To the outside world, it looks like Dismas Hardy is finally on top. A managing partner at his thriving, newly reorganized law firm, heís a rainmaker and fix-it guy for clients leery of taking their chances in a courtroom. But what the world sees is a mirage. For beneath the surface bravado and the lucrative deal-making, Hardy has lost his faith in the law.

Influential San Francisco attorney Mark Dooher—affluent, powerful, totally in control—is accustomed to getting what he wants. When he meets a beautiful young attorney, he decides he wants her, too. But Mark Dooher is a married man, and as legal counsel for San Francisco's Archdiocese, divorce is not exactly an option. Then Dooher's wife is murdered, and Mark becomes a suspect in the case. Even then, there's no cause for alarm. The woman he wants...

With their park view and old-fashioned detail, the Victorian houses on San Francisco's Steiner Street were highly valuable. But with their wooden construction, they were also highly vulnerable. So when Paul Hanover's multimillion-dollar home went up in flames, it was all over very quickly. And when the bodies of Hanover and his girlfriend were found in the charred debris, it appeared that the end came even more quickly for them-judging from the bullet...

"Dismas Hardy knows something is amiss with his secretary, Phyllis. Her out-of-character behavior and sudden disappearances concern Hardy, especially when he learns that her convict brother--a man who had served twenty-five years in prison for armed robbery and attempted murder--has just been released. Things take a shocking turn when Phyllis is suddenly arrested at work for allegedly being an accessory to the murder of Hector Valdez, a coyote who'd...