotlight when he decides not to run for president. Then, on a secret mission to Germany, he discovers that there is going to be an assassination. He doesn't know who is the target, who is behind the plan, or where it will take place. All he knows is that it will happen before the election. And that it operates under the code name "Rubicon". Rubicon, Hart remembers, is the river Caesar crossed with his army when he decided to seize power in Rome. For Caesar it meant that there was no turning back for a republic on its way to becoming an empire. But crossing the Rubicon meant the beginning of an era in Rome. Could it mean the end of something else today? As events pile up before the predicted attack, it becomes clear that "Rubicon" isn't just about the election. It's a plot to steal the country. Now Hart is in a race against time to...

A superstar defense attorney, Joseph Antonelli has made his reputation by winning at any cost. Now he's come out of retirement to prosecute –to send a deputy district attorney to death row for the crime of murder for hire. In a torrid case of violence, adultery, and betrayal, one murder leads to another. Suddenly Antonelli knows that in this case justice is warped by money and power...

Attorney Joseph Antonelli dives into a case of White House intrigue, intimacies not forgotten, and suspicions dark and deep in this legal thriller in the Edgar Award-nominated series called "adroit and often elegant" (Los Angeles Times). The novels of D. W. Buffa featuring attorney Joseph Antonelli have become some of the most avidly praised of the legal thrillers being written today, called "absorbing" (Orlando Sentinel), "suspense-laden" (Houston Chronicle), and "electrically charged" (The New York Times). The Judgment, the third in the series, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel of the Year. In Breach of Trust, Antonelli is seduced into taking a case that has dangerous implications not only for the upcoming United States presidential race but also for a group of friends who thought they had put the sudden death of a young woman behind them long ago. When Antonelli attends a Harvard Law School reunion at Manhattan's Plaza Hotel, he doesn't suspect how...

William Darnell thought he had seen every kind of human conflict, every type of human tragedy, seen them in all their immense variety: murder done from envy, murder done for revenge, murder done for money, murder done for love, murder done after careful planning, murder done in a moment's rage. He had known, and defended, every kind of murderer, all of them, despite their differences, driven by the same desire, known since Cain slew Abel: the need to kill because, in their twisted imaginations, it was the only way their own lives would be worth living. He had known them all, and if there was something he had missed, it was in all probability now too late. But that was before he knew Adam and began the strangest case of his long career. It was not just the strangest case he had ever tried; it was the strangest case ever tried by any lawyer anywhere. It was impossible to explain; or rather, impossible to believe. The defendant, who did not speak English or any other language...

A jury must decide whether a ship’s captain is man or monster: “Buffa [can] keep company with the best writers of legal thrillers.” —Orlando SentinelEvangeline is the finest ship of her kind, built to sail anywhere in the world. Like the Titanic, she is meant to be unsinkable. But when she runs into a ferocious storm, only fourteen people manage to escape—aboard a single lifeboat. Forty days later, only six survivors are rescued from the sea. One of them, the captain Vincent Marlowe, is charged with murder. But when Marlowe claims it was necessary to kill some to save others, the jury is faced with a dilemma: Is the captain a killer or a hero?Praise for D. W. Buffa “If there’s anybody who can mount a challenge to John Grisham’s mantle . . . Buffa’s the guy to do it.” —Edmonton Journal “There’s nobody...

The riveting new thriller from bestselling Edgar Award nominee D.W. Buffa! It was a strange case, a great case, a case that, once it got to trial, might well change forever the history of the United States. Other presidents had been murdered, but no one who had killed a president had ever been brought to trial. I did not want any part of it. NECESSITY is the riveting new thriller from bestselling Edgar Award nominee D.W. Buffa in which criminal defense attorney Joseph Antonelli finds himself embroiled in the most controversial and explosive trial in American history, representing the man accused of murdering the President. When renowned lawyer Joseph Antonelli—the defense attorney who has never lost a case—takes on the most shocking and controversial case of his storied career, he has no idea of the depths of trouble he's about to get into. A man has murdered the President of the United States, but has invoked the "Law of Necessity," which states that a crime is...

