Peter Kirkland Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Small Town Lawyer Books
| Defending Innocence | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Influencing Justice | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Interpreting Guilt | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| Burning Evidence | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
About Peter Kirkland
The American writer Peter Kirkland is well known for his legal thrillers that are both gripping and intelligent in their pace and narrative. Ensuring his readers come back time and time again, he knows how to craft a taut and tense thriller with expert precision. His use of pacing works extremely well in building the suspense throughout, ensuring that his stories never lose their sense of momentum. Understanding his audience well, too, he knows just what they’re looking for and exactly how to deliver it through his unique brand of fiction.
Pushing the genre forwards, he’s always testing the boundaries of what the legal thriller can accomplish while also making sure to keep his audience entertained. With lots of world-building both in terms of style and tone, he creates a rich and immersive experience that really draws in the reader. Often drawing from his own experience, he researches his books well, using real-life cases and events as the basis for much of his writing. Creating stories that are set firmly in the legal world, he establishes a realistic portrayal of how it actually is and what takes place there.
It’s also his use of characterization that sees him really standing out as a writer, creating fully three-dimensional personalities on the page. Truly inhabiting the worlds he creates, each of his protagonists are very well drawn, as they manage to resonate with his readers worldwide. Relating to the characters, the audience then gets an even deeper understanding of the legal world as it actually is. With lots more to come still, he’s definitely a writer to watch in the following years to come, with plenty more planned in the pipeline.
Early and Personal Life
Growing up in Beaufort, South Carolina, in the United States, where he was born and raised, Peter Kirkland grew up with a love of all things literature. This passion of his would develop over time, as he would become more adept at writing, nurturing, and refining his voice in the process. During his education at school, he would conduct a project on law cases in South Carolina, and this, coupled with his love of history, would send him on a journey from which he’d never look back.
Looking for an equal justice system for all, Kirkland would focus upon this in his writing, studying the law extensively. Through his research, he would gain a wealth of material, creating taut and realistic legal thrillers that would be genuine in their portrayal of the world. Still writing to this very day, he’s definitely a writer who’s not finishing any time soon either, as there’s a lot more set for release on the horizon.
Writing Career
The first book that Peter Kirkland would publish was titled ‘Defending Innocence,’ which he brought out in 2021. This book would also become the first novel in his ‘Small Town Lawyer’ series of legal thrillers, using his in-depth research into the subject of law as its basis. He’d soon follow this up just one year later with the second book in the series titled ‘Influencing Justice,’ which would follow on directly from the first.
His books would become hugely successful fast, reaching readers from all over, using real-life legal cases to help inspire him. Featuring a self-contained mystery thriller in each book, they would also be easy to read and more than accessible to an international audience. Maintaining a presence both offline and on, he continues to build a rapport with his fans as his writing career grows from strength to strength.
Defending Innocence
Originally released on the 26th of May in 2021, this would first come out through the Kindle publishing platform. It would also be the first in the ‘Small Town Lawyer’ series of legal thrillers, establishing both the world and the characters for the very first time. With a self-contained mystery to solve, it sees the first case for Leland Monroe taking place in his small hometown of Basking Rock.
It appears that Leland Monroe has lost everything, including his job in the big city, along with his wife and reputation, as he returns to his hometown to begin again. Here he hopes to patch things up with his son when he meets his old high-school sweetheart, and she has a big problem in that her own son is facing the death penalty for apparently murdering his father. Digging deeper, Leland finds that there are powerful forces at work, as everyone seems intent on covering up a web of corruption and lies. Will Leland be able to uncover the truth, who is the real murderer, and can Leland turn his life around as he finds himself defending innocence?
This story makes for the perfect opening to the series overall, offering plenty to look forwards to in the books to come. Not only that, but the mystery itself is well managed every single step of the way, as it’s expertly paced with good use of suspense. There are numerous twists and turns, with constant surprises upon every turn of the page that keeps the reader continually guessing the whole way through.
Influencing Justice
First coming out on the 26th of May, this would be released in 2022 on the Kindle publishing platform to much anticipation. Setting up the second novel in the ‘Small Town Lawyer’ legal thriller series, it continues with another mystery set in the same world as before. Heading back to Basking Rock, it’s another stand-alone case file for Leland Monroe to solve, with plenty more twists along the way.
Looking for his help, the online influencer Simone Baker turns to Leland Monroe for his legal assistance, which he’s initially reluctant to give. With little experience in the field of social media and not being a criminal lawyer, he’s cautious about taking the case, but with not much else to work on, he takes up the case. What seems like an open and shut case for her innocence, though, soon leads to a tangled web of lies and deceit, with a criminal organization that Leland believed had left the small town for good. Can he uncover the truth, will he prove Simone’s innocence and help get her out of harm’s way, and is he going to be able to save himself while influencing justice?
Book Series In Order » Authors »
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I am HOOKED! I just finished the 4th book in his Small Town Lawyer series, and am hugely disappointed he has not written a 5th yet! These books were somewhat procedural, but you still have that sense of shock when you get to tge ending. I cannot wait to read more from him!
Looking forward to Small Town Trial
Not knowing it was a sequel, I have started ‘influencing justice’ I usually read historical fiction, but was intrigued by the reviews I read. Thus far it doesn’t disappoint. In fact I can’t put it down. Hope to find more books by Peter Kirkland. It is superb!