Jon Land Books In Order

The Vengeance of the Tau

Blaine McCracken, former government agent turned international troubleshooter, is on the trail of an international slaughter spree. He’s as ruthless and resourceful as they come when battling evil, but he may have met his match. From the distant past, a conspiracy born of vengeance has returned and from the depths of the earth it has brought forth its instrument of annihilation. But the violence done is only the bloody beginning of the violence to come, in a conspiracy that could push humanity toward an unspeakable end…
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Kingdom of the Seven

Dr. Karen Raymond has made the medical breakthrough of the century, a vaccine that could halt the spread of our most devastating modern plague, AIDS. But when her laboratory is destroyed and her colleagues murdered, she realized she’s in danger: a conspiracy of proportions she never dreamed possible is out to crush her work. In another part of the country the population of an entire town has disappeared into thin air, leaving behind only half finished meals, empty offices and schools. Who is responsible? A cabal of power seeking corporations? Rogue victims of Army medical experiments gone horribly wrong? Who is behind the traitorous plot that threatens to sacrifice our country to the Kingdom of the Seven.

The Fires of Midnight

Who killed two thousand innocent people, and how? More importantly, can they be stopped from striking again?Infectious disease expert Dr. Susan Lyle teams up with Blaine McCracken, ex CIA operative, in the search for answers. Hideously deformed cadavers and a missing teenage genius are their only leads. The chase takes them all the way down the eastern seaboard and across the country, and they soon realize that at the heart of the puzzle lies a whole new generation of biological weapons. Should the wrong people get their hands on them, no one will be able to prevent the horrifying effect of…
The Fires of Midnight.

Dead Simple

April 1998: A tanker hauling a deadly new explosive vanishes without a trace in a raging storm…
. That explosive falls into the hands of Jack ‘Terror’ Tyrell. Now, he’s more determined than ever to realize his deadly vision: to lead a radical underground group that spreads its message via bombs and blood. Enter Blaine McCracken. McCracken seeks out his mentor, Sergeant Major Buck Torrey, to get his edge back after being wounded in a terrorist attack. But Torrey has disappeared. McCracken reconnoiters with beautiful Liz Halprin, Torrey’s daughter, and their hunt takes them on a perilous journey where secrets can be as deadly as bullets. McCracken and Halprin are hot on Jackie Terror’s tail, which brings them to Manhattan, where Terror’s going to hold seven million people hostage.

The Eighth Trumpet

THE MURDERIt spite of the tightest high tech security ever conceived, billionaire Jordan Lime is savagely killed by a weapon that tears him apart limb by limb with grim, laserlike efficiency. THE CONSPIRACYAn army unlike any other has fired its first shot. In its ranks are the world’s most vicious killers, fortified by a super advanced arsenal against which there is no defense. THE THREATIt is a madman’s plan to conquer the earth by destroying it. He will unleash the devastating powers of the atom and let the cataclysmic wrath of nature do the rest. THE STRUGGLEBattle lines are drawn. Against the ultimate tyranny stands freedom’s forces led by Jared Kimberlain, the one the world turns to when it’s in trouble prepared to match evil shock for shock, blow for blow. The Eighth TrumpetFrom New York to Washington, D.C., from London to the Mediterranean island of Malta, and on to the frozen wastes of Antarctica, the demented plot unfolds. It will reach its terrifying climax on a day set aside for celebration a day that may mark the end of humankind…
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The Walls of Jericho

American Ben Kamal is a Detroit police detective whose police training makes him valuable to the new Palestinian police force on the West Bank. He’s glad to help but hooking up with the Israelis to find a serial killer was not part of the deal. Danielle Barnea is the best that Shin Bet, Israel’s FBI , has to offer, but she, too, resists the assignment. Now Ben and Danielle are forced to leave personal differences behind as they realize that something much more complex than murder is behind the killings.

The Pillars of Solomon

Palestinian American detective Ben Kamal and Israeli police inspector Danielle Barnea return to confront a worldwide criminal plague: white slavery. Ben Kamal hasn’t investigated a case since his last assignment with Danielle until he learns about missing children in his native West Bank. And Danielle had put her career on hold until a personal tragedy left her with nothing to turn to except her career; her first case is the seemingly random murder of a Jerusalem shopkeeper. What Ben and Danielle don’t know, can’t know, is that their separate investigations are linked by a secret born of the blood that forged a nation. To stop history from being rewritten, Ben and Danielle must follow a dangerous path to a truth that no one wants revealed, a truth someone had already killed to keep hidden behind The Pillars of Solomon.

A Walk in the Darkness

1948: An archaeological team in Turkey is slaughtered after making an earth shattering discovery. More than fifty years later, another group of archaeologists, this one made up of Americans, is murdered in the Judean desert. Chief Inspector Danielle Barnea of Israel’s National Police is called in to investigate, accompanied by Palestinian detective Ben Kamal, whose nephew was among the victims. Joining forces once again, Ben and Danielle are swept into a maelstrom of secrets and subterfuge where truth is the rarest find of all. Together they follow a trail that spans three continents and stretches from the dusty streets of Jericho to the regent corridors of Rome, back to a conspiracy that has remained buried for more than 2,000 years. Hunted by a secret army and renounced by their own governments, Ben and Danielle close on the solution to a mystery that can destroy them at the same time it changes civilization forever. Their only hope is to find the light that lies at the end of A Walk in the Darkness.

Keepers of the Gate

How are the shocking murders of elderly Holocaust survivors connected to the deaths of high school students in Israel and the West Bank? Palestinian American detective Ben Kamal and Israeli detective Danielle Barnea soon discover that the answer to this blood drenched puzzle lies as much in the past as in the present, with the clues leading from a Na*zi labor camp to the forefront of modern biotech research, while leaving a trail of deception and death behind. At the center of the mystery lies Paul Hessler, a labor camp escapee and New York billionaire with secrets that stretch back over sixty years. Hessler is also in possession of a miraculous medical discovery that could affect the lives of thousands inlcluding Ben and Danielle’s unborn child. To protect this discovery, and to rescue the future form the hidden evils of the past, Ben and Danielle must come face to face with the Keepers of the Gate.

Blood Diamonds

The West African country of Sierra Leone has long been known as a diamond rich area. With civil war ripping the heart out of the country, all aspects of life there are unstable. Worst of all, guerrilla rebels, in their lust for the resource rich land, have sunk to depravity and terrorism to evict people from the country. It’s into this maelstrom of political and emotional turmoil that Ben and Danielle must go. The leader of the rebels, a fanatical and charismatic woman known only as the Dragon, is not content with ravaging her own country. She plans a final coup that will perfect her power and topple Western governments unless Ben and Danielle can stop her in time.

The Blue Widows

In today’s terrifying new world, in which small groups of individuals with unlimited resources can wreak incredible havoc and catastrophe, the task of stopping them becomes all the more urgent and compelling. Jon Land’s latest topical thriller finds Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea facing just such a threat: an obsessed fanatic plotting nothing less than the total destruction of America. Danielle, now the head of Israel’s National Police, still relies on her Palestinian American partner, detective Ben Kamal, currently working for a private security firm in Boston. When a raid on a terrorist hideout in Gaza yields flame charred pages written in Arabic, she sends the document to Ben for his inspection. Shockingly, his translation reveals that the pages are actually a fatwa, a religious edict, granting permission to bring about a biblical prophecy known as the End of All Things. Layla Aziz Rahani, embattled daughter of a powerful Saudi Arabian billionaire, is the mastermind behind this insidious plot, whose apocalyptic scope and magnitude are almost beyond comprehension. Now Danielle and Ben, working both separately and together, must track Rahani along a deadly trail of shadows and subterfuge that spans three continents before an ancient prediction becomes a very real and irreversible disaster.

