Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Midnight Burning | 2025 | Paul Levine | Buy |
The Einstein-Chaplin series is written by Paul Levine, an author known for the Jake Lassiter and Solomon vs. Lord legal thriller series. Midnight Burning, the first book, is a historical thriller set in 1937 Hollywood. It pairs Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin, who were friends in real life, as unlikely heroes facing a Nazi conspiracy to assassinate movie stars and provoke civil unrest in the United States.
Levine blends real historical figures into a fictional plot that also features Charles Lindbergh, Douglas Fairbanks, William Randolph Hearst, and Joseph Goebbels. Georgia Ann Robinson, the LAPD’s first Black female officer, plays a central role. Levine is a former trial lawyer who also wrote twenty episodes of the CBS military drama JAG. His novels have won the John D. MacDonald Fiction Award and been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, and Shamus prizes.