20 Best Brad Meltzer Books

Brothers Charlie and Oliver Caruso work at an ultra exclusive private bank where clients must already be millionaires. Tempted by an unclaimed three million dollar account that seems victimless, they take the money and trigger a deadly chain of events involving the Secret Service, a relentless investigator and a secret that could cost them everything.

Fresh out of law school, Supreme Court clerk Ben Addison accidentally leaks the outcome of a confidential case and is blackmailed by the man he trusted. With help from his housemates and a fellow clerk, he races through Washington to undo the damage before his career and freedom are destroyed.

Seven minutes into a presidential motorcade, an assassin’s bullet kills the president’s friend and permanently scars young aide Wes Holloway. Years later, Wes spots the supposedly dead man alive and is drawn into a mystery involving Masonic symbols, a centuries old Jefferson cipher and a plot that reaches from Washington to Palm Beach.

At Dover Air Force Base, mortician Jim "Zig" Zigarowski is used to seeing tragedy. When the body of soldier Nola Brown arrives from a plane crash, Zig quickly realizes the woman on his table is not the troubled young artist he once knew. Determined to find the real Nola and the truth behind the crash, he uncovers a deadly secret tied to Houdini and a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of power.

Someone in present day Washington is copying the crimes of America’s four successful presidential assassins. Archivist Beecher White follows a trail linking the past shootings to a new killer, forcing him to question what he thought he knew about the Culper Ring and how far some people will go to reshape history.

Young White House lawyer Michael Garrick thinks dating the president’s daughter is complicated enough. When a late night date leads them to witness something they were never meant to see, Michael is framed for murder and must uncover a conspiracy inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to clear his name.

National Archives staffer Beecher White thinks he just preserves other people’s stories. When a childhood crush asks for help finding her missing father, he sneaks her into a secret reading room used by the president and uncovers George Washington’s hidden dictionary, setting off a chain of murder, coded clues and the modern rebirth of the Culper Ring.

When a severed arm is unearthed in the White House Rose Garden, the president turns to the Culper Ring for help. The object hidden in the hand is meant for Beecher White, pulling him into a mystery that ties together presidential secrets, buried family history and a threat that reaches back generations.

On Capitol Hill, senior staffers Matthew Mercer and Harris Sandler play a secret betting game that lets insiders gamble on real political outcomes. When a simple wager turns lethal, one of them is killed and the other must team up with a teenage Senate page to expose the conspiracy hidden behind the game.

This narrative history uncovers a little known plot in 1776 to assassinate George Washington, involving British officials, New York’s mayor and members of Washington’s own guard. Meltzer and co author Josh Mensch follow the investigation that exposed the scheme and explain how it helped shape early American counterintelligence.

Manhattan prosecutor Sara Tate and her defense attorney husband, Jared, are secretly ordered to win the same high stakes case or watch the other die. Forced onto opposite sides in court and at home, they must outmaneuver both their enemies and each other to survive the deadly game.

After a car crash kills her father, Hazel Nash wakes with serious gaps in her memory. An FBI investigation and a mysterious book linked to Benedict Arnold force her to question her family's history and her own identity.

When a routine valet job ends with two bodies on the floor and a murdered veteran, mortician Zig Zigarowski is pulled back to Dover Air Force Base to work on the case. There he crosses paths again with Nola Brown, the army’s artist in residence, and together they uncover a buried Cold War program, a hidden government facility and a plot that could cost far more lives.

Before the famous assassination at Ford’s Theatre, there was an earlier, largely forgotten plot to kill Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington in 1861. This book follows the detectives, railroad agents and everyday allies who uncovered the plan and helped the president elect reach the capital alive.

In this DC Comics mystery, the superhero community reels when the wife of a Justice League member is murdered. As heroes hunt for the killer, buried secrets about how they once protected their loved ones come to light, threatening to tear the League apart even as a relentless enemy closes in.

A dying man hides a mysterious object inside the suit he plans to be buried in, only to be murdered before he reaches the grave. When Nola Brown’s twin brother, cop Roddy LaPointe, investigates, he discovers the case is tied to their mother’s long unsolved killing and pulls Zig Zigarowski and Nola into a hunt for a ruthless killer who has been cleaning up old secrets for decades.

Co written with Josh Mensch, this nonfiction thriller uncovers a lesser known Nazi plot to assassinate Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin during a high level World War II conference. The book follows spies, double agents and Allied countermeasures that kept the plan from succeeding.

Jane Goodall appears here as an animal loving child who dreams of living with wild creatures. Following her to the forests of Africa, the book shows how patience, careful watching and kindness toward chimpanzees led to discoveries that changed how we see animals and ourselves.

Frida Kahlo introduces herself as a spirited Mexican girl who endures illness and injury yet refuses to stop creating art. Through bold illustrations, the book shows how she turned pain, culture and imagination into paintings that still speak to people around the world.

Oprah Winfrey’s story begins in a small Southern town, where books and speaking up offered a way forward from hardship. This biography follows her path through local radio and television to a nationally known talk show host and philanthropist, stressing empathy, listening and using your voice to help others.