Jon Land

Jessica Fletcher investigates a mysterious manuscript with deadly consequences in the latest mass-market reprint in this USA Today bestselling series.... Jessica Fletcher has had plenty to worry about over her storied career, both as a bestselling novelist and as an amateur sleuth. But she never had any reason to worry about her longtime publisher and trusted friend, Lane Barfield. When mounting evidence of financial malfeasance leads to an FBI investigation of Lane, Jessica can't believe what she's reading. So when Barfield turns up dead, Jessica takes on the task of proving his innocence. Sure enough, Jessica's lone-wolf investigation turns up several oddities and inconsistencies. Jessica knows something is being covered up, but what exactly? The trail she takes to answer that question reveals something far more nefarious is afoot, involving shadowy characters from the heights of power in Washington. At the heart of Jessica's investigation is a manuscript Barfield had intended to publish, after all other publishers had turned it down. The problem is the manuscript has disappeared, with all traces of its submission and very existence having been wiped off the books. With her own life now in jeopardy, Jessica refuses to back off and sets her sights on learning the contents of that manuscript and what about it might have led to several murders. Every step she takes brings her closer to the truth of what lies in the pages, as well as to the person who penned them.

Tough-as-nails Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong returns in this electrifying tenth installment of the series, by USA Today bestselling author Jon Land1994: Texas Ranger Jim Strong investigates a mass murder on a dusty freight train linked to a mysterious, missing cargo for which no record exists. The Present: His daughter, fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, finds herself on the trail of that same cargo when skeletal remains are found near an excavation site in the Texas desert. She's also dealing with the aftermath of a massacre that claimed the lives of all the workers at a private intelligence company on her watch. These two cases are connected by a long buried secret, one that men have killed and died to protect. Caitlin and her outlaw lover Cort Wesley Masters must prove themselves to be as strong as steel to overcome a bloody tide that has been rising for centuries.

A Texas Ranger takes on a gang of neo-Nazis in Strong to the Bone, an action-packed novel of the critically acclaimed Caitlin Strong series by USA Today bestselling author Jon Land.1944: Texas Ranger Jim Strong investigates a triple murder inside a Nazi POW camp in Texas. The Present: His daughter, fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, finds herself pursuing the killer her father never caught in the most personal case of her career--a conspiracy stretching from that Nazi POW camp to a modern-day neo-Nazi gang. A sinister movement has emerged from the shadows of history, determined to undermine the American way of life. Its leader, Armand Fisker, has an army at his disposal, a deadly bio-weapon, and a reputation for being unbeatable. But he's never taken on the likes of Caitlin Strong and her outlaw lover, Cort Wesley Masters. To prevent an unspeakable cataclysm, Caitlin and Cort Wesley must win a war the world thought was over.

Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong returns in Jon Land's Strong Cold Dead, a thriller with heart-stopping action and a high-stakes terrorist plot The terrorist organization ISIS is after a deadly toxin that could be the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The same toxin holds the potential to eradicate cancer. There is a frantic race to see who can get to it first, even as Caitlin Strong begins to assemble the disparate pieces of a deadly puzzle. At the center of that puzzle is an Indian reservation where a vengeful tycoon is mining the toxin, disguising his effort as an oil-drilling operation. This is the same reservation where Caitlin's great-great-grandfather, also a Texas Ranger, once waged a similar battle against the forces of John D. Rockefeller. In her highest-stakes adventure yet, Caitlin Strong faces off against a host of adversaries as the lives of those she loves most are threatened by the villains she's pursuing. The fate of both her country and her state is dangling on the precipice of a strong cold death.

Takedown is the story of heroic undercover cop Jeff Buck's battle with Hells Angels and drug-smugglers on the American border with help from Jon Land and Lindsay Preston. Twenty years working undercover in the netherworld of drugs had left Jeff Buck burned out and grateful to assume the quiet job of police chief in the small town of Reminderville, Ohio. That is, until a simple domestic assault case turns out to have links to the murder of a drug runner in upstate New York and a syndicate smuggling billions of dollars in drugs across the U. S.-Canada border. Buck uncovers a complex chain linking the Hells Angels to the Russian Mafia in a plot to use Native American tribal land to smuggle their deadly wares into the United States. From grow houses set ablaze in Quebec to the insular St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation, from board rooms and biker wars to the frozen rivers that serve as private turnpikes for the drug gangs, Buck opposes a serpentine criminal enterprise that has every reason to want to end his crusade in violence and bloodshed. Ultimately, his efforts lead to an unprecedented slew of indictments on both sides of the border and prison terms for even the kingpins, toppling an empire once deemed invincible. Takedown spans the period of December 2007 to June 2009.

