Jesse Falkenstein Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Jesse Falkenstein Books

The Jesse Falkenstein mystery series is an exciting series of suspense, mystery, thriller, and crime fiction books. It consists of 14 books in all, which were released between the years 1961 and 1985. The series is written by one of the prominent writers from America named Elizabeth Linington under the pen name of Lesley Egan. All the books of this series consist of the chief protagonist in the role of a lawyer named Jesse Falkenstein. Author Lesley has described Jesse Falkenstein as living and practicing law in Los Angeles, California. Each and every novel of this series is quite interesting to read. They contain excitingly intriguing stories each and go on to have much more exciting climax sequences.

Author Lesley has penned the books’ stories by putting great many thoughts into them. She has also described each of the characters in great details. Her style of descriptions looks very interesting and easy to believe. And what stands out for the books more than their characters are the plot settings. Author Lesley has done the settings of the books in Los Angeles, where Jesse Falkenstein takes up cases and serves his clients with full determination. Very often, he gets approached by clients, who are oppressed and do not have any hope of winning their case. Jesse Falkenstein looks at every possible angle and always tries to come up with important clues that help him win the cases for his clients. However, before taking up the clients’ cases, Jesse Falkenstein makes it clear to them well in advance that he won’t continue to fight their cases if he finds at any point during the trial that they are hiding the truth from him.

In addition to Jesse Falkenstein, author Lesley has mentioned a number of other exciting characters such as Lilian Blake, Harry Nielsen, Raymond Austin, Tamar, Lee Davenport, Eddie, Sgt. Andrew Clock, o’Riordan, Margaret Brandon, Claire Elizabeth, etc. Besides Los Angles, some of the plots are also set by Lesley in New Jersey, Hawaii, and several other places as well. Just as the series begins, Jesse Falkenstein is introduced as working on a very difficult case. His client, a young woman, is convicted of committing a murder and 7 witnesses come forward to testify against her. In spite of all the proofs and evidence points towards the woman being the culprit, Jesse Falkenstein believes in her innocence. He works out day and night and comes up with important proofs just in time to save the woman from getting executed for the crime she had not committed.

This series was highly appreciated for its unique contents, interesting set of characters, intriguing plots, and wonderful setups. Readers from all parts of the world felt really excited to read the books. They enjoyed every part of the whole series and liked all the mysteries that Jesse Falkenstein ends up solving at the end of each book. Even numerous prominent authors as well critics loved the stories very much and gave rave reviews in various literary journals and magazines. All such positive responses helped the books to become extremely successful and it led to the overall success of the series. Author Lesley gained a lot of motivation from this series’ success, which guided her to write many other novels and mystery series with great confidence. Today, author Lesley is no more, but her book characters still have a respectful place in the hearts of her fans.

A successful book of the Jesse Falkenstein book series written by author Lesley Egan is entitled ‘Against the Evidence’. It was released by the HarperCollins publication in the year 1962. This book is comprised of the main characters in the form of Lilian Blake, Jesse Falkenstein, and Harry Nielsen. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that Harry Nielsen gets arrested on the charges of murdering Lilian Blake. The police of the LAPD seem pretty sure that Harry Nielsen is the murderer and within 24 hours they arrested him and put the charges on his head. Harry Nielsen is described as a mentally ill young man. His mother pleads that he has not murdered Lilian Blake and is completely innocent. She claims that Harry is very gentle and kind-hearted, and he is not capable of killing anything.

When no help comes to her in saving her innocent son, she approaches Jesse Falkenstein with the case. She begs him to save his child. Jesse seems reluctant at first, but agrees to represent Harry Nielsen in the court. With his initial investigation, he too believes that the police have caught the right man for the crime. But, as he starts digging deeper, Jesse comes comes across some curious evidences that accumulate over a period of time. With the help of the acquired evidences, Jesse Falkenstein formulates a different crime theory, the one that looks like what had actually happened. Jesse succeeds in proving Harry Nielsen’s innocence, but it lands him and his beloved wife in a great danger. With years of experience in exposing crimes and criminals, Jesse knows how to come out of this dangerous situation once again.

Another wonderful novel written in this series by Egan is called ‘Motive in Shadow’. It was also published by HarperCollins in 1980. Author Egan has depicted the lead characters in this particular novel as Claire Elizabeth Manning, Jesse Falkenstein, and a few others. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Claire Elizabeth dies mysteriously and leaves behind a small amount of her huge fortune for her only son. She was known to be a successful businesswoman of California and so, it looks very suspicious when her son gets only a small percentage of her wealth after her death.

Later, it is revealed that an unknown third cousin from New Jersey has bequeathed the remaining millions of dollars of Claire Elizabeth’s fortune. Claire’s son feels that he has been wronged and calls Jesse Falkenstein to contest his mother’s will and help him get his right. The case draws Jesse and the son into a dangerous search for a motive and meaning as they try to solve the mystery related to Claire’s past life. When they get their hands on letters and diaries from 50 years back, they get some enigmatic clues. They also discover some evidences that point to blackmail. The case continues to become much more mysterious with each discovery, making Jesse wonder is he is on the right path. He doesn’t lose hope and remains determined throughout, thereby, succeeding in uncovering more than half-a-century old secrets that lead him to unravel the mystery.