The Last Prophecy

1945: While liberating a concentration camp, an American medical unit uncovers something beneath a body laden trench. Sixty years later, the survivors of that unit are systematically murdered because of what they saw. The Present: Enter former Palestinian American detective Ben Kamal and his Israeli counterpart, Danielle Barnea. Working for the United Nations, Ben and Danielle are forced to return to the Middle East to investigate a massacre in a Palestinian village. The quickly learn that the roots of that massacre lie elsewhere, in another era, on another continent. While Ben follows the trail of the shadowy force responsible, Danielle finds herself swept into a maelstrom where the past and the present collide, joined by an ancient text of prophecies that predicts a cataclysmic event about to strike the United States. The only way to change a fate foretold long before is to decipher a cryptic message shrouded in secrecy and guarded by a hidden army. As time ticks down, Ben and Danielle face off against a new and all powerful enemy with its own crazed reasons for wanting America’s very way of life destroyed. Their only hope: to use The Last Prophecy.

Strong Enough to Die

Caitlin Strong is a fifth generation Texas Ranger, proud to wear the badge of her father and grandfather until a deadly shoot out along the Mexican border causes her to question her calling. Five years later, Caitlin is still trying to purge herself of guilt from the day that ended her Ranger career. But a shattering discovery will reopen old wounds, and Caitlin’s renewed investigation into the truth behind the bloody desert firefight uncovers a terrifying plot that reaches into every home and threatens the very core of the country. Her only hope for success and survival is to team up with Cort Wesley Masters, a deadly outlaw who has every reason to want her dead. But he also holds the key to the truth she desperately seeks in the anguished brain of an amnesiac torture victim. Caitlin s tormented quest for redemption takes her to a dark world, ranging from Washington to Bahrain to the wastelands of Mexico, as she finds that the strength to live comes from learning how to die.

Strong Justice

Fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong is back, pursuing justice the Ranger way. She takes on the case of a Mexican girl on the run from white slavers. For Caitlin, the case evokes memories of her legendary grandfather’s run with the Rangers, even as it brings her face to face with a serial killer who s left a trail of bodies along the Mexico border. Pursuing the killer brings Caitlin to a sleepy Texas town suddenly riddled by violence and to the site of a major water find. The connection between these two disparate places lies buried beneath the plains of West Texas: a deadly weapon with the potential to give a new enemy the means to terrorize the United States. Her grandfather s past collides violently with Caitlin s present as she fights to save her world in the same border town where he fought to save his. Caitlin will learn, just as he did, that only Strong Justice can save the day. But this time, outmanned and outgunned, even that may not be enough to keep Caitlin Strong and the country itself alive.

Strong at the Break

Fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong returns in an adventure with roots in a gunfight where her father shot down the cult like leader of a separatist church. Two decades later, that man’s son, Malcolm Arno, has become head of a militia movement bent on unleashing chaos and anarchy across the country. With all the guns and money he needs to wage a second Civil War, nothing seems to be standing in Arno s way. Until he runs afoul of Caitlin Strong. Already mired in one investigation of drug smuggling over the U.S. Canadian border and another involving an Iraqi war veteran who claims the army is trying to kill him, Caitlin finds herself embroiled in the search for the kidnapped son of former outlaw Cort Wesley Masters. When the missing boy s trail leads to Malcolm Arno s Texas compound, the three cases converge in an explosion of violence that will put Caitlin to the ultimate test. From the frozen rivers of Canada to the desert wastelands of Mexico, the stage has been set for a battle like none Caitlin has ever faced before, where the stakes are nothing less than the survival of America as we know it.

The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending

To Dream…
To Dare.. To Win…
The ancient motto, inscribed in Latin on a mysterious golden medallion, recovered from the ruins of the Roman Empire, has guided Michael Tiranno to heights few men have achieved. Once an orphaned farm boy in his native Sicily, Michael made millions by mastering the intricate world of high finance, and is now the fabulously wealthy owner of Las Vegas’ The Seven Sins, the grandest and most extravagant casino in the world. The lavish resort embodies the personal philosophy fueled by his lust for power: the greater the risk, the greater the reward. But he also has secrets, secrets that he and Naomi Burns, his driven corporate attorney and confidante, have gone to great lengths to bury. When an enemy from the past threatens to undermine everything he has built, his dark history must now be uncovered. Together, they must tear open painful scars in Michael’s heart and soul to discover the true identity of their unknown foe before all of Las Vegas pays the price for Michael Tiranno s realized dreams. The Seven Sins is a globe spanning saga of one man’s spectacular rise from rags to riches, the sins that brought him there, and the insidious vendetta that may cost him everything.

Gin & Daggers (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Jessica Fletcher is off to London to deliver the keynote address at a mystery writers convention. She’s also looking forward to seeing her mentor, Marjorie Ainsworth, who’s hosting a party on her estate to celebrate her latest book. But a routine business trip becomes murderous business when Jessica discovers Marjorie stabbed to death in her own bedroom…
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Manhattans & Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Promoting her latest book in New York, Jessica Fletcher encounters a former drug smuggler dressed up in a Santa suit and sets up an interview with him, only to discover the unlikely St. Nick dead the next day. TV tie in.

Rum & Razors (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Learning about the financial troubles of inn owners Laurie and Walter Marschalk, Jessica tries to enjoy her lagoon vacation anyway, until Walter’s untimely death causes the sleuthing author to investigate a rival hotelier. TV tie in.

Brandy and Bullets (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Overseeing the renovation of the local Worrell mansion into an art colony, Jessica Fletcher finds her suspicions roused when two struggling artists mysteriously die and must stop the killer before she becomes the next target. TV tie in.

Martinis & Mayhem (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Promoting her newest book in glamorous San Francisco, Jessica Fletcher visits a women’s prison and afterwards finds a mysterious diary in her bag that makes her suspect that an inmate has been falsely accused of murder.

A Deadly Judgment (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Mystery writer Jessica Fletcher travels from Cabot Cove to Boston to help an eccentric lawyer friend defend a tycoon accused of fratricide. When the defendant’s girlfriend and only alibi shows up dead, Jessica must outwit the determined prosecutor and find the real culprit before the killer finds her.

A Palette for Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

The sixth mystery in the series based on the popular TV program finds Jessica Fletcher vacationing in the Hamptons, where she enrolls in an art class in which a lovely young model suddenly turns up dead.

The Highland Fling Murders (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

The seventh novel based on the television program finds Jessica Fletcher on a visit to a reputedly haunted castle in Scotland, where a local lass is found murdered in same way as a legendary witch.

