Jorma-Veikko Sappinen Book order (chronological)

In a federal prison, three former judges who call themselves "the brethren" meet in the law library to run a rougher form of justice inside their community and make a some money, but when one of their scams derails, they are forced to confront the world of their own creation.

Ray Atlee and his brother, Forrest, receive a letter from their father, a reclusive, retired judge, instructing them to return home to Clanton, Mississippi, to discuss his estate, but the judge dies before his sons arrive, leaving behind a secret known only to Ray.