Best Indie Book Runner Up Award from ShelfUnbound

"Driven by an exceptionally strong female lead, the first entry in Katherine Smith Dedrick's V-files series is a winner." - BestThrillers Staff

"Deviant Agendas: A Victoria Rodessa Legal Thriller by Katherine Smith Dedrick is a complete stunner..." - Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite

Smart, sexy, sassy and driven-Victoria Rodessa just graduated from one of the country's top law schools and joined the international firm Acker, Smith & McGowen, respected for its advancement of female lawyers. When Victoria lands a prized assignment vital to the ambitions of the firm's powerful partners, she sets out to become the first woman to join their ranks. But behind closed doors, deviant agendas dominate. With only her intellect and guts to guide her, Victoria confronts a perfect storm of misogyny, lies and criminal intent. If she follows her conscience, she could lose everything. But keeping silent could come at an even higher cost.

About the Author
Dedrick, Katherine Smith: - Katherine Smith Dedrick is author of The V-Files, a legal thriller series with strong female protagonists. An attorney for more than thirty years, Katherine has litigated in U.S. federal and state courts and served on the management team of a national law firm. Katherine holds a law degree from IIT Chicago Kent and MBA from The University of Chicago. In addition to writing novels and practicing law, she has received the Business Insurance Women to Watch Award, the Women with Visions Award, and the Mercedes Mentor Award.

Blackmail. Sex Trafficking. Kidnapping. Victoria is back.

This time she's in danger of having her life destroyed by the private agendas of powerful, corrupt men. Obsessed with growing her law firm and punishing the male law partner who fired her from theirs on trumped up charges, Victoria and her friends are on the hunt for evidence to prove Victoria's innocence. Unless she can get others to step forward, she'll be left to take on her former bosses single-handedly. Desperate and frustrated, Victoria and her friends concoct a last-minute plan to pull strings in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Chicago. Will it work?

About the Author
Dedrick, Katherine Smith: - Katherine Smith Dedrick is the author of The V-Files, a legal thriller series with strong female protagonists. An attorney for more than thirty years, Katherine has litigated in U.S. federal and state courts and served on the management team of a national law firm. Katherine holds a law degree from IIT Chicago Kent and MBA from The University of Chicago. In addition to writing novels and practicing law, she has received the Business Insurance Women to Watch Award, the Women with Visions Award, and the Mercedes Mentor Award.

”An indelible cast enhances this sharp, measured mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews

A malicious undercurrent plagues the remote hamlet of Cartersville, New York, where children have been going missing for over half a century with no explanation or concern.

When a disabled Vietnam veteran, reared in that town, collides in the heart of Manhattan with a teenage girl suffering from multiple personality disorder and memories of being trapped in a locked wooden box as a child, their budding connection slowly unravels memories that neither of them can leave in the past.

After two buried crates are unearthed at a remote construction site outside Cartersville with the bones of small boys inside them, and simultaneously, another local child goes missing, Nick Mannino, The Good Lawyer, and Paul Tarantino, a high-class fixer and former secret service agent, are drawn into the fray. Together they explore the disappearance over the years of not just one, but hundreds of children in and around this quaint but peculiar town.

With the help of a genius hacker, a dedicated reporter, and the only witnesses to the crimes—the alternate personalities of the traumatized yet innocent teenager—The Good Lawyer is about to embark on his most disturbing investigation yet: uncovering a sinister underground enterprise, and the criminal mind behind it.

More Reviews:

Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal Winner, Psychological Thriller Fiction

“Superbly written, The Criminal Mind by Thomas Benigno is a sensational novel in the Nick Mannino series. Filled with mystery and suspense, it is a riveting story with an intricate plot, complex storyline, and intriguing characters. Spellbinding twists coil throughout, coming to a horrifying and heart-stopping conclusion. Distinctive characters who have acute moral, physical, emotional, and mental issues add context to the storyline. Their contrasting personalities, challenges, and attitudes give the plot definition and balance…Engaging and intense, it is a gripping novel with a compelling and suspenseful plot that promises to thrill fans of mystery, thrillers, and suspense.” —Readers’ Favorite

“Another fine story from Thomas Benigno, who has the ability to blend multiple plot lines into an exciting read.“  —Lewis Weinstein, author, The Heretic

Author Bio:

Thomas Benigno is a legal thriller author best known for the writing of The Good Lawyer series. Benigno is a practicing lawyer that graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and is currently resident in Long Island, New York. He was one of the best lawyers ever to study law at Benjamin, and proved his proficiency very early in his career when he was made Associate Attorney at the recommendation of his New York Legal Aid Society Law Clinic Professor, Barry Scheck. While he was an associate attorney, he took up some of the most complex, intricate, and high profile cases and was the attorney for the infamous “Spiderman Rapist”. Asked why he took up cases that sometimes involved rapists and child molesters, he answered that he was hungry to prove himself and that everyone deserved legal representation.