Murder on the QE2 (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Bestselling mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher is invited to travel to London on the grand dame of ocean liners, the Queen Elizabeth II, as one of seven guest lecturers. The night they set sail, a fellow speaker is found brutally murdered. Now Jessica has just four days at sea to find the killer before she finds more of her colleagues, or even herself, dead in the water! .

Murder in Moscow (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher visits Moscow as part of a United States publishing group to help Russia succeed as a democracy. But the poisoning of a Russian publisher, who possessed information which could topple the government in power, places her in a dangerous situation. Jess turns to the American Embassy for help, only to discover that the United States government is involved.

A Little Yuletide Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

It’s beginning to look a lot like murder…
Jessica Fletcher is planning to spend a cozy Christmas in Cabot Cove. But when Rory Brent is found shot to death on his farm, there will be no peace on earth until his killer is found. Snooping into the small town s past for a motive, Jessica is determined to deliver the killer before Christmas. The trouble is, the next sound she hears this silent night may be a scream her own

Murder at the Powderhorn Ranch (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

While visiting an old friend’s ranch in Colorado, bestselling mystery author Jessica Fletcher is caught in a fiendish plot of revenge when one of the guests is found stabbed to death. Soon after, the victim’s wife is also discovered murdered in a gruesome fashion. With the police at a loss, and the rest of the ranch guests on edge, Jessica decides to do some research into the past of some of the less than cordial guests. What she discovers may help her crack the case…
if it doesn’t get her killed first!.

Knock ’em Dead (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

When one of her mystery books is turned into a Broadway play, Jessica hits the Big Apple to help out the production. But when dead bodies offstage start upstaging the performers onstage, it’s up to Jess to drop the curtain on a killer!Sales PointsMurder, She Wrote is one of the most popular mystery series of all time! Also available: Murder at Powderhorn Ranch, A Little Yuletide Murder, Murder in Moscow, Murder on the QE2, Highland Fling Murders, A Palette for Murder, A Deadly Judgement, Martinis and Mayhem, Brandy and Bullets, Rum and Razors, Manhattans and Murder

Trick or Treachery (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

With the arrival of a spiritual medium in town, the annual Halloween party in Cabot Cave takes on a real scary tone. When a self proclaimed witch ends up dead in the graveyard, Jessica stirs through a witches’ brew of motives and concocts a scary scheme of her own to make sure the guilty ghoul doesn’t get away with murder.

Blood on the Vine (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Bestselling author Jessica Fletcher travels to California’s wine country for rest and relaxation. What she finds is an old Hollywood friend, dead from an apparent suicide and a vintage crop of enemies who suggest to Jessica that something’s rotten in Napa Valley.

Murder in a Minor Key (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

After attending a writers’ conference in New Orleans, Jessica Fletcher can’t resist staying an extra week for the annual jazz festival. In her short time there, she gets a chance to sample everything the city has to offer its delectable food, its wonderful music, and of course, its unique blend of murder and corruption.

Provence to Die for (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

In her seventeenth book adventure, bestselling author Jessica Fletcher travels to Provence for some haute cuisine, and becomes embroiled in a culinary murder mystery.

You Bet Your Life (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

When her old friend Martha decides to get married in Las Vegas, Jessica Fletcher makes the trip to watch her walk down the aisle. But what are the odds that she’ll be back two years later to watch Martha stand accused of her husband’s murder? Jessica’s never been one to gamble, but she’s willing to bet that Martha isn’t guilty. Her husband was a high rolling Las Vegas local with three ex wives and plenty of jealous acquaintances. Joining Martha’s defense team, Jessica combs through the man’s past to find the real killer. But as the media attention grows and Jessica is interviewed by the news anchors of ‘Court TV’ the stakes are raised, and Jessica learns how to play for keeps.

Majoring In Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Celebrity mystery writer Jessica Fletcher is riding out Schoolman College’s first tornado in over sixty years. As a visiting professor, she is there to teach a creative writing class. But after two men choose to brave the tornado rather than take shelter and one of them is found dead Jessica wonders if her darkest suspicions are strictly academic.

Destination Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

All aboard! America’s star sleuth takes to the rails in this special 20th novel in the USA Today bestselling series Over 3 million copies of the series in print! Mystery writer Jessica Fletcher takes a three night train trip with her friend and his railroad association through scenic British Columbia. But when a member of the entourage takes a sip of a Bloody Mary and dies, police begin investigating. The suspects gather in the Starlight Express dinner car, and it’s up to Jessica to do some unplanned sleuthing before everyone’s plans are derailed by death.

Dying to Retire (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

America’s favorite sleuth is back in a brand new mystery

Over 3 million copies of the series in print!

Jessica Fletcher is in a Florida retirement community for the funeral of a dear old friend whose heart gave out only to discover that the woman’s death from natural causes may have been artificially induced.

With the help of a feisty group of young in spirit retirees, Jessica must track down the clues and find out who prescribed the fatal treatment…

A Vote for Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Jessica’s in Washington, D.C., to support a senator’s new literacy initiative. The weeklong literacy event includes a visit to the White House to meet the president and a lavish party or two. But during one affair at the senator’s home in Virginia, Jessica discovers the dark side of politics…
At the foot of a rickety staircase, she finds the body of the senator’s chief of staff. Her search for culprits leads her from the shady halls of the Library of Congress to the D.C. social scene and even the FBI. AUTHORBIO: Jessica Fletcher is a bestselling mystery writer who has a knack for stumbling upon real life mysteries in her various travels. Donald Bain, her longtime collaborator, is also the writer of more than 80 other books, many of them bestsellers.

The Maine Mutiny (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Jessica Fletcher is pitching in to help Cabot Cove’s first Lobster Festival by writing an article about the lifestyle of the local lobstermen. But instead of getting the story, she becomes tangled in a net of intrigue and murder. And she better sink her claws into this puzzling case or she may find herself becoming the next catch of the day.

Margaritas and Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

San Miguel de Allende is a picturesque town in central Mexico’s highlands that attracts artists, retirees, and those in need of some rest and relaxation. So when publisher Vaughan Buckley and his wife, Olga, invite Jessica to join them for a little R & R, she jumps at the opportunity to spend time basking in the sun and enjoying Mexican culture with her friends. But there are those who don t share Jessica s appreciation for the arts. Ruthless kidnappers abduct Vaughan and demand a considerable ransom for his safe return or else Olga will be made a widow. Jessica can t imagine why local criminals would be interested in Vaughan. To solve the mystery, she turns her attention to his friends in San Miguel friends who don t appreciate Jessica poking her nose into their business…
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A Question of Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Everyone’s favorite crime writer stars in a brand new adventure Over Three million copies of the USA Today bestselling series in print! Jessica Fletcher is attending a writer’s conference at a historic mansion in the Berkshires, where her friends are hosting a murder mystery party. As both crime solver and mystery author, Jessica is an old hand at this kind of thing. So she swears to the Savoys that she won’t reveal the secrets of their play and goes about enjoying the weekend with her colleagues. But when a young actor’s murder scene appears all too real, no one can tell what’s scripted and what isn’t. They say the show must go on, but now everyone is wondering: Who really dunit?

Three Strikes and You’re Dead (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Jessica goes out to the ballgame-and comes through in the bottom of the ninth-in a brand-new mystery in the USA Today bestselling series.

