Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Motion to Kill | 2002 | Lou Mason | Buy |
| 2 | The Last Witness | 2003 | Lou Mason | Buy |
| 3 | Cold Truth | 2004 | Lou Mason | Buy |
| 4 | Deadlocked | 2005 | Lou Mason | Buy |
| 5 | Final Judgment | 2012 | Lou Mason | Buy |
Lou Mason is a Kansas City defense attorney with a talent for taking cases where the evidence looks overwhelming and finding the angle the prosecution missed. The five novels in the series — Motion to Kill (2002) through Final Judgment (2012) — put him through a range of scenarios that move from standard criminal defense into territory where the line between lawyer and investigator blurs significantly.
The series builds its credibility on specificity. Kansas City has its own criminal ecosystem in these books, and Mason’s knowledge of the local courts, law enforcement culture, and criminal networks gives him advantages and vulnerabilities that a generic big-city attorney wouldn’t have. The cases themselves range from corporate malfeasance to violent crime, with the courtroom sequences handled with enough procedural accuracy to satisfy readers who come to legal thrillers for the legal detail as much as the suspense.
Final Judgment arrived seven years after Deadlocked, which is unusual for a series at that stage of its run, but it wraps Mason’s story with the same commitment to place and character that made the earlier books work. Readers should start with Motion to Kill and follow publication order for the full arc.