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Michael A. Kahn

Biography

Michael A. Kahn

A trial lawyer by day and a writer by night, Michael Kahn is the award-winning author of 11 Rachel Gold novels (including his latest, BAD TRUST); a stand-alone novel, THE MOURNING SEXTON (under the pen name Michael Baron); and several short stories.

A former elementary school teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, Mike wrote his first novel, GRAVE DESIGNS, on a challenge from his wife Margi, who got tired of listening to the same answer whenever she asked him about a book he was reading. “Not bad,” he would say, “but I could write a better book than that.”

“Then write one,” she finally said, “or please shut up. I don’t want to hear you 50 years from now telling your great-grandkids that you could have written a book.”

So he shut up for a while --- no easy task for an attorney --- but eventually he wrote GRAVE DESIGNS (originally published in hardcover under the title THE CANAAN LEGACY).

In addition to his day job, where he represents individuals and companies in the fields of creative arts and media law, Mike is an adjunct professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, where he teaches a class on censorship and free expression.

Mike married his high school sweetheart. They are the parents of five and the grandparents of, so far, five. His happiest moment as a writer: having his kids take one of his books to school for show-and-tell.

Michael A. Kahn

Books by Michael A. Kahn

Bad Trust: An Attorney Rachel Gold Mystery
by Michael A. Kahn - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

An ugly trust fund dispute among siblings turns deadly when Isaiah, CEO of the family firm he stole from their father, is murdered in his office. St. Louis attorney Rachel Gold, hired to bring suit against Isaiah on behalf of his sisters, must now defend one against the charge of fratricide. As Rachel and her team seek essential evidence, the widowed Rachel struggles with family issues of her own, including relationships with her young son Sam and her boyfriend Abe. The jury is still out on whether or not Rachel can create the work-life balance she is seeking.

Played!
by Michael A. Kahn - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Every law firm has its backroom bench of brilliant workaholic nerds ferocious in their commitment to the law and to their clients. Such a player is Milton Bernstein of Abbott & Windsor. He's highly valued by the partners for his skills, but untested in the courtroom. Milton's younger brother, Hal, is his polar opposite --- strikingly handsome, a high school baseball legend in St. Louis who was on his way to the major leagues until he destroyed his prospects in a motorcycle accident. Neither brilliant nor driven, Hal has to face up to earning a living. For now he's killing time as a lifeguard at an exclusive country club. But the lives of both brothers are about to change.

The Dead Hand: A Rachel Gold Mystery
by Michael A. Kahn - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Rachel represents two women --- one a widow, one a divorcee --- in a pair of nasty zombie lawsuits, the outcome of each of which hinges upon a clause in a dead man’s document. Rachel’s client Cyndi Mulligan is the trophy widow of the late Bert Mulligan, a billionaire entrepreneur whose last will and testament left his estate to Cyndi’s daughter. The challenge comes from Bert’s angry first wife and her angrier only son. Their claim: Cyndi’s daughter --- born 11 months after Bert’s death --- cannot possibly be Bert’s child. Rachel’s other client is Marsha Knight, the ex-wife of the wealthy founder of a women’s lingerie manufacturer. She’s been sued by his widow, who seeks to invalidate Marsha’s divorce settlement.