Mike Stewart (novelist)

Stewart's first novel, Sins of the Brother, is the first installment of the Tom McInnes series. It is marked by a creative and "labyrinthine plot", Southern gothic ambiance, and familial tension.[7] The New York Times gave it a strong review.[8]

Upon hearing of his younger brother's death, Tom McInnes, a successful attorney from Mobile, Alabama, returns to the small sawmill town where he grew up. There he learns about his brother's gambling debts, cocaine use, and suspicious death on the river. As Tom digs more and more deeply into the mystery surrounding his brother's life and death, he places himself in increasingly grave danger.[9]

Mike Stewart's second novel follows Tom McInnes through Alabama and Florida, specifically through St. George Island and nearby Dog Island. When a teenage runaway witnesses a murder, she comes to Tom for help.[10]

In the third McInnes mystery, a young woman asks Tom to investigate the death of her mother in a small-town hospital. As Tom explores the suspicious death, an attempt is made on his life, the state bar threatens to disbar him, and he is accused of murdering another lawyer. Working with a psychologist/jury expert, Tom uncovers a jury-rigging conspiracy. The critic at Publishers Weekly opined that "Stewart's third mystery featuring attorney Tom McInnes (after Dog Island, 2000), again combines the suspense, richly textured plot, picturesque Alabama settings, double-crossing characters and sparkling writing that set his first two books apart from the pack."[11] Kirkus Reviews found it a good read.[12]

Stewart's fourth book is not a Tom McInnes mystery. A Perfect Life tells the story of Scott Thomas, a Harvard-trained clinical psychologist. Scott is carjacked, burgled, and framed for the murder of a woman at the Boston hospital where he works. With no family to stand by him, Scott alone must prove his innocence and take back his life, confronting his own dark past along the way.[13]