Joseph Antonelli, who never lost a case he should have won and won nearly every case he should have lost, is about to see his client, Justin Friedrich, convicted for a crime he did not commit. His wife was found shot to death in the bedroom of their yacht in the San Francisco marina, and Friedrich does not have a chance. But then the real killer approaches Antonelli... Famous and enigmatic, James Michael Redfield, the head of a high tech company that leads the world in the development of artificial intelligence, Redfield gives Antonelli evidence that proves Friedrich is innocent. But why did Redfield wait until the last minute to give Antonelli this proof? Before Antonelli can even begin to solve that riddle, there is another murder, and Antonelli finds himself an unwilling participant in a conspiracy he does not understand. Antonelli has never known anyone like James Michael Redfield. Because for Redfield, it isn't about murder at all; it is all about the trial. Because only a...

What if a political party in disarray turned to a man to lead them with no political background? What if a country torn apart by ideology turned to a man whose charisma belied a complete lack of governing experience? What if a country elected a President based not on qualifications, but on hope? Would this man lead the country into a new era of fortune and prosperity? Or would he lead them into total and complete chaos? D.W. Buffa has proven himself as one of the absolute best political writers working today, and in THE 45TH he creates a work of compelling fiction that's as timely as this morning's news. THE 45TH will leave you breathless, enraged, and unable to forget it once the last page is turned.

"D.W. Buffa has taken the legal thriller one step further - endowing it with an eerie and stylish noir sensibility...masterfully crafted and people with characters you won't forget." —Jonathan KellermanD.W. Buffa's first novel, The Defense, left the New York Times "wanting to go back to the beginning and read it again." Lunatic Carnival, Buffa's latest riveting and thought-provoking thriller, does that and more. In Lunatic Carnival, Buffa paints an unforgettable and timely portrait of an age in which nothing is thought more important than fame and money, a world in which immorality has become the trademark of success, and murder just another business decision. A professional athlete, T.J. Allen, is charged with the murder of Matthew Stanton, the owner of the team. Antonelli agrees to take the case only after the trial court judge tells him that Allen is innocent and that "All of America contributed to the making of Matthew...

The Evangeline, the finest ship of her kind, built to sail anywhere in the world, sinks in a ferocious storm off the coast of Africa. A single lifeboat with fourteen people crowded into it gets away. Forty days later, a thousand miles from South America, six survivors are rescued from the sea. One of them, the captain Vincent Marlowe, is charged with murder. His only defence is that it was necessary to kill some to save the others. Using his intricate legal experience, D.W. Buffa explores whether there are some ethical questions that cannot be decided with manmade laws. The Evangeline is a gripping courtroom thriller that destroys our trusted notions of good and evil. From the author of the acclaimed Joseph Antonelli novels, The Evangeline is D.W. Buffa's eighth book. Buffa served as a defence attorney for ten years. 'Buffa, himself a lawyer, creates suspense in the courtroom that is remarkable. Through the individual accounts of the witnesses, a picture of the drama at high sea is vividly described.' - German Press Agency 'Ever since Moby Dick we fear that the ocean treats human beings by its own rules. Marlowe, a worthy successor of Captain Ahab, was the only one who knew these rules.' - Lufthansa Exclusive magazine