Visiting her old friends Judge Jack and Meg Duffy in Arizona, Jessica watches their foster son hit the winning run for the Mesa Rattlers in a AA league playoff game. She and the Duffys are thrilled at Ty Ramos’s success, but team owner Harrison Bennett is not. His son Junior and Ty are bitter rivals, and the tension at the team dinner later that evening threatens to empty the dugouts.

By the next morning, Junior Bennett is dead, and Ty is the prime suspect. Jessica finds it hard to believe that such a fine young man would wreck his life in a moment of anger-and when she starts looking into the Rattlers’ recent season, she finds out that for some people, baseball is more than just a game.

Coffee, Tea, or Murder? (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

A brand new mystery in the USA Today bestselling series from America’s favorite sleuth. Ms. Fletcher learns that the friendly skies aren’t so friendly after all. When Cabot Cove’s own Wayne Silverton debuts his new airline, he invites Jessica Fletcher and other locals on the inaugural flight from Boston to London. Jessica is thrilled for the opportunity to visit her dear friend, Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland. But the reunion hits turbulence when George is called to the airport to investigate the apparent murder of Wayne Silverton. Jessica and George decide to put their sleuthing skills together. But there’s a full passenger list of suspects and Jessica’s going to have to catch a killer before she can catch a flight home.

Panning for Murder (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Jessica’s plans to enjoy a relaxing cruise to Alaska are dashed when her friend Kathy Copeland joins her. Kathy s sister vanished from the very same vessel on a prior voyage, and though Wilimena often disappeared on flights of fancy, this time Kathy is convinced of foul play. The Copeland sisters had a notorious aunt the most famous madam in Alaskan history who, rumor has it, struck it rich during the Gold Rush. It seems the daring Wilimena has gone in search of the treasure, and may have attracted the wrong kind of attention. Suddenly, Jessica s vacation becomes a challenging investigation. And before she and Kathy are even halfway to their destination, Jessica senses that someone is watching every move they make.

Murder on Parade (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Get ready for some serious fireworks with the newest installment in the USA Today Bestselling series MORE THAN 4.5 million copies in print!

Every Fourth of July, the town of Cabot Cove hosts an elaborate celebration and no one is more enthusiastic than the town’s newest resident, corporate mogul Joseph Lennon. He s desperate to give the town an unwanted 21st century makeover, including financing a fireworks extravaganza to rival New York City s. But when Lennon s lifeless body is found floating in the water outside his office, Jessica Fletcher has no choice but to investigate her fellow Cabot Cove citizens to find out if one of them is capable of murder…

A Slaying in Savannah (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

Jessica Fletcher digs up a home grown murder mystery down South in this brand new installment in the USA Today bestselling series.

Jessica is saddened when her eccentric old friend Tillie Mortelaine pas*ses away and surprised to learn that Tillie has left her a million dollars. But there are strings attached. Jessica must use the money to help the literacy fund she and Tillie established years ago in Savannah, Georgia. And she will receive the money only if she can solve a mystery within the month: the murder of Tillie’s fianc , Wanamaker Jones.

As Jessica settles into Tillie s Savannah mansion and meets Tillie s boarders, she also discovers that the spirit of Wanamaker Jones haunts the grounds. And that there are those in Savannah who are looking to cash in on Tillie s demise and Jessica s failure…

Madison Avenue Shoot (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

When Jessica’s favorite nephew, Grady, asks her tovisit him in New York City, she’s happy to reunitewith him. But there’s more to Grady’s invitationthan family ties. It turns out that Grady is working as an accountantfor a big time production company that is creatinga series of commercials featuring famous faces. AndGrady has proposed that Jessica star in one of thefirst ads. While she loves her nephew, Jessica doesn’treally want her face on camera. But with Grady’sassurances and her agent’s nudging she finallyagrees to do it. So it’s lights, camera, action but the action doesn’tstop for Jessica when the camera cuts. One of themost creative, ambitious and despised bigwigs isfound murdered on the set, and there’s a long list ofsuspects with a motive. And Jessica soon finds herselfnot just a witness in a murder case but the onlyone who can uncover the killer.

A Fatal Feast (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

The newest novel in the USA Today bestselling series finds Jessica Fletcher cooking up a heartwarming holiday dinner and a fresh serving of trouble…


Jessica Fletcher would like nothing more than to sit back and relax as Thanksgiving comes to Cabot Cove. But this year, she’s already got more on her plate than she can handle.

Jessica is suffering from a rare case of writer’s block, and the deadline for her new novel is fast approaching. Also, her friend, Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland, is coming from London to experience the American holiday. But most distressing of all, Jessica is hosting a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner for a guest list that is growing by the day.

Jessica carries on toward her culinary conquest, and she couldn’t be more thankful about the results. Until she and George take a post turkey stroll and stumble upon the body of a man with a carving knife stuck in his chest…

Nashville Noir (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

In the brand new novel in the USA Today bestselling series, Jessica Fletcher learns that some songs end on a fatal note. Jessica Fletcher knows that creativity must be nurtured. So when a young lady from Cabot Cove shows promise as a singer and songwriter, Jessica and a local citizens committee send Cyndi on a scholarship trip to Nashville, Tennessee, where she can benefit from professional instruction. Only weeks later, Cabot Cove is shocked to hear of the cold blooded murder of a brash country music publisher by the young talent Cyndi! And as Cyndi’s mother begs Jessica to help her daughter, Jess heads to the country music capital of the world to help the wayward starlet. Jessica finds that the murdered man was no country gentleman, with a list of ex wives, cheated partners, swindled singers, and stolen songs that has Jessica swinging to and fro in the search for a killer. And if she can’t uncover the culprit soon, Jessica knows that poor Cyndi will never get the chance for an encore…

The Queen’s Jewels (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

In the brand new novel in the USA Today bestselling series, Jessica Fletcher takes a cruise through some rough and deadly seas. Jessica Fletcher has always wanted to take a transatlantic voyage on the legendary Queen Mary II. Now, she’s finally getting her chance. She’s hoping to fly to London, spend a few quiet days visiting, and then depart on the high seas. When she calls her old friend, Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland, to let him know she’s on her way, he mentions the case of an enormously valuable diamond that was stolen from its wealthy owner, who was murdered during the heist. Jessica is well aware of the story. But when she finally boards her dream ship, the deadly mystery appears to have followed her up the gangplank. Now, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, she must try to enjoy the sumptuous seaborne surroundings while she tries to find a priceless diamond and the killer desperate enough to take a life for it.

Skating on Thin Ice (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

The brand new mystery in the USA Today bestselling series finda Jessica Fletcher on the trail of a cold killer…
Christine Allen’s dream of competing in pairs figure skating competitions becomes a nightmare when a series of ‘accidents’ ruins her practice sessions with her partner and coach. And when the body of one of the trio is found dead at the arena, Jessica is determined to uncover the chilling motives behind the murder…

Trouble at High Tide (By:Jessica Fletcher,Donald Bain)

While on vacation in Bermuda, Jessica Fletcher is surprised to hear the local population is abuzz over a trio of murders, each bearing an eerie resemblance to the 1888 Jack the Ripper killings. Jessica dismisses the panicked chatter as just that until her friend Thomas Betterton’s niece is found dead on the beach after a party. And when Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland arrives to investigate, Jessica can’t help but get involved an act that brings her dangerously close to a killer…

Labyrinth

‘The Committee’ has masterminded a fiendish, far reaching plot rooted in the highest corridors of power. Code name: Tantalus. Tantalus all the more daring because it is so obvious strikes at the very lifeline of humanity. Its aim is enormous, horrible, and unknown even to the superpowers. Only one man, Christopher Locke, an unsuccessful college professor, can expose the trail that begins with the brutal execution of every person in an obscure South American town. But even as Locke navigates the Labyrinth leading to The Committee and Tantalus, The Committee is hunting him down, using even his most trusted friends against him.

