THE CASE OF A LIFETIME. THE EVIDENCE DOESN'T LIE. OR DOES IT?

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2025
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This book is outstanding. It met most of my criteria - well drawn and believable characters, interesting subject, suspenseful, and satisfying ending. I would recommend it to everyone who enjoys this type of book. I’m looking forward to reading Carstens’ other books.

Broke, divorced, and desperate for clients, Minneapolis defense attorney Marc Kadella is one case away from bankruptcy when the phone rings with an offer he can't refuse—defending an accused serial killer in the city's most watched trial.
The evidence against Carl Fornich is overwhelming: the murder weapon in his house, an eyewitness, DNA samples, and blood from two victims. The cops want him convicted. The media has already declared him guilty. And Fornich? He's a convicted sex offender fresh out of prison with no alibi.
It's the perfect setup for a quick conviction—except Kadella smells a frame job.
Teaming up with tough-as-nails investigator Maddy Rivers, Kadella dives into Minneapolis's dark underbelly, where crooked cops cut backroom deals and corruption reaches all the way to the governor's mansion. But someone doesn't want them digging too deep, and they're willing to kill to keep their secrets buried.
In this gritty legal thriller, every piece of evidence tells a lie, every witness has an agenda, and justice comes at a deadly price. As bodies pile up and the trial date looms, Kadella faces an impossible choice: expose the truth and risk everything he loves or let an innocent man rot in prison.
From the author praised as delivering "a shot in the dark, right in the gut" comes a pulse-pounding courtroom drama where the real criminals wear badges—and the only thing more dangerous than the truth is trying to prove it.
Perfect for fans of John Grisham and Scott Pratt.
"A shot in the dark, right in the gut, that’s what Carstens is good at. The Key to Justice is full of twists and turns as the Twin Cities live in terror of a violent stalker. Carstens aims to be realistic about the law and its enforcers, and he hits it right ... The plot is as full of surprises as a Minneapolis Jucy Lucy and ultimately just as satisfying." -Tony Dunbar, Anthony- and Edgar-nominated author of the Tubby Dubonnet legal thriller series.

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Twelve years gone…

Sarah Schmidt went out for a hike a month before heading to college on a cross-country scholarship. She never came back.

In the twelve years she’s been gone, the local police have done little to help the family, leaving them with the desperate knowledge that Sarah could still be alive, somewhere, somehow...

The family hasn’t given up their hope for revenge, or at least answers.

Emily Tizzano, a former Chicago PD cold case detective suffering from painful skeletons in her past, holds the hope of the family in her hands. Can she overcome her own history in order to help them find Sarah and get the justice they need?

Twelve Years Gone is the first novel in the Detective Emily Tizzano vigilante justice thriller series. If you like Dean Koontz, Robin James and L. T. Ryan, you are going to love this fast-paced suspense thriller series.

An Australian alpine ghost town. An unsolved cold case. A priest turned supernatural detective. Will Zack Bolder defeat the voracious demon?

When Detective Wellock ushers in spirit hunter and parasychologist Zack Bolder to investigate a missing person case in the Australian ghost town of Walhalla, they form a formidable tag team of supernatural crime investigators, working for the police branch for unexplained crimes. Perched amongst the alpine area, this tourist-backed ghost town is renowned for its gold mining past and stories of hardship, deprivation, and death. It becomes a perfect setting for an unexplained missing person cold case.

When Bolder realizes every demon has a weakness—its blindside, he confronts the demonic presence, for an ultimate encounter to save the town. As this evil entity is sly as a fox with more turns than a two-mile racetrack, Bolder must be at his best to overcome the devil that has cursed the town since 1876.

Can Bolder uncover the curse that strangleholds the town and thrust out the evil entity before more innocent people go missing and suffer an imminent fate?

Bolder Blindsided is the first book in the suspenseful Zack Bolder Supernatural Series. If you like intense intrigue, harrowing horror, and edge-of-your-seat tension, then you’ll love Janice Tremayne’s terrifying thriller.

Buy Bolder Blindsided to stop death in its tracks today!

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