The Attorney Rachel Gold Mysteries: Michael A. Kahn's Arresting Legal Thriller Series 

The legal thriller series follows a young St. Louis attorney in a not-so-saintly city. 

michael kahn rachel gold mysteries

Many of the greatest and most successful legal thriller authors were once lawyers themselves, like John Grisham and Scott Turow, to name a couple. 

With his Attorney Rachel Gold Mystery series, St. Louis-based copyright and media lawyer Michael A. Kahn proudly adds his name to that list.

He published the first installment of the series, Grave Designs, in 1992, in response to a quip from his wife to write his own book or “just shut up already” about how he could write a better one than whatever he was reading at the time. 

The series follows sharp and savvy St. Louis attorney Rachel Gold as she investigates corporate conspiracies and mysterious murders in the Gateway to the West.

Since its initial publication in 1992, Kahn has written eight more installments and three standalone legal thrillers. 

Read on for all nine books in this gripping series that will satisfy thriller fans and legal wonks alike. 

Grave Designs

Grave Designs

By Michael A. Kahn

When Graham Anderson Marshall III of the prestigious corporate law firm Abbott & Windsor dies under mysterious circumstances, his family is confounded by the codicil to his will—which designates a sizeable trust fund for the upkeep of a plot at a pet cemetery.

It’s not just that Marshall would devote so much money to his pet’s grave—it’s that he never had a pet in the first place. 

His family calls in Rachel Gold, a razor-sharp young attorney who left Abbott & Windsor to start her own firm. If anyone can find out what’s inside that grave, it’s her—even after its contents are stolen one night.

The further she digs, the more dirt she finds on generations of her former employer’s family, and the more she realizes someone may be after her, next. 

Death Benefits

Death Benefits

By Michael A. Kahn

When Stoddard Anderson, the managing partner of the St. Louis office of legal firm Abbott and Windsor, commits suicide, he leaves behind a wife in shambles—all the more so because she can only collect his full life insurance proceeds if she can prove his death was an accident. 

Of course, the only way suicide can be ruled an accident is if the victim is deemed insane, a title which Abbott and Windsor are not eager to have placed on their managing partner.

If anyone has the legal savvy and tact to handle the situation, it’s attorney Rachel Gold. 

Rachel expects this to be a relatively simple, if messy, case. But as she dives deeper into Stoddard's shady recent past, including his discovery of an ancient relic hidden in St. Louis, she realizes it may be impossible to prove his suicide was an accident—because Stoddard Anderson may have been murdered. 

Firm Ambitions

Firm Ambitions

By Michael A. Kahn

Rachel Gold’s latest case hits close to home. Back in St. Louis after the death of her father, Rachel is hired to defend her sister Ann’s best friend, Eileen Lindau.

Rachel thought she was taking on a simple divorce case, but when Eileen’s aerobics instructor and secret lover, Andros, is murdered, things get a lot more complicated—especially when evidence at the scene points not to Eileen, but to Ann, who was having her own affair with Andros. 

Rachel can’t believe Ann could have killed an innocent man, but as the intrepid attorney unearths more about Andros, she realizes he was anything but.

Soon, Rachel finds herself on the heels of a million-dollar criminal enterprise—one whose leader will stop at nothing to prevent her from taking them down. 

Due Diligence

Due Diligence

By Michael A. Kahn

When a CPA for Armstrong Bioproducts fails to show up for a consultation he scheduled, attorney Rachel Gold can’t help but feel annoyed—that is, until his corpse is discovered a few days later.

Never having actually met the late accountant, Rachel is happy to leave this investigation to the police. When someone close to Rachel is killed under the same bizarre circumstances as Rosenthal, however, she has no choice but to hunt down the killer herself. 

The murky worlds of corporate and national politics collide as Rachel tries to determine who would have wanted the Rosenthal dead, and why. Had he discovered something in the pharmaceutical company’s bookwork that the company would kill to keep hidden? Did Rachel’s political idol, junior senator Dr. Douglas Armstrong, have a hand in it?

Rachel must navigate the twisted maze of St. Louis high society—and the literal maze of caves below the city—to find the killer before they find her. 

Sheer Gall

Sheer Gall

By Michael A. Kahn

When Sally Wade walks into Rachel’s office covered in severe bruises, Rachel can’t wait to take Sally’s good-for-nothing ex-husband, Neville McBride, to court. Before Rachel can even file the case, Sally is discovered dead in her home, tied up and strangled. 