Hope Mountain

It’s the end of the line for Jamie Brooks. After losing his house and his girlfriend, Jamie opts for a prescription bottle and the easy way out. But when even that fails, he heads north on a snowy road straight into his past. Retracing a route from his days as a champion skier, before an ugly accident cost him his skiing career, he finds himself back at a ski school that specializes in second chances, hoping there’s one waiting for him. It’s going to take a miracle. But Jamie has come to a place where miracles still happen.A place called Hope Mountain. The ski school in Hope Mountain is based on the two dozen or so actual ski schools around the United States that devote themselves to helping people with disabilities learn to ski. The schools are funded by donations and staffed by volunteers who fit custom made skis to each skier, then spend as much time as they need in order to teach their students the joy of skiing. The skiers include blind people, young children with spina bifida, and adults who’ve been paralyzed in accidents and they can all learn to ski. In fact, there are now over 10,000 students at adaptive ski schools around the country. The motto of Disabled Sports USA is ‘If I Can Do This, I Can Do Anything’. It’s in this setting of courage and determination that Jamie Brooks searches for the strength to cope with his losses.

Betrayal

The Jack Nicholson film The Departed didn t tell half of their story. A poor kid from the slums, Robert Fitzpatrick grew up to become a stellar FBI agent and challenge the country’s deadliest gangsters. Relentless in his desire to catch, prosecute, and convict Whitey Bulger, Fitzpatrick fought the nation s most determined cop gangster battle since Melvin Purvis hunted, confronted, and killed John Dillinger. In his crusade to bring Bulger to justice, Fitzpatrick faced not only Whitey but also corrupt FBI agents, along with political cronies and enablers from Boston to Washington who, in one way or another, blocked his efforts at every step. Even when Fitzpatrick discovered the very organization to which he had sworn allegiance was his biggest obstacle, the agent continued to pursue Whitey and his gang…
knowing that they were prepared to murder anyone who got in their way.

The Chopin Manuscript

2008 Audie Award Winner of Audiobook of the Year. Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frederic Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans. As he races from Poland to America to uncover the mystery of the manuscript, Middleton will be accused of murder, pursued by federal agents, and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat will come from a shadowy figure out of his past: the man known only as Faust. The Chopin Manuscript is a unique collaboration by 15 of the world’s greatest thriller writers. Jeffery Deaver conceived the characters and set the plot in motion; the other authors each wrote a chapter in turn. Deaver then completed what he started, bringing The Chopin Manuscript to its explosive conclusion. ‘Innovative and unique, The Chopin Manuscript, written by masters in the field of thrillers, is far more than the sum of its parts. Here each author shines, blending individual skill and energy, into a riveting, crackling-paced tapestry of murder, mystery, and mayhem. Not to be missed!’ — James Rollins, author of The Judas Strain ‘A GREAT story, written by one GREAT author after another, in one GREAT chapter after another. A stellar achievement of collectivity that blows from the starting gate at 100 mph and never slows down. A thrill-a-page from 15 GREAT thriller masters. Don’t miss this one.’ — Steve Berry, author of The Venetian Betrayal

The Copper Bracelet

Harold Middleton returns in this explosive sequel to The Chopin Manuscript as he’s drawn into an international terror plot that threatens to send India and Pakistan into full-scale nuclear war. Careening from Nice to London and Moscow to Kashmir to prevent nuclear disaster, Middleton is unaware his prey has changed and the act of terror is far more diabolical than he knows. Will he discover the identity of the Scorpion in time to halt an event that will pit the United States, China, and Russia against each other at the brink of World War III? A follow-up to the award-winning The Chopin Manuscript, The Copper Bracelet brings together 16 of the world’s most celebrated thriller writers including Lee Child, Joseph Finder, David Hewson, David Liss, and Lisa Scottoline to each write a chapter of this pulsing tale. Once again, Jeffery Deaver set the story in motion, and brings it to its shocking finale.

Murder in the White House (By:Margaret Truman)

In a town where the weapon of choice is usually a well aimed rumor, the strangling of Secretary of State Lansard Blaine in the Lincoln Bedroom is a gruesome first. White House counsel Ron Fairbanks is ordered to investigate. There are persistent rumors that the Secretary was an accomplished womanizer with ties to a glamorous call girl. There is also troubling evidence of unofficial connections with international wheeler dealers. In death as in life, Blaine is a power to be reckoned with. For Fairbanks, who loves the President’s daughter, one point is soon clear: only a few highly placed insiders had access to the Lincoln Bedroom that fateful evening. And one of them was the president…
.

Murder on Capitol Hill (By:Margaret Truman)

Between them, Senator Cale Caldwell and his blue blooded wife controlled as much power on Capitol Hill as the law would allow. Sadly, it wasn t sufficient to protect him from a killer, even surrounded by his friends at a champagne reception in his honor.

The senator’s murder wasn t the family s first brush with violence. Only two years ago, a niece had been murdered, her killer never found. But when attorney Lydia James, counsel to a senate committee investigating the tragedy, suggests there might be a connection between the two deaths, she s voted down fast. Yet strange rumors persist. The senator s death could benefit many people, among them a bitter political adversary, an ambitious talk show host, and a master of spin who makes even murder look
good…
.

Murder in the Supreme Court (By:Margaret Truman)

‘A thriller…
a novel…
a fun thing, an entertainment and good reading.’LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEWWho would want to kill Clarence Sutherland, a bright and handsome young man? The answer: practically everybody.

Murder in the Smithsonian (By:Margaret Truman)

‘Nonstop action and a brillianly evocative setting make this another winner!’BOOKLISTDr. Lewis Tunney, a brilliant historian who had stumbled onto an international art scandal, was brutally murdered in front of two hundred guests at an elegant party at the Smithsonian. When his fiancee, Heather McBea, flies in from Scotland to learn more, Mac Hanrahan, the captain in charge of the case, takes a heated interest in her. And when two more murders are committed, Hanrahan has reason to worry about Heather’s sleuthing. But Heather is stubborn and insists on going her own way right into the arms of a killer…
.

Murder on Embassy Row (By:Margaret Truman)

Ambassador Geoffrey James might be a British citizen, but when he dies on the night of a gala party, it’s up to Captain Sal Morizio of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department to investitgate. Despite orders to desist, Morizio and his lady love, fellow officer Connie Lake, know too much. And what they learn on an international search for missing clues tells them a lot about corruption in high places and the effects of caviar on otherwise rational people…
.

Murder at the FBI (By:Margaret Truman)

Special agent George Pritchard was nobody’s favorite at the FBI. But when his murdered body is found, agents Ross Lizenby and Christine Saksis look for answers only to find that the bureau wants questions kept to a suspicious minimum…
.

