Craig Parshall Books in Order

Craig Parshall brings the experience of a constitutional and trial lawyer to Christian suspense fiction. He graduated with honors from Carroll College, studying English, philosophy and religion, and earned his law degree at Marquette University. His professional work has involved civil liberties, religious freedom and cases before federal and state courts. Those interests also appear in his fiction, where a legal dispute can become a test of a character's beliefs, loyalties and willingness to pursue an uncomfortable truth.

The courtroom gives his characters more than a place to win or lose.

The Resurrection File, published in 2002, introduces attorney Will Chambers at a low point in his life. A preacher asks him to defend a case involving claims that could undermine the gospel accounts. Will's own lack of belief makes the assignment difficult, and the surrounding conspiracy draws him further into questions he would prefer to avoid. The novel begins the Chambers of Justice sequence, linking legal suspense with a continuing personal and spiritual journey.

Parshall has explained that his legal experience helped shape the next book, Custody of the State. He moved much of the action into a fictional farming community in Georgia and focused on accusations against parents. Will must defend a family whose account of what happened conflicts with the authorities' conclusions. Parshall had handled parental-rights cases himself, so the subject gave him a way to explore familiar legal concerns through invented characters. His interest lies in the human consequences of institutions deciding whose story is credible.

His Christian faith is an active part of the questions his novels ask.

Parshall's fiction also reaches beyond contemporary court cases. With his wife, radio host Janet Parshall, he wrote the historical Thistle and the Cross series. Crown of Fire opens in sixteenth-century Scotland, where Ransom Mackenzie becomes involved with Protestant reformer John Knox. Religious conviction, political pressure and romantic attraction pull him in different directions. The historical setting changes the form of the danger while retaining the concern with what a person believes and what following that belief may cost.

A later strand of his writing combines criminal investigation with supernatural suspense. In The Occupied, New York defense lawyer Trevor Black gains the disturbing ability to perceive spiritual forces other people cannot see. A friend's murder brings him back to his hometown and into a pattern of killings. Material success offers little protection from the new danger. The setup asks a lawyer trained to examine ordinary evidence to confront a threat that falls outside the usual boundaries of his profession.

These different settings give readers several ways into Parshall's work. The Will Chambers books offer continuing legal cases and relationships; his historical collaborations place belief within struggles over power; and the Trevor Black novels make unseen evil part of the investigation. Across them, professional knowledge and conviction do not spare the central characters from doubt. They must act while sorting out which people, explanations and institutions deserve their trust.

Parshall's work also includes nonfiction collaborations, current-events commentary and public speaking. His publisher biography identifies his legal service as special counsel to the American Center for Law and Justice, alongside talks about religious liberty, speech, culture and technology. He and Janet have worked together on both fiction and nonfiction. That combination of law, writing and discussion of faith continues to provide the wider context for his novels.