Amazon.com ReviewWhen Calvin Jeffries's body is found in the courthouse parking garage, eyes widen and horrified tongues wag. The fact that Jeffries was a thoroughly reprehensible human being doesn't detract from the notoriety of the first murder of a sitting Oregon judge. Defense attorney extraordinaire Joe Antonelli has a long history with Jeffries. Years ago the judge threw him into jail for contempt in a vain attempt to deter Antonelli from winning yet another case. But one of Antonelli's colleagues suffered even more. As the curious Antonelli pieces together fragments of the legendary judge's past, he discovers that Jeffries apparently drove Elliott Winston insane, had him committed, and married his wife. If only Elliott weren't still securely in the psychiatric hospital, what a sterling suspect he'd make!But the police find the killer, a homeless man with the murder weapon and a willingness to confess, who promptly commits suicide after being taken into custody. The legal community breathes a sigh of relief--until a second judge is murdered in the same manner. When another homeless man is arrested, Antonelli's "bizarre coincidence" antennae start to quiver, and he offers his services to the defendant. So convinced is he of Danny's innocence that he plunges undercover into the vagrant's world, searching for evidence of a setup. But his discoveries seem to point directly to the impossible--for how could Elliott Winston, safely tucked behind bars, be the murderer?At some point during The Judgment (the exact moment will vary according to individual tolerance), you may find yourself putting the book aside and picking up an Elmore Leonard for an emergency infusion of quality dialogue. Along with everyone with whom he comes in contact, Antonelli suffers from an apparent speech impediment that usually makes him sound like a particularly pompous 19th-century pundit. When author D.W. Buffa lets his courtroom savvy take center stage, the novel moves along briskly (even though Antonelli takes some rather remarkable legal liberties, it's all in good fun). The subplot involving the return of Antonelli's high-school sweetheart, however, feels less integral than afterthought-ish. Though Buffa tries to tie everything together at the end with a heavily contrived twist that probably set O. Henry yawning in his grave, the novel's final note isn't one of ringing irony. It's more like a dull thud. --Kelly FlynnFrom Publishers WeeklyInventing a perfectly odious victim and an obvious killer with the perfect alibi, Buffa cooks up a convoluted legal thriller littered with plot-twist land mines that explode when least expected. Toss in a poignant midlife romance and an innocent, put-upon defendant, and you have a novel with wide appeal. So few people grieve when loathsome circuit judge Calvin Jeffries is stabbed to death and gutted in the courthouse parking garage that it comes as a shock when the confessed killer is revealed to be a homeless man with no apparent ties to the victim. When a second sharp-tongued judge is killed the same way in the same spot, the cops call it a copycat killing and arrest a retarded homeless man on an anonymous tip, finding him with the murder weapon. Seasoned defense attorney Joseph Antonelli, himself a particularly maligned target of the venomous Jeffries, is persuaded to take the case and becomes convinced that both murders were planned by the same brilliant criminal one Antonelli is particularly familiar with, since the man once shot him. Antonelli's investigator, disbarred lawyer and recovering alcoholic Howard Flynn, sees his own dead son in the retarded defendant and throws himself wholeheartedly into the case. Unfortunately, Antonelli's suspect has been in the state home for the criminally insane for the past 12 years and could not possibly have committed the crimes. Meanwhile, bachelor Antonelli's high school sweetheart re-enters his life after a bout with manic depression and a rough divorce. Buffa (The Prosecution) once again produces a fast-spinning tale that jolts and veers enticingly off-track, but always stays comfortably in sight of the main objective. Well-developed characters and the rich Portland, Ore., milieu add depth to this excellent thriller. Agent, Wendy Sherman. Major ad/ promo; author tour; audio. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Walter Bannister often told himself that he had nothing to complain about.  Seen from the outside, the way others saw him, he had the perfect life: a respected judge, a house in Bel Aire, the fortunate son of a father who had become one of the richest men in Los Angeles, the husband of a woman, wealthy in her own right and just about the first person anyone would call who wanted a charitable event to be the kind of success everyone would be talking about for months.  He had everything, and he had nothing at all.  There was no excitement in his life, no sense of adventure, nothing like what he thought he had seen in the movies of his childhood, the movies that had depicted the kind of life he thought he would live.  Life was something lived by others, something he saw every day in his courtroom and never felt himself.With growing fascination, Walter Bannister tries to understand what makes criminals behave the way they do.  He becomes more and more obsessed with what drives someone to murder.  His own life an empty shell, he has forgotten, if he ever knew, how to feel anything.  Presiding over the murder trial of a man without conscience or remorse, he decides that people kill, not because they are abnormal, different from the rest of us, but for the sheer thrill of it.  He wonders, he has to know, what it would be like to kill someone.  Is that the secret of what it means to be alive, to know, to really know, what it is like to kill?  Walter Bannister wants to find out.

“A Dan Brown read-alike tailor-made for an election year." —BooklistA President is murdered.A First Lady demands answers.And a young Senator will uncover a conspiracy that threatens the world as we know it.When Robert Constable, President of the United States, dies in bed with a woman in a New York hotel room, the public is told that he died suddenly and peacefully of natural causes—and alone. The truth, however, is anything but that. The President's wife, Hillary Constable asks young senator Bobby Hart, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, to find out who had her husband murdered and why.As Hart begins to learn more about the President's shady dealings, he uncovers a massive global criminal and financial conspiracy, headed by a secret underground organization nicknamed The Four Sisters. Yet the closer Hart gets to the truth, the more shocking secrets are revealed that could threaten his life, American...