Jon Land's bestselling series featuring Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong continues in Strong Rain Falling. Mexico, 1919: The birth of the Mexican drug trade begins with opium being smuggled across the U. S. border, igniting an all-out battle with American law enforcement in general and the Texas Rangers in particular. The Present: Fifth Generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong and her lover Cort Wesley Masters both survive terrifying gun battles. But this time, it turns out, the actual targets were not them, but Masters' teenage sons. That sets Caitlin and Cort Wesley off on a trail winding through the past and present with nothing less than the future of the United States hanging in the balance. Along the way they will confront terrible truths dating all the way back to the Mexican Revolution and the dogged battle Caitlin's own grandfather and great-grandfather fought against the first generation of Mexican drug dealers. At the heart of the storm soon to sweep away America as we know it, lies a mastermind whose abundant power is equaled only by her thirst for vengeance. Ana Callas Guajardo, the last surviving member of the family that founded the Mexican drug trade, has dedicated all of her vast resources to a plot aimed at the U. S.'s technological heart. This time out, sabotage proves to be as deadly a weapon as bombs in a battle Caitlin must win in cyberspace as well. Her only chance to prevail is to short-circuit a complex plan based as much on microchips as bullets. Because there's a strong rain coming and only Caitlin and Cort Wesley can stop the fall before it's too late.

Blaine McCracken races to stop terrorists from unleashing an ancient weapon of unimaginable power at the president’s State of the Union speechBlaine McCracken pulled off the impossible on a mission in Iran, but his work has just begun. Returning to the US, he faces another terrible threat in the form of Reverend Jeremiah Rule, whose hateful rhetoric has inflamed half the world, resulting in a series of devastating terrorist attacks. But Rule isn’t acting alone. A shadowy cabal is pulling his strings, unaware that they are creating a monster who will soon spin free of their control. Finding himself a wanted man, McCracken must draw on skills and allies both old and new to get to the heart of a plot aimed at unleashing no less than the tenth circle of hell. A desperate chase takes him into the past, where the answers he needs are hidden amid two of history’s greatest puzzles: the lost colony of Roanoke and the Mary Celeste. As the clock ticks down to an unthinkable maelstrom, McCracken and his trusty sidekick, Johnny Wareagle, must save the United States from a war the country didn’t know it was fighting, and that it may well lose.

Blaine McCracken races to keep dark matter out of the wrong hands in a page-turner that “should be mandatory reading for all thriller aficionados” (Steve Berry, New York Times–bestselling author). Rogue special-operations agent McCracken has never been shy about answering the call, and this time it comes in the aftermath of a deepwater oil rig disaster that claims the life of a onetime member of his commando unit. The remnants of the rig and its missing crew lead him to the inescapable conclusion that one of the most mysterious and deadly forces in the universe is to blame: dark matter, both a limitless source of potential energy and an unimaginably destructive weapon. Joining forces again with his trusty sidekick, Johnny Wareagle, McCracken races to stop two deadly enemies who want the dark matter at all costs. A powerful energy magnate and the leader of a Japanese doomsday cult both seek the ultimate prize for their own nefarious reasons, and McCracken and Wareagle’s mission to defeat them takes the duo on a nonstop journey across the world and thousands of years into the past where the truth lies in the ancient Pandora’s Temple, built to safeguard the world’s most powerful weapon. McCracken’s only hope to save the world is to find the mythical temple. Along the way, he and Wareagle find themselves up against Mexican drug gangs, killer robots, an army of professional assassins, and a legendary sea monster. The hero of nine previous bestselling thrillers, McCracken is used to the odds being stacked against him, but this time the stakes have never been higher.

Twenty years ago, fifth-generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong witnessed her father shoot down the cultlike leader of a separatist church. Now, that man's son, Malcolm Arno, has become head of a militia movement bent on unleashing chaos and anarchy across the country. Nothing seems to be standing in Arno's way--until his actions run him afoul of Caitlin Strong. Caitlin is already searching for the kidnapped son of her sometime lover, former outlaw Cort Wesley Masters. When the missing boy's trail leads straight to Malcolm Arno's fortified Texas compound, Caitlin will be put to the ultimate test. From the frozen rivers of the Canadian border to the desert wastelands of Mexico, the stage has been set for a battle like none Caitlin has ever faced before. The stakes are nothing less than the survival of America as we know it.

Caitlin Strong is a fifth-generation Texas Ranger, proud to wear the badge of her father and grandfather until a deadly shoot-out causes her to question her calling. Five years later Caitlin is still trying to purge herself of guilt born of the actions 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, an 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."

This book is part of the Archive Photographs series, which uses old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local areas in Great Britain, through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.