Neville, of course, is the obvious suspect. Police are just about ready to close the case when Rachel makes a shocking discovery about Sally’s past that casts her death in a whole new light.

Rachel is determined to bring Sally’s killer to justice, but finding out who it is just got a lot more complicated. 

Bearing Witness

Bearing Witness

By Michael A. Kahn

Rachel Gold has always tried to keep business and family separate, but when her mother asks her to represent her friend Ruth Alpert in an age discrimination lawsuit, Rachel decides the case is too straightforward to refuse.

Even if Breckmann Engineering does have some of the most cutthroat lawyers in St. Louis. 

When one of Rachel’s key witnesses is gunned down in a parking lot, however, Rachel quickly realizes there’s more to this case than meets the eye—especially when she finds out Ruth knows confidential information about Breckmann that could expose its past and jeopardize its future. 

It’s Rachel versus the most powerful and established men in St. Louis as she searches to untangle the bloody, decades-old scheme they devised to keep themselves in power—one that they would go to any lengths to protect. 

Trophy Widow

Trophy Widow

By Michael A. Kahn

Angela Green, Rachel’s most famous client yet, is a national celebrity, having won an NAACP award, interviewed with Oprah, and announced new major movie and book deal—all from behind bars.

Green became famous years ago for the murder of her abusive husband, but that case has long been closed. Instead, Rachel has been hired to defend Angela in a Son-of-Sam lawsuit filed in response to the book deal. 

As Rachel pores over the details of her client’s previous murder case, she begins to notice inconsistencies in the proof against Angela that were overshadowed by the sensational piece of evidence that put her away—inconsistencies that point to people with other motives for wanting her husband dead. 

The real killer may still be out there: and he may be coming for Rachel next. 

The Flinch Factor

The Flinch Factor

By Michael A. Kahn

In this installment that acclaimed genre author Scott Turow called “a clever, engrossing legal thriller,” Rachel Gold represents a working-class neighborhood in their fight against a gentrifying property developer.

To win, she is going to have to carefully tailor her approach to the oddball judge on the case, known in the St. Louis legal community as “The Flinch Factor.”

When local heartthrob Nick Moran is found murdered and his sister asks Rachel to look into it, she’s worried she may have her hands full juggling these two very different cases.

However, the more she digs, the more intertwined the two cases appear—and the more dangerous the culprit. 

Face Value

Face Value

By Michael A. Kahn

When St. Louis attorney Sari Bashir falls from the eighth floor of a parking garage, the police are quick to rule it the suicide of a young lawyer who can’t handle the pressure of the job. Stanley Plotkin, the mailroom clerk at Sari’s firm, knows better. 

Plotkin is an expert on the facial action coding system, having studied it meticulously to compensate for his difficulty reading emotions, and he is positive the look on Bashir’s face as she left the firm that night was not one of a person prepared to take her own life. 

Rachel agrees to give the case a second look, not expecting to find much. Instead, she discovers a criminal enterprise swallowing the city of St. Louis—one of which Sari will be far from the last victim. 

The Dead Hand

The Dead Hand

By Michael A. Kahn

Rachel finds herself with two “zombie” cases on her hand, cases where the deceased attempt to control their fortunes beyond the grave.

In one, a billionaire entrepreneur has left his fortune not to his trophy widow, but to her unborn daughter, enraging his first wife and son—especially when science says the daughter couldn’t possibly be his.

In another, a young widower seeks potentially devastating retribution against her late wealthy husband’s first wife by attempting to deprive her of her divorce settlement under an outdated law. 

As the court dates for both grow closer, threats against Rachel and her clients increase, and Rachel is about to discover that some feuds just won’t die—but they can turn deadly. 

Bad Trust

Bad Trust

By Michael A. Kahn

Rachel is trying hard to balance her professional and personal life, between her young son, her new boyfriend, and her demanding career as an attorney.

Her family struggles, however, pale in comparison to that of her latest client, the sister of a CEO who was found murdered in the office of the family firm he stole from their father. 

Tensions are high among the siblings, and while Isaiah’s sister initially hired Rachel to prosecute her dishonest brother, Rachel must now defend her against charges for his murder.

To do so, she’ll not only have to navigate the messy world of corporate law, but the complex dynamics of the Jewish family.