Murder in Georgetown (By:Margaret Truman)

‘The oil of inside knowledge lubricates the asembled whole into a smooth running, fast moving narrative.’
CHICAGO SUN TIMES
Beautiful twenty year old Valerie Frolich, a Senator’s daughter, is killed at a posh Georgetown party. And when Joe Potamos, of the Washington Post’s police beat, is assigned to report the murder, he finds out a number of things about Valerie which lead him to a number of startling questions about Georgetown’s most powerful men and women questions whose answers have the power of life or death…
.

Murder in the CIA (By:Margaret Truman)

Barrie Mayer, a beautiful Washington literary agent, finds her trip to Budapest cut short when her body turns up dead. But her best friend, Colette Cahill, a CIA agent, knows that Barrie was carrying something else in her briefcase, and she suspects the worst. When the Agency instructs her to investigate, Colette could lose her own life in the high stakes search…
.
‘Smooth…
seductive.’
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Murder at the Kennedy Center (By:Margaret Truman)

‘An exciting romp.’THE DALLAS MORNING NEWSDuring a gala benefit for a Democratic Party hopeful, a young woman dies, the victim of quick and brutal violence. The murder weapon belongs to the candidate, Kenneth Ewald, and his son is the chief suspect. Out of the classroom comes professor Mac Smith to tackle a case that is bad for the senator, but may prove disastrous for the nation…
. From the Paperback edition.

Murder at the National Cathedral (By:Margaret Truman)

‘One of her most enjoyable books.’ASSOCIATED PRESSThe brutal murder of a friend drags Mac Smith and Annabel Reed from their newlywed bliss into an unholy web of intrigue and danger. When a second murder is commited in England, which the honeymooners had just visited, the Smiths go back across the seas, and straight into the center of an ungodly plot of secret agents, a playboy priest, a frustrated lover, a choleric cleric…
and a murder so perfect it’s a sin. From the Paperback edition.

Murder at the Pentagon (By:Margaret Truman)

‘Margaret Truman has become a first rate mystery writer.’
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW
When a genius doctor is murdered and a desert madman gains the means to kill millions, Major Margit Falk, a helicopter pilot and Pentagon lawyer, is drawn into Project Safekeep an antimissile scheme under congressional investigation. The alleged murderer has his share of secrets, but Falk smells conspiracy in the air. And although she turns to her mentor, law professor Mackenzie Smith for help, she’s got to beat a cunning madman and a nuclear blast…
.
An Alternate Selection of the Literary Guild

Murder on the Potomac (By:Margaret Truman)

NATIONAL BESTSELLERMARGARET TRUMANBestselling author of MURDER AT THE PENTAGONMURDER ON THE POTOMAC’A first rate mystery writer.’ Los Angeles Times Book ReviewFirst time in paperback!’Harry’s daughter knows her milieu; better still, she knows how to portray it convincingly.’ The San Diego UnionLaw professor Mac has unflagging passion for two things in his life: his wife Annabel and the majestic Potomac River. When Mac discovers a weed shrouded body in the latter, the former gets edgy. Lovely Annabel, owner of a flourishing Georgetown art gallery, must not only endure her husband’s obsession with another killing, but she must believe Mac when he says that a stunning female former student is one of the only people who can help him. They discover that the corpse was once the confidante’ of a wealthy Washingtonian, which leads to the Scarlet Sin Society, a theatrical group that perilously reenacts historical murders. And soon, the only thing that matters more to Mac than solving this serpentine case is preventing Annabel’s untimely death .’Truman ‘knows the forks’ in the nation’s capital and how to pitchfork her readers into a web of murder and detection.’ The Christian Science Monitor’Margaret Truman has settled firmly into a career of writing murder mysteries, all evoking brilliantly the Washington she knows so well.’ The Houston Post

Murder at the National Gallery (By:Margaret Truman)

‘POWERFUL…
FASCINATING…
Truman absolutely amazes.’
Atlanta Journal & Constitution

When the senior curator at Washington’s famed National Gallery finds a missing painting by the Renaissance master Caravaggio, he mounts a world class exhibition and plots a brilliant forgery scheme that will stun the art world.

‘A THRILLING CHASE.’
Publishers Weekly

But an artful deception suddenly becomes a portrait of blackmail and murder as gallery owner and part time sleuth Annabel Reed Smith and her husband go searching for clues in the heady arena of international art and uncover a rare collection of unscrupulous characters that leads all the way to Italy.

‘HIGHLY RECOMMENDED…
One of Margaret Truman’s best.’
Booklist

Murder in the House (By:Margaret Truman)

Congressman Latham has maintained an impeccable record in Washington, and so he seems the logical choice when nominated by his friend, President Scott, to become the next secretary of state. His confirmation hearings appear to be a formality until rumors emerge of sexual misconduct and influence peddling. Then, early one morning, he is found shot to death, an apparent suicide. Nobody close to Paul Latham believes his demise a suicide; there are just too many questions left unanswered. Why would he kill himself, and why would he do it in a public place? Why was there no suicide note? Where did he get the gun? Where is Latham’s appointment secretary, Marge Edwards? So Latham’s close friend lawyer professor Mackensie Smith goes about uncovering the truth. In the process he unearths connections to the CIA, businessman Warren Brazier, Russian communists, and a shady private detective. Eventually Smith’s own life is threatened, leading him to a dramatic and shocking truth. Murder in the House is a story about the webs of influence people weave to protect their interests, and about those innocent people who, by accident or design, get caught in these webs. It is the story of the abuse of power for personal gain, and of the increasing influence that the global economy has on the way our nation is being run. Margaret Truman, with her intricate know ledge of the political, social, and practical workings of Washington, masterfully explores these connections in this highly suspenseful tale of intrigue, deception, and murderous intent. From the Hardcover edition.

Murder at the Watergate (By:Margaret Truman)

The Watergate in Washington, D.C., is one of the world’s most famous addresses although not everyone knows exactly what it is. This imposing, fabulous complex is made up of a hotel, residences, restaurants, offices, shops, and more. It is a haven for the famous after they break out and, on occasion, for the infamous when they break in. Its very name has become part of our history. Margaret Truman, herself the bearer of one of the world’s most famous names, knows Washington’s ins and outs, including who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’ In this absorbing, timely Capital Crimes mystery, she shows us around this fascinating city that is America’s center of power and some would say corruption. Some of those who are ‘out’ here are very dead indeed. The glittering cast of characters includes Vice President Joe Aprile, who plans to become president, if he can avoid a tempting vice; a glamorous Washington hostess and fund raiser, Elfie Dorrance, with a propensity for marrying rich and powerful men and then grieving prettily at the end their end; and Chris Hedras, a special assistant to the vice president, with some very special ambitions. And, of course, Annabel Smith, gallery owner, and Mac Smith, law school professor. The story deals in part with the influence on political campaigns of ‘soft money’ and its hard consequences, as well as this country’s tortuous and often ambiguous relationship with Mexico, in particular the glorious San Miguel de Allende, home of the well to do, and a few ill to do, a place involving drugs, politics, and police and politicians looking the other way. Once again Margaret Truman offers a delight to the reader who likes a fast turning page, the pleasure of inside information, the allure of high life crossing paths with lowlife, and the return of the attractive crime solving couple Mac and AnnabelFrom the Hardcover edition.

