Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | By Way of Sorrow | 2021 | Robyn Gigl | Buy |
| 2 | Survivor’s Guilt | 2022 | Robyn Gigl | Buy |
| 3 | Remain Silent | 2023 | Robyn Gigl | Buy |
| 4 | Nothing but the Truth | 2024 | Robyn Gigl | Buy |
By Way of Sorrow (2021) opens with Erin McCabe taking on the defense of Sharise Barnes, a young transgender woman accused of killing a senator’s son in a motel near Atlantic City. Sharise claims self-defense. The senator is using every resource he has to sink the case before it gets to trial, and the secrets Erin uncovers in the process put her own life at risk. The book is set in 2006, and the legal and social climate of that period shapes how characters respond to Erin and to her client.
Survivor’s Guilt (2022), Remain Silent (2023), and Nothing but the Truth (2024) continue Erin’s career, each bringing a new case with its own pressures. Gigl’s legal background makes the procedural elements credible, the courtroom scenes, the negotiating, the discovery process, without ever turning the books into dry procedure. The cases consistently involve people who lack the resources or social standing to navigate the justice system on their own.
Survivor’s Guilt won the Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ Crime Writing and landed on Time’s list of the 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time, which is rare recognition for a second novel in a series. The series is published by Kensington Books.