Legal thrillers, sealed files, and courtroom pressure that doesn’t let up.
Explore every Derek Fermin title in one place—from the David Mercer series to standalone legal thrillers built around buried secrets, dangerous cases, and people who should have stopped asking questions.
David Mercer reading order
New to the Mercer series? Start with the prequel, move into the first full-length novel, then continue into the next stage of the conspiracy.
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David Mercer Legal Thriller Series
The Sealed Deal
A sharp, fast prequel that opens the first crack in the world of David Mercer—where one deal, one signature, and one wrong question can change everything.
Before the lies unraveled, one deal sealed the damage.
David Mercer thinks he’s handling a simple matter—routine paperwork, a negotiated resolution, and one more file ready to close. But buried inside the deal is something that doesn’t belong.
The more Mercer pushes, the more the air changes around him. What should have been a clean legal transaction starts to feel like a warning shot—and the fallout reaches far beyond a single signature.
- Perfect entry point into the David Mercer universe.
- Fast, tense, and built to be read in one sitting.
- Sets the stage for Inheritance of Lies.
Inheritance of Lies
A prestigious firm. A dangerous client. A sealed docket that was never meant to be opened.
The case that changes everything starts with a file no one wants touched.
David Mercer leaves the DA’s office for a powerful Kansas City firm, ready for bigger cases, bigger clients, and the kind of career most lawyers chase for years. Then one client file lands on his desk—and nothing about it feels clean.
As Mercer digs into sealed records, hidden connections, and internal warnings that make less sense the longer he hears them, he uncovers a network of corruption built to protect itself at all costs.
- Introduces David Mercer and the first major fracture in the system around him.
- Built for readers who love conspiracy, legal pressure, and firm politics.
- Launches the wider Mercer series storyline.
Shadow Network
The machine is no longer hiding. Now it’s moving to protect itself.
The conspiracy didn’t end. It evolved.
After the fallout of Inheritance of Lies, David Mercer is no longer chasing a secret that wants to stay hidden. Now the people behind it know exactly who he is—and they’re done underestimating him.
Files vanish, witnesses shift, and the power structure behind Docket 53 expands into something bigger, darker, and far harder to corner. To keep moving, Mercer will have to survive what the system does to the people who refuse to back down.
- Direct continuation of the Mercer story.
- Expands the series beyond one firm and one sealed case.
- Raises the pressure on Mercer’s family, name, and future.
Other Legal Thrillers
The Liberty Docket
A federal judge receives a desperate letter from a death-row inmate—and discovers the case may lead straight back into his own courthouse.
Some cases refuse to stay buried.
Judge Everett Langford opens a letter expecting one more desperate plea from death row. Instead, he finds details that should have stayed hidden—and questions that pull him back toward a case the system already decided was finished.
As papers resurface and corridors fill with old loyalties, Langford realizes the truth may not just threaten the court’s reputation. It may destroy his place inside it.
- Standalone judicial thriller with noir atmosphere.
- Built around buried records, courthouse pressure, and institutional rot.
- Great for readers who like slow-burn legal suspense.
The Juror’s Lie
Twelve jurors. One hidden agenda. One woman willing to weaponize the trial from the inside.
The jury is supposed to decide the truth. She came to bend it.
Claire Estrada lies her way onto a murder trial jury with one goal: make the verdict hurt. But once the testimony starts cracking and the courtroom story stops lining up, revenge becomes more dangerous than she planned.
If she misread the case, she could destroy the wrong life. If she didn’t, the people steering the trial are about to learn what happens when someone inside the box stops playing fair.
- Standalone thriller built around jury-room tension and hidden motives.
- Tight courtroom pressure with moral traps and shifting loyalties.
- Ideal for readers who like verdict-driven suspense.
The Pro Bono Client
A burned-out associate takes on the wrong case—and discovers walking away may be the most dangerous move she can make.
She took the case. Now the case won’t let go.
Maya Ellison lives by control—hours billed, deadlines crushed, weakness hidden. Then a pro bono defense lands on her desk, and the accused man seems to know things about her life he should not know at all.
What begins as an obligation twists into something far more personal. The warnings escalate, the coincidences stop feeling random, and the case starts behaving like it picked her on purpose.
- Psychological pressure meets firm-world legal tension.
- Built for readers who like paranoia, manipulation, and moral trapdoors.
- Standalone legal thriller with a darker edge.
Settlement Conference
They didn’t kidnap her for ransom. They kidnapped her for a verdict.
A courtroom hostage story where the lawyer becomes the defense.
Alexandra “Alex” Cortez wins cases for a living—high-stakes, high-dollar, and ruthless when she has to be. But when a late-night drive turns into a black-bag abduction, she wakes up in a place that looks like a courtroom built by people who believe the real justice system failed them.
Forced to defend inside a staged “settlement conference” run by medical-malpractice victims, Alex is pulled into raw testimony, sealed files, and a verdict-by-fire designed to break the attorney they blame for protecting the machine.
- Standalone legal thriller with a courtroom-hostage premise.
- High-pressure moral conflict, buried evidence, and vigilante procedure.
- Built for readers who like claustrophobic legal suspense and escalating reveals.