Defense lawyer Stuart Clay takes the reader on a tour of the D.C. criminal justice system in The Only Pure Thing, to be released in January, 2007. In a work in progress, Scorpio Rising, Stuart follows his case through the golden towers of high tech back into the gritty back streets of Washington, D.C.

THE ONLY PURE THING

When Benny Batiste's head winds up on a Georgetown parking meter, defense attorney Stuart Clay inherits his problems. Police discover Cleveland Barnes wearing a green army raincoat, a battered top hat, and bloodied Bally loafers. As Benny was found both headless and shoeless, Cleveland is charged with murder and Stuart is appointed to represent him.

Stuart thinks Cleveland is a hapless street person who filched some shoes. The police insist that things are not so simple. Pursuit of the case leads to clues that connect a band of homeless living under the Key Bridge , the Bronx mob, the urban renaissance of Washington , D.C. , and a malignant evil so dark that it threatens to consume Stuart's very existence.

Crime Writer Michael Connelly states that The Only Pure Thing is "a legal thriller full of grit and charm and telling details from every link in the justice system food chain. It is clear from page one that Patrick Hyde intimately knows this turf. He delivers it with the wit and wisdom of a consummate insider."

SCORPIO RISING

High tech CEO Marshall Keating is discovered with a bullet in his brain at Washington's Mayflower Hotel. Sales executive Peter Delaney is unconscious beneath the dead man, clutching a pistol. Is it a case of a bungled murder or is there more?

Defense attorney Stuart Clay discovers a crime with clues that connect the high tech nouveau riche, a cutting edge security technology, a two hundred year old mystical order in the District of Columbia, evils from the McCarthy Era, the Mayflower Hotel and a scam confirming that there is nothing new under the sun.