When I learned that Alex Finlay, one of my go-to authors, also writes under the pen name Anthony Franze, I read the Franze novel, THE OUTSIDER, to find out why. Is there a difference between Franze and Finlay novels?

The obvious difference I see in THE OUTSIDER is the subject matter. Here the concentration is on the lives of lawyers and judges and their work (and escapades).

Grayson is a young lawyer who grew up in a rough neighborhood and did not graduate from an Ivy League school. But he got his foot in the door of the Supreme Court of the United States by working there as a messenger. He really wanted to be a law clerk.

That happens when Grayson interrupts a mugging of the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Now he is a law clerk. But he soon finds that the FBI is investigating whether the mugging is somehow related to other crimes that were all committed on the fifth of the month. And, of course, he gets himself involved.

The subsequent mysteries are convoluted and not predictable. This Franze thriller is every bit as good as a Finlay thriller.

Don't forget to read the author's "About Authenticity" after the story ends. You might even want to read it first.