- Ultimate Legal Thrillers from author Michael Winstead
- Ultimate Verdict: Book Summary
- Ultimate Deception: Book Summary
- Ultimate Truth: Book Summary
- Ella’s Wings: Book Summary
- The China Play: Coming Soon
- The Whore’s Bath: Coming Soon
Ultimate Legal Thrillers from author Michael Winstead
The Ultimate Legal Thriller Series follows western North Carolina Judge Raleigh Westlake as he wrestles with how to achieve justice in a flawed system. Criminals who escape punishment meet their match in Westlake’s mobile courtroom, where the ultimate verdict is delivered. The Judge is joined in vigilante justice by a federal prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney, and two US Marshals, all of whom have their secret agendas.
In book one, Ultimate Verdict, Judge Westlake avenges the senseless death of a young woman whose confessed murderer went free on a technicality. With one criminal dispatched, the Judge targets others who have committed heinous crimes but escaped true justice. Then one of the Judge’s trusted associates informs the US Attorney General, and the Judge faces a dilemma that could land them all in prison.
In book two, Ultimate Deception, the Judge battles his own demons and strife within the cabal. When the team’s prosecutor goes rogue during a secret trial, an innocent man is murdered. Someone has been watching and captures the murder on film in order to blackmail the Judge and his team. The blackmailer demands the Judge execute a prisoner or face exposure. For the Judge, this is the conflict that will define him–execute an innocent young man or stand trial himself.
The third book, Ultimate Truth, introduces a Russian sleeper agent posing as a surgeon. The spy has master-minded the second worst terrorist attack on American soil–the bombing of an arena during a music concert. He framed someone else for the crime, but Judge Westlake uncovers the truth. He learns the identity of the terrorist, also their blackmailer, from a survivor who recognized him. The Judge faces off with the terrorist in a battle between good and evil that tests everything he thought he stood for.
A companion novel, Ella’s Wings, follows the bombing survivor who helped identify the terrorist who planned the tragedy. With the FBI reporting him dead, Ella Winslow is trying to rebuild her life despite severe disabilities. Then they lock eyes. He is still alive… and she knows him. As she waits for the terrorist to come for her, she discovers a strength she never thought she had. This novel can be read stand-alone or as part of Michael Winstead’s Ultimate Justice series. A reader’s guide shows how their timelines intermesh.
THANK YOU to everyone who has purchased and reviewed my books. If you have not yet read the full series or left a review on Amazon, please consider doing so. In today’s publishing environment, feedback and reviews are an author’s lifeblood. Your help is much appreciated. -Michael Winstead, author
Ultimate Verdict: Book Summary
Book 1 of the Ultimate Legal Thrillers Series
Michael Winstead’s first novel, Ultimate Verdict is available on Amazon.
Author’s Note: Our system of justice is broken. More than one third of all murders are never solved. Mass killings are on the rise. Predatory criminals and companies victimize millions of people and are never brought to justice. I wrote the Ultimate Justice series for everyone who has envisioned a different outcome.
–Michael Winstead
In the first installment of Michael Winstead’s Ultimate Justice trilogy, readers meet Raleigh Westlake, a western North Carolina judge who has dedicated his career to the pursuit of justice. Then the murder of a young woman lands in Westlake’s court and the system fails her.
The murderer confesses and is sentenced to death. But an appellate court reverses the conviction on a technicality, and the confessed murderer goes free. This miscarriage of justice launches Judge Westlake and four colleagues on a quest for true justice. Westlake creates his own mobile courtroom where the most perverse and arrogant criminals are tried secretly and given the ultimate verdict.
Then one of the team informs the US Attorney General, and the Judge faces a dilemma that could land them all in prison. With US Attorney Caroline Bannister in pursuit, Westlake is forced to confront his lawless actions and test his dedication to justice.
This book is available now on Amazon.
If Michael Winstead’s works have resonated with you, please take a moment to submit a review on Amazon or leave your comments on this site’s Contacts page. Thank you.
Ultimate Deception: Book Summary
Book 2 of the Ultimate Legal Thrillers Series
Michael Winstead’s second novel, Ultimate Deception is available on Amazon.
This second installment of Michael Winstead’s Ultimate Legal Thriller Series continues the story of Federal Judge Raleigh Westlake. He his trusted team hold clandestine trials in a mobile courtroom, seeking justice for innocent victims the legal system has failed.
