Terry Scarborough is a legal scholar and provocateur who craves headline-making celebrity, but with his latest book he may have gone too far. He resurrects the long forgotten language of slavery still visible in the Constitution and flogs it with hints of a long missing and scandalous letter written by Thomas Jefferson. Flames of racial violence illuminate Scarborough's book tour across the nation until he is brutally murdered in a hotel room in San Diego. Paul Madriani finds himself thrust into this disturbing case as he struggles to defend a young man charged with Scarborough's murder and facing the death penalty -- the son of an old friend. Madriani believes that the key to the case rests with one man, the source of the infamous Jefferson Letter--an eminent justice of the Supreme Court who has disappeared into the shadows on medical leave and who is the vital swing vote on every hot button social and political issue facing the High Court. Madriani and his partner Harry Hinds race to find the missing Jefferson letter and the secret it holds hidden in the dark depths of slavery -- an untold scandal tangled in the roots of the nation's founding and the real reason Scarborough was murdered. It is a story that lays bare the soaring political stakes of a Supreme Court where critical decisions teeter on a razor's edge, in a nation badly divided, living in the Shadow of Power.

"Take if from a prosecutor--Steve Martini has created one of the most charismatic defense attorneys in thriller fiction. Madriani is a guy who won't quit until he works every angle, finds every chink in the D.A.'s armor, and picks at the evidence until he tears the thread to unravel his opponent's case. Best of all, he's got the heart of a lion--protective, humane, courageous--that makes him such great fun to watch." -- Linda Fairstein, author of Killer Heat

"Steve Martini is an expert at good old-fashioned, gimmick-free storytelling. Shadow of Power is an intelligent and intriguing thriller with crisply drawn, believable characters and breathless, cross-cutting suspense. Fans, including me, have been waiting for this one. Paul Madriani has aged like a fine wine. He's a wary, battle-scarred hero with a decency that rings true. This installment in a terrific series will not disappoint." -- Steve Berry, author of The Venetian Betrayal

"One thing--among many--that I love about Shadow of Power is the sense that what you think is inevitable, isn't. You think the defendant must be guilty. You think there's no way Madriani can save this guy. And you'll never guess where this twisting tale is really going--for the ending is a shocking piece of hard, unassailable logic put into motion by the mind of a very cold killer. I never saw it coming. Ingenious." -- John Sandford, author of Phantom Prey

Steve Martini was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and holds a law degree from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law. His experience includes work in journalism as well as private law practice. In 1984, he turned his talents to fiction, quickly earning positions on bestsellers lists. To date, he has authored 12 novels.