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Cass Leary Legal Thriller Books in Order

Part ofRobin James Books in Order

Explore the Cass Leary legal thrillers by Robin James in order, with summaries and where-to-start advice for following Cass’s toughest defense cases.

Last updated: January 14, 2026

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Publication Order

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15 books

1

Code of Secrets

by Robin James

2025

Two years after law student Daria Moreau was murdered at her graduation party, her classmate sits in prison and still insists he is innocent. Hired by his desperate family, Cass reopens the case and finds a tight group of friends bound together by dangerous secrets and lies.

2

The Client List

by Robin James

2024

After an old mentor wills his tiny law practice to her, Cass Leary discovers it comes with a single client, Farrah Sibley, accused of murdering her powerful boss and secret lover. With no physical evidence but plenty of motive, Cass must navigate a tangle of office politics and desire.

3

Deadly Defense

by Robin James

2024

Megan Lewis is killed in a savage attack that horrifies even seasoned investigators, and her married ex-boyfriend calmly confesses. Though every cop wants him locked away, inconsistencies in the file and pleas from his family push Cass Leary into a high-risk defense that could ruin her career.

4

Seasonable Doubt

by Robin James

2023

In a northern Michigan town famous for its holiday lights, beloved "Christmas Guy" Nick Whittaker is arrested for the brutal beating of a local politician. Snowed in with a hostile jury pool, Cass Leary defends the soft-spoken Santa and uncovers rivalries that make almost everyone a suspect.

5

Dead Law

by Robin James

2023

Zoe Paul finds an uncashed check for millions hidden under her late grandmother's floorboards and turns to Cass Leary for help. What begins as a strange probate matter becomes a fight over long-buried secrets, a suspicious old accident, and relatives who may be willing to kill for the money.

6

Cold Evidence

by Robin James

2022

Decorated veteran Ty Chapman seems an unlikely killer, yet witnesses place him fleeing a brutal motel beating with blood on his hands. Representing a client who refuses to explain himself, Cass digs into the victim's past and uncovers motives that reach far beyond a bar fight.

7

Mercy Kill

by Robin James

2021

Defense attorney Cass Leary is forced onto the witness stand against the man she loves when Detective Wray is accused of murdering his estranged wife. Determined to clear him as damning evidence piles up, she races to expose the truth before a deadly jailhouse plot makes him the next victim.

8

Guilty Acts

by Robin James

2021

After housewife Juliet Clay finally goes viral selling diet shakes, her husband dies from poison and the internet brands her a killer. With public outrage and physical evidence stacked against Juliet, Cass must look past the online circus to find out who really orchestrated the murder.

9

Imminent Harm

by Robin James

2020

When a local judge begs Cass Leary to help protect his sister from a violent husband, she sees a chance to rebuild her career. After the woman vanishes, Cass's frantic search points toward powerful figures in Delphi and a conspiracy that could shake the entire court system.

10

First Degree

by Robin James

2020

A popular high school cheerleader is found dead and Cass Leary's teenage niece watches her boyfriend charged with first-degree murder. As Cass challenges thin evidence and sloppy police work, she uncovers a scheme that suggests someone is eager to sacrifice a kid to protect the real killer.

11

Stolen Justice

by Robin James

2019

Cass Leary's vacation disappears when her paralegal begs her to revisit a long-ago homicide conviction. With a terminally ill prisoner insisting he was framed and an entire town resisting her questions, Cass digs into the past and risks provoking a killer who may never have been caught.

12

Silent Witness

by Robin James

2019

A wealthy Ann Arbor couple is brutally murdered and their six-year-old daughter disappears. When Cass Leary's sister is charged with the crime, Cass must defend her, search for the missing child, and face the possibility that her own family member could be guilty.

13

Devil's Bargain

by Robin James

2019

Cass thought she was done defending the mob until an old crime boss calls in a life-or-death favor. Forced to represent a feared hitman known as Ghost Man, she must win his freedom to keep her family safe while wondering what dangerous secret he is still protecting.

14

Blood Evidence

by Robin James

2019

A client’s search for her birth parents leads Cass Leary to suggest a simple at-home DNA test, but the results uncover a gruesome family history. As Cass follows the genetic trail and deals with her estranged father's new arrest, two cases collide in a deadly tangle of bloodlines.

15

Burden of Truth

by Robin James

2018

After fleeing a dangerous Chicago past, defense lawyer Cass Leary returns to Delphi, Michigan and takes a teen girl accused of killing the town's beloved coach as her first case. Fighting hostility from neighbors and officials, she uncovers secrets that suggest a frame-up and a wider cover-up.

Series background & context

Defense attorney Cass Leary is the anchor of Robin James’s longest-running series, a line of small-town legal thrillers that follow a tough, sharp lawyer who keeps taking the cases no one else wants. The books begin with Burden of Truth, when Cass comes back to her hometown of Delphi, Michigan after a dangerous stint working high-dollar criminal defense in Chicago.

Delphi is the kind of place where everyone remembers what you did in high school and grudges last for years. Cass grew up on the wrong side of town in a chaotic family, so returning means facing old shame, an alcoholic father, and siblings who still carry their own scars. That rough past makes her fiercely loyal to clients who have been written off, whether it is a teen accused of killing a beloved coach or a birth mother blamed for a brutal double homicide in Silent Witness.

Across the early books, Cass rebuilds a solo practice while the town judges her for the clients she defends. She takes on mob cases she thought she had left behind in Devil's Bargain, fights to clear a supposedly dying man everyone believes is a murderer in Stolen Justice, and follows a mail-in DNA test in Blood Evidence into a tangle of long-buried crimes. The courtroom scenes are matched by on-the-ground investigation, late-night jail visits, and tense showdowns in back roads and bar parking lots.

Family and found family run through the whole series. Cass's siblings drift in and out of trouble, her estranged father keeps forcing his way back into her life, and a slow-burn relationship with a local detective turns into something more complicated in later books. In Imminent Harm and First Degree, her work and personal life collide when judges, nieces, and neighbors are pulled into violent cases. By the time you reach Mercy Kill and Guilty Acts, Cass is fighting for people she cares about while navigating social media mobs and crimes that play out in real time online.

Newer installments like Cold Evidence, Dead Law, Seasonable Doubt, The Client List, Deadly Defense, and Code of Secrets expand Cass's world without losing the series core. One book might center on a decorated veteran accused of an inexplicable killing, another on a forgotten check worth millions, a Christmas-time beating in a snowbound tourist town, or a law student's party that ended in murder. Each case forces Cass to balance strategy and conscience while pushing up against the limits of what the justice system can really fix.

Overall, the Cass Leary books are fast reads with a strong through-line, a defense lawyer who refuses to walk away from messy clients, even when the town, the police, or her own family would rather she stayed quiet.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 15 Cass Leary Legal Thriller Books in Order (2026)