REBUTTAL

I saw Ethan die.  I wasn't sad.

What I didn't expect was the summons. And now I'm on trial for his death. For $23 million.

To make matters worse, my custom-built software program for Boeing became the vehicle for a multimillion-dollar financial scheme. Now, I face the most sophisticated trap I've ever encountered - one constructed from my own code, my own reputation, and my own name.

My employer wants me gone. A predatory law firm wants me convicted. And Ethan - my former lover, the man who may have orchestrated everything - should be dead.

My only weapons: two brilliant engineers, a hard-nosed attorney named Julia, and my refusal to go quietly.

REBUTTAL is a psychological suspense thriller set in the New York City corridors of 1980s corporate financial crime - for readers of First Lie Wins, Complicit, Lessons in Chemistry, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, One Wrong Word, and any work of Women's Fiction that portrays a strong female protagonist fighting for her identity in a man's world. This series is for every woman who has ever been the smartest person in the room and still been told to sit down.

Book 2 in the Maryl Morgan Marks series. Start with COUNTERPUNCH or dive straight in - REBUTTAL can stand alone.

REBUTTAL: Maryl Morgan Marks, Book 2 is a psychological suspense thriller and corporate crime novel set in 1980s Manhattan, featuring a strong female protagonist navigating workplace betrayal, legal jeopardy, and a multimillion-dollar financial conspiracy she didn't create but must dismantle. A whistleblower framed for her ex-lover's disappearance and a phantom embezzlement scheme, Maryl Marks is the kind of woman who gets set up precisely because she's too good at her job - and too inconvenient to keep around. This is upmarket women's fiction for readers who want their heroines intelligent, battle-tested, and unapologetically strategic: no rescue, no romance arc, no soft landing.

If you love stories of corporate corruption, hidden identities, forensic investigation, and women who refuse to be silenced, REBUTTAL delivers. Set against the ruthless backdrop of 1980s New York tech and finance, this novel explores power dynamics in the workplace, gaslighting and institutional betrayal, legal thriller procedural elements, and the quiet fury of a woman who knows she's been framed - and builds her case one piece of evidence at a time. Readers drawn to feminist fiction, glass-ceiling narratives, career revenge stories, and female-driven crime investigation will find Maryl's voice both grounding and galvanizing.

REBUTTAL is upmarket women's fiction with the pacing of a legal thriller, the emotional intelligence of character-driven literary fiction, and the tech-world authenticity of a writer who lived it. Comp titles include First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston, Complicit by Winnie M. Li, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is the second book in the Maryl Morgan Marks series - corporate whistleblower fiction, women's empowerment through strategic intelligence, and the kind of workplace justice story that every woman who has ever been the smartest person in the room and still been told to sit down deserves to read.