Judge Westlake and his loyalists must confront enemies from within and without. The team that has doled out justice outside the system is being blackmailed. A risky secret trial flings them into the path of a Russian spy with the motivation and means to carry out unthinkable acts of terrorism.
As they become targets, the cabal faces their most difficult dilemma. Do they save an innocent man, or themselves?
This book is available now on Amazon.
If Michael Winstead’s works have resonated with you, please take a moment to submit a review on Amazon or leave your comments on this site’s Contacts page. Thank you.
Ultimate Truth: Book Summary
Book 3 of the Ultimate Legal Thrillers Series
Michael Winstead’s third novel, Ultimate Truth is available on Amazon.
This third installment of Michael Winstead’s Ultimate Legal Thriller Series continues the story of Federal Judge Raleigh Westlake. He his trusted team hold clandestine trials in a mobile courtroom, seeking justice for innocent victims the legal system has failed.
Judge Westlake and his team are confronting internal strife. Good and evil are also battling on a larger stage. A Russian terrorist, hiding in plain sight, eludes the FBI and frames a dead man for his crimes. And while the authorities are looking for the spy in the wrong place, the KGB plans a vicious biological strike against the United States.
An epic conflict between good and evil forces Westlake to make the most important decision of his life. To do it, he must seek the line between right and wrong.
This book is available now on Amazon.
If Michael Winstead’s works have resonated with you, please take a moment to submit a review on Amazon or leave your comments on this site’s Contacts page. Thank you.
Ella’s Wings: Book Summary
A Companion Novel to the Ultimate Legal Thrillers Series
Michael Winstead’s fourth novel, Ella’s Wings is available on Amazon.
This third installment of Michael Winstead’s Ultimate Legal Thriller Series continues the story of Federal Judge Raleigh Westlake. He his trusted team hold clandestine trials in a mobile courtroom, seeking justice for innocent victims the legal system has failed.
Judge Westlake and his team are confronting internal strife. Good and evil are also battling on a larger stage. A Russian terrorist, hiding in plain sight, eludes the FBI and frames a dead man for his crimes. And while the authorities are looking for the spy in the wrong place, the KGB plans a vicious biological strike against the United States.
An epic conflict between good and evil forces Westlake to make the most important decision of his life. To do it, he must seek the line between right and wrong.
This book is available now on Amazon.
If Michael Winstead’s works have resonated with you, please take a moment to submit a review on Amazon or leave your comments on this site’s Contacts page. Thank you.
The China Play: Coming Soon
A Legal Thriller from Author Michael Winstead
Watch for Michael Winstead’s fifth novel, The China Play, on Amazon in early 2026.
In The China Play, Author Michael Winstead describes a foreign power secretly acquiring American farmland and willing to do anything – including murder — to get it.
Attorney Oakley Hitchcock, suspended from practicing law for one year, returns to his family’s farm in south Georgia to wait out his suspension. “Hitch” soon discovers a reverse mortgage scheme has entrapped his parents and dozens of other landowners.
As they begin to probe, Hitch and legal assistant Natalie Anderson find themselves targets of a faceless force determined to keep its secret. If they can’t unravel the scheme quickly, lives will be lost, and American land will fall into the hands of a ruthless enemy. When they file a class-action lawsuit, what had been a clandestine conspiracy explodes into desperation and bloodshed.
The China Play delivers a chilling glimpse of the battle for rare resources and world supremacy, examining what will happen if a foreign country exploits the very legal system designed to protect us.
Watch for this book on Amazon in early 2026.
The Whore’s Bath: Coming Soon
A Legal Thriller from Author Michael Winstead
Krystal became a prostitute at fifteen. Her mother was her pimp. The Life is brutal, and more so once Krystal is kidnapped by a sex trafficking ring. New pimps keep her captive for years, along with four other teenagers, in a sleazy motel in Atlanta. It happens to thousands of kids in America every year. But not all victims are equal, and Krystal musters the courage to engineer their escape.
Years later, Krystal is a lawyer, representing juveniles the world has mostly forgotten. Trying to prevent her fate from becoming theirs. But inside she knows she will never feel clean until she finds the four teenagers she went through hell with. To do that, she must track down the men who held them captive. The kingpin, whom she knows only as The Ghost, is nothing more than an anonymous shadow. That’s all she has to go on, but she will not relent until justice is served.
Watch for this book on Amazon in early 2026.
MICHAEL WINSTEAD 