House Standoff


Book Description

A D.C. fixer heads to Wyoming on a personal mission in the new novel from the Edgar Award–finalist and “reliably excellent writer” (Seattle Times). When someone close to him is shot dead in a roadside motel in a small Wyoming town, Joe DeMarco shirks his responsibilities as the Speaker of the House’s fixer to make sure the authorities are doing everything they can to catch the killer. He soon realizes that the rural area is dominated by Hiram Bunt, a wealthy rancher with an obstructionist streak who’s willing to take on the federal government at gunpoint and seems to have a number of politicians under his thumb. But Bunt isn’t the only one in the way. DeMarco also learns that his friend―a woman he was once in love with―had unearthed explosive secrets during her time in the backwoods, and that the deputy in charge of the investigation may be ignoring leads to preserve a secret of his own. Surrounded by people willing to kill to maintain the status quo, DeMarco launches his own investigation into a growing list of intertwining suspects. And being DeMarco, he concludes that breaking the law to uncover the truth is the best way to ensure that justice is done . . . “[A] consistently entertaining, well-crafted series.” —Booklist “A charmingly likable character.” —Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles novels “A writer who gets everything right.” —The Plain Dealer




House Secrets


Book Description

The mysterious death of a journalist pulls Washington fixer Joe DeMarco into a conspiracy of power and politics in “one of the best thrillers of the year” (Booklist). Author of House Witness, 2019 Edgar Award Finalist for Best Novel Days after claiming he had a lead on a story that would make Watergate look like a misdemeanor, a mediocre writer from the Washington Post is found accidentally drowned. But Joe DeMarco’s boss—the Speaker of the House—thinks there’s nothing accidental about it. Mostly because the reporter was on the trail of Senator Paul Morelli. Morelli is all but a shoe-in for the Democratic presidential nomination. But his golden boy public persona hides a monstrous character. Somehow, all of his sinister scandals seem to be cleaned up by a mysterious benefactor who stays just out of sight. Setting up a sting to catch the predatory Morelli, DeMarco thinks his job is done—until those who helped him with the sting start turning up dead. And unless he can uncover the powerful people who are protecting Morelli, DeMarco knows he’s next . . . In this chilling novel of unfettered power and final justice, Mike Lawson proves once again that he “has a true insider’s insight about real-world spinelessness, venality, and corruption that have taken the place of moral courage and true leadership on Capitol Hill” (The Washington Times).




Yellowstone Standoff


Book Description

"One part mystery, one part mysticism, and one part mayhem—Scott Graham's Yellowstone Standoff is all parts thrilling." —CRAIG JOHNSON, author of the Longmire Mysteries Yellowstone Standoff takes readers deep into the backcountry of a wildly popular national park. When Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears and gray wolves suddenly and inexplicably go rogue, archaeologist Chuck Bender teams with his old friend, Yellowstone Chief Ranger Lex Hancock, to defend the suspect members of a group scientific expedition. Soon, Chuck finds himself defending the lives of his family as an unforeseen danger threatens in the storied national park's remote wilderness. SCOTT GRAHAM is the author of the acclaimed National Park Mystery series, featuring archaeologist Chuck Bender and Chuck's spouse Janelle Ortega. In addition to the National Park Mystery series, Scott is the author of five nonfiction books, including Extreme Kids, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Like most visitors to America's first national park, Graham was awestruck by Yellowstone as a child. His fascination with the park has continued in the years since, with numerous visits to Yellowstone's geyser– and wildlife–filled front country and its incomparable wilderness. Graham is an avid outdoorsman and amateur archaeologist who enjoys mountaineering, skiing, hunting, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting with his wife, who is an emergency physician, and their two sons. He lives in Durango, Colorado.




Standoff


Book Description

"A powerful, illuminating book." —LOUISE ERDRICH, author of The Night Watchman Native young people and elders pray