Murder at the Library of Congress (By:Margaret Truman)

Margaret Truman looks inside one of D.C.’s great institutions, the Library of Congress, the place where much of the wisdom of the nation is collected, and finds blood on the floor. Was there a second diary, beyond the one Columbus kept, describing his voyage to the New World? Leading scholars at the Library of Congress think so, and Annabel Smith, with her pre Columbian interests, has been commissioned by the library’s magazine, Civilization, to write about it. She is not the only person interested. Word comes through the rare books black market that a wealthy bibliophile has been offered the second diary: He’d not only pay, he’d almost kill to possess it. Starting her search in the library itself, Annabel soon finds herself competing with an ambitious TV journalist. As both women come closer to finding the hidden documents, other questions creep up. Was the murder of the library’s most prominent Hispanic scholar connected to the missing diary? Further research leads them deeper into barely explored corners of the library and closer to having to face their own mortality. Murder in familiar yet surprising surroundings a great library leads to a surprising conclusion in this latest Capital Crime novel.

Murder in Foggy Bottom (By:Margaret Truman)

In Margaret Truman’s latest mystery, the scene opens with an obscure death in Washington’s Foggy Bottom, home of the State Department, shifts to mass murder in the downing of aircraft, and then moves on to mayhem in the streets of the new Moscow. Leaving an airport near New York, a D.C. bound commuter plane falls to earth. At almost the same time, another crash occurs. And then…
Firmly ruling out coincidence, investigators seek means and motive. The means are soon apparent: small scale weaponry with large scale impact. Their country of origin? A place where nearly everything hardware, information, love can be found for a price. Max Pauling, a State Department investigator, seasoned, good looking, and hard to fool, quickly takes off on a trail still as warm as the smoking wreckage. A host of vivid characters people the narrative, including a lovely State Department analyst who finds herself attracted to undercover types; a militia leader in Idaho who leads his people into gunfire; a reporter at odds with his boss but not with a good story; and a secretary of state who loves baseball slightly more than her job. Fast paced and informative about flying, food, statecraft, and the violent ‘wetwork’ under the dryly elegant exterior of diplomacy, Margaret Truman’s Murder in Foggy Bottom is another winner in the Capital Crimes series. Praise for Margaret Truman ‘A first rate mystery writer, said Charles Champlin in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, ‘drawing on an I was there expertise that makes the Washington scene clang with credibility.’ ‘She can write suspense with the best of them,’ says Larry King. Her work is ‘the most satisfying sort of popular fiction, a thoughtful thriller,’ adds The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Murder in Havana (By:Margaret Truman)

Max Pauling, of Murder in Foggy Bottom, is coaxed out of a restless retirement by another ‘ex ‘ CIA colleague. The case that tempts him is one involving a large American pharmaceutical firm that may be using a German company as a front to get around the U.S. scientific and technical embargo of Cuba. What’s at stake? An ex senator, who heads up a drug company, is after big game: the surprising and stunning medical research being conducted by the Cubans to develop a more effective anticancer drug. Max, who is among other things a pilot, is assured that this will be a purely private assignment no assassinations, no government to subvert, no informers to turnjust a few easy flights and a little time in the sun. Once in Havana, he makes contact with a ravishing Cuban American woman who is to be his ‘translator.’ Soon, he finds himself hunted as an assassin in a place where murder is sanctioned for a greater good, or greater greed, and those caught in the crossfire are as quickly consumed as a frozen daiquiri.

Murder at Ford’s Theatre (By:Margaret Truman)

It was the site of one of the most infamous assassinations in American history. Now bestselling mystery master Margaret Truman premieres a new murder at Ford’s Theater one that s hot off today s headlines. The body of Nadia Zarinski, an attractive young woman who worked for senator Bruce Lerner and who volunteered at Ford s is discovered in the alley behind the theatre. Soon a pair of mismatched cops young, studious Rick Klieman and gregarious veteran Moses Mo Johnson start digging into the victim s life, and find themselves confronting an increasing cast of suspects. There s Virginia Senator Lerner himself, rumored to have had a sexual relationship with Nadia and half the women in D.C. under ninety…
. Clarise Emerson, producer/director of Ford s Theatre and ex wife of the Senator, whose nomination to head the National Endowment for the Arts NEA is now threatened by the scandal…
Jeremiah Lerner, her aimless, hot tempered son, said to have been sleeping with Nadia when his famous father wasn t…
Bernard Crowley, the theatre s controller, whose emotions overflow at the mention of the crime…
faded British stage star Sydney Bancroft, desperate for recognition and a comeback, and armed with damning information about Clarise Emerson…
and other complex characters from both sides of the footlights. With her unparalleled understanding of Washington and its players, and her savvy sense of how strange bedfellows cut deals even in the midst of mayhem, Margaret Truman always delivers the most sophisticated and satisfying suspense. Murder at Ford s Theatre is her most compelling, insightful novel yet, sure to earn her a standing ovation from her many fans and new followers alike. From the Hardcover edition.

Murder at Union Station (By:Margaret Truman)

When Washington’s splendid Union Station opened its doors in 1908, the glorious structure epitomized capital stylishness. Today, restored and refurbished, the station is again a hub of activity where the world s most famous and infamous people meet and often collide. Now, in Margaret Truman s new Capital Crime novel, this landmark locale becomes the scene of a sensational shooting whose consequences ricochet from seedy bars to the halls of Congress. Historic Union Station means nothing to the elderly man speeding south on the last lap of what turns out to be a one way journey from Tel Aviv to D.C. on a train that will soon land him at Gate A 8 and, moments later, at St. Peter s Gate. This weary traveler, whose terminal destination is probably hell, is Louis Russo, former mob hit man and government informer. Two men are at the station to meet him. One is Richard Marienthal, a young writer whose forthcoming book is based on Russo s life. The other is the man who kills him. Russo has returned to help promote Marienthal s book, which, although no one has been allowed to read it, already has some people shaking in their Gucci boots. The powerful fear the contents will not only expose organized crime s nefarious business, but also a top secret assignment abroad that Russo once masterminded for a very high profile Capitol Hill client. As news of Russo s murder rockets from the MPD to the FBI and the CIA, from Congress to the West Wing, the final chapter of the story begins its rapid fire unfolding. In addition to the bewildered Marienthal and his worried girlfriend, there is an array of memorable characters: rock ribbed right wing Senator Karl Widmer; ruthless New York publisher Pamela Warren; boozy MPD Detective Bret Mullin; shoe shine virtuoso Joe Jenks; dedicated presidential political adviser Chet Fletcher; and President Adam Parmele himself not to mention freelance snoops, blow dried climbers, and a killer or two. There s no place like the nation s capital, and as her myriad fans know, Margaret Truman always gets it right. Murder at Union Station is a luxury express, nonstop delight. From the Hardcover edition.

Murder at The Washington Tribune (By:Margaret Truman)

From senators to summer interns, from all the president’s men to all powerful women, Margaret Truman captures the fascinating, high wire drama of Washington, D.C., like no other writer. Now this master of mystery fiction takes us into the capital s chaotic fourth estate. At the big, aggressive newspaper The Washington Tribune, a young woman has been murdered. And the hunt for her killer is making sensational and lethal headlines.

