The Tenth Vote by Marian K. Riedy with Kim Sperduto

In The Tenth Vote, Attorney Miranda Patel and her colleagues uncover a sophisticated international hacking ring reaching deep inside the U.S. Supreme Court. When the cyberattack turns deadly, the lawyers fight to defeat the enemy holding the Court hostage.

In this novel, set in Washington, D.C.’s corridors of power, diplomats, attorneys, tech tycoons, spies, oligarchs, and the press duel in an intricate plot that unfolds like a set of Russian dolls, with a surprising final betrayal.

Reviewers say:
“Stein & Associates throw away their law books and engage in a fast-paced battle of wits and nerves with hackers, blackmailers, and killers, with lives, fortunes, and the integrity of the Supreme Court on the line.” –Allen Rothman, Lawyer, Austin, TX

“In a page-turning race against time, the story takes the reader into the inner workings of one of our nation’s most closely guarded institutions …” –Dan Schorr, author of Final Table, National Indie Excellence Award Winner for Literary Fiction.

Marian K. Riedy is a gym rat, attorney, professor emeritus, and author of two previous legal thrillers, Fatal Accusation and Surprise Witness. Her collaborator, Kim Sperduto, is a bourbon-drinking litigator with decades of experience representing Washington’s usual denizens.

Special Access by Marka Hewitt

“Approved by the CIA Publication Review Board” isn’t something most readers see on the back of a novel. I moved from Del Rio, Texas, to work for a government contractor. My new job required an extensive background investigation, and I had to pass a polygraph test before I received a top-secret security clearance and was authorized to access sensitive information. I was in the intelligence community, and every time I passed through the lobby of CIA Headquarters, big black spy plane models hung from the rafters, reminding me that at one time the Agency had produced the most technologically advanced airplanes on the planet.

For thirty years, I lived an almost supersonic life. Flying a jet for the Marine Corps had temporarily removed me from my passion for reading and adventure. Working for a contractor with my clearance, I was able to see a different side of life, including the inside of airports and embassies in places like Kabul, Baghdad, Luanda, Lagos, Monrovia, and Accra. My passport filled up with visas and stamps so quickly that I needed additional pages sewn in before I headed off to Bogotá, Dubai, Doha, Amman, and a string of other cities, all in the name of work. The U.S. Customs officers flipped through the pages of my passport and asked what I did for a living.

Sometimes I traveled in vehicles with very high ballistic protection levels. You learn a lot traveling in armored vehicles to places where people want to kill you. My experiences percolated stories, and like many aspiring authors who experienced something unique or unusual, I wanted to write something different.

I wanted to tell a story that brought the reader onto the airport tarmac of some of the places I had traveled, and to the very edge of reality without divulging classified or confidential material. If the PRB approved it, that was the green light to go ahead. Proposing a pilot and a spyplane no one knew anything about, flying into the most hellish situations, passed muster.

Special Access is my first Duncan Hunter novel. It is a political thriller that asks, What could go wrong in the world of politics when an Agency pilot finds evidence that proves the President of the United States is not who he claims to be? Duncan is surrounded by a cast of characters who enable him to find and eliminate the men on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List.

Deranged by John Netti

In the novel Deranged, I conceived the protagonist, Maddy Reynolds, as a down-to-earth, deeply authentic person with unusual courage and inner strength. She keeps her exceptional qualities hidden from the world, but Maddy’s true colors show whenever dire circumstances arise.

The trauma of her father’s murder when she was twelve shapes her exceptional character, pledging at his graveside, “I’ll become a detective, just like you, Dad.”

The better part of her teenage years was a struggle with fear and anxiety. She emerges victorious against her demons by achieving the status of High Master Shooter and becomes a towering figure among law enforcement peers. Maddy fulfills the promise she made to her father when she is selected by Captain Frank Zepatello, Zep, as a standout cop, promoting her to become the first woman detective in an Upstate New York town.

Zep gives Maddy her first case—a missing girl. He thought it would be a run-of-the-mill assignment to cut her teeth on, but it turns out to be the first in a series of murders by Cupid, the child serial killer.

Cupid draws Maddy into his web when he threatens her and her daughter, Amber. As kids continue to show up dead, and escalating taunts against Maddy lead to an attempt on her life, she realizes there is a deeper meaning behind Cupid’s motivation than meets the eye.

As she struggles to unravel the mystery of the latest missing child, she discovers a link between Cupid and her father. The stunning realization starts her on a collision course with the maniac, and the clock ticks away precious time as she tries to save the girl’s life.

Deranged is the prequel to the Maddy Reynolds series, depicting her early life through her twenties. The Glades finds her moving to the Adirondack Mountains to find peace, but instead brings her toe-to-toe with evil of a different kind. The novels The Ledger and Pieces follow Maddy into her forties, where she lives in her mountain home, confronting past and future threats.

As a rehabilitation counselor and therapist early in my career, I watched certain people rise from the ashes of childhood trauma to become unusually capable individuals. Maddy Reynolds epitomizes this, and I hope others enjoy experiencing her rise above adversity as I have in writing about the unusual woman.

This post is a sponsored collaboration with Black Rose Writing.