The victim, fresh out of journalism school, hoped to make a splash at the Trib and then a maintenance man found her in a supply closet, brutally strangled to death. The Trib s journalists are at once horrified and anxious to solve the crime before the cops do, and put this scandal to rest. But the Metropolitan Police Department isn t going to let byline hungry reporters get in the way of its investigation, and soon enough the journalists ad the cops have established warring task forces. Then a second woman is killed, in Franklin Square. Like the first, she was young, attractive, and worked in the media.

For veteran Trib reporter Joe Wilcox, whose career is mired in frustration and disappointment, the case strikes close to home. His daughter is a beautiful rising TV news star. As his relationship with a female MPD detective grows more intimate, Joe sees a chance to renew himself as a reporter and as a man. Spearheading the Trib s investigation, he baits a trap with a secret from his own past.

Suddenly Joe is risking his career, his marriage, and even his daughter s life by playing a dangerous game with a possible serial killer, while a police detective is bending rules for the reporter she likes and trusts but may not know as well as she thinks she does. As Joe s daughter finds herself trapped at the heart of a frantic manhunt, the walls come down between family, friendship, ethics, and ambition and a killer hides in plain sight.

Chilling, riveting, and richly rewarding, Murder at The Washington Tribune is a brilliant tale of real people in a world where law, power, and honesty collide and where the punishment only sometimes fits the crime.

Murder at the Opera (By:Margaret Truman)

Margaret Truman, who knows where all the bodies are buried inside the Beltway, has written her most thrilling novel of suspense yet. Murder at the Opera features the popular crime fighting couple Mac Smith and his wife, Annabel Reed Smith, as they navigate the glitz, glamour, and grime that is Washington, D.C.

It ain t over till the fat lady sings…
but the show hasn t even started yet when a diva is found dead. The soprano in question, a petite young Asian Canadian named Charise Lee, was scarcely a star at the Washington National Opera. But when the aspiring singer is stabbed in the heart backstage during rehearsals, she suddenly takes center stage.

Georgetown law professor Mac Smith thought he d just be carrying a rapier in Tosca as a favor for his beloved Annabel, but now they re both being pressured by the panicked theater board to unmask a killer. Providing accompaniment will be former homicide detective, current P.I., and eternal opera fan Raymond Pawkins.

Soon the Smiths find themselves dangerously improvising among an expanding cast of suspects with all sorts of scores to settle. What they uncover is an increasingly complex case reaching far beyond Washington to a dark world of informers and terror alerts in Iraq, and climaxing on a fateful night at the opera attended by none other than the President himself.

From the Hardcover edition.

Murder on K Street (By:Margaret Truman)

Nobody knows the crooked turns, slippery slopes, and dark, dangerous stretches of the Beltway better than Margaret Truman, dean of the Washington, D.C., mystery scene. And no one is better equipped to lead a suspenseful tour into the treacherous territory of big time political lobbying, where the right information and enough influence can buy power the kind that corrupts…
and sometimes kills.

Arriving home from a fund raising dinner, senior Illinois senator Lyle Simmons discovers his wife’s brutally bludgeoned body. And like any savvy politician with presidential aspirations, his first move is to phone his attorney. In this case, it s his old friend and college roommate, former DA Philip Rotondi, who gamely agrees to step out of quiet retirement and into the thick of a D.C. style political, criminal, and public relations maelstrom from which no one will escape unscathed.

The crime scene is barely cold when the senator s estranged daughter arrives hurling shocking allegations of murder at her father, despite a roomful of well heeled witnesses who can provide Simmons with an alibi. Meanwhile, D.C. s rumor mills and spin machines shift into high gear as speculation swirls around a tabloid and TV ready prime suspect: Jonell Marbury, a dashing lawyer turned lobbyist at a powerful K Street firm and the last person to see the victim alive. But Rotondi harbors his own unsettling suspicions.

And after a second woman is killed, he discovers that a long buried secret from his past may hold the key to cracking the case.

Aided by sleuthing ex attorneys Mac and Annabel Smith, Rotondi reawakens the prosecutorial skills that served him so well in his gang busting days, following the stench of dirty money and dirtier tricks across the country and across the thresholds of back rooms and front offices alike where doing the right thing is for fools and taking on the system is a dead man s gambit.

Murder Inside the Beltway (By:Margaret Truman)

In an esteemed writing career spanning nearly three decades, Margaret Truman penned twenty four thrilling Capital Crimes novels, which The Atlanta Journal Constitution called a dazzling series. Now, in her crowning achievement, Murder Inside the Beltway, Truman brilliantly shows that politics can be not only dirty but downright deadly. Rosalie Curzon, a Washington, D.C., call girl, is found bludgeoned to death in her Adams Morgan apartment. Investigating the grisly homicide are Walt Hatcher, a tough, sour, intolerant twenty three year veteran of the D.C. police department; Detective Mary Hall, who, unhappy with the way women are treated on the force, is conflicted about her career; and rookie cop Matthew Jackson, an introspective young man and the product of a mixed race marriage, whom Hatcher looks down on. The murder scene is in a disturbing state of disarray, suggesting that Rosalie had fought to the bitter end. Then Hall discovers a video camera nestled high on a bookshelf. Had the victim taped some of her clients during their sexual liaisons?As the investigation proceeds, so does business inside the Beltway. President Burton Pyle is running for reelection. His opponent, consummate politician Robert Colgate, is expected to easily defeat Pyle, whose administration has been rife with corruption and scandal. Colgate, though, is not without cracks in his slick exterior. Rumors swirl about his failing marriage and various dalliances. Moreover, there’s no love lost between the two candidates: The campaign has morphed into one of the most distasteful and nasty in memory. Then, on a bright Saturday afternoon on the Washington Mall, the daughter of Colgate s closest friend is kidnapped. The abduction rocks the nation s capital, but no one is prepared for the bombshell about to hit the city, an explosive development that erupts when Detectives Hall and Jackson uncover a shocking connection between the kidnapping and the Curzon case and a killer whom no one will see coming.

Monument to Murder (By:Margaret Truman)

Times are tough in Savannah for former cop and current PI Robert Brixton, so when he agrees to take on a 20 year old murder case, he figures he’s got nothing to lose. It s not long before the trail leads him deep into the corrupt underbelly of Savannah s power elite, and right into the lap of a secret government organization that s been offing troublesome politicians for decades. The cold case heats up when he joins forces with former attorneys Mackensie and Annabel Lee Smith to investigate the organization and the murders they committed in the name of patriotism. With what he knows, Brixton can bring down Washington D.C. s leading social hostess, if not the administration itself. But can he outwit an organization that is hell bent on keeping its secrets secrets that go all the way back to the assassinations of Jack and Bobby Kennedy?Margaret Truman brings us into the corridors of Washington power as only she can, where the end too often justifies the means, where good people are destroyed by those for whom the only goal is survival whatever the cost.

The Best American Mystery Stories 2010

Best selling novelist Lee Child edits this latest collection of the genre’s finest from the past year. Featuring gritty tales told with panache, this is a must read for anybody who cares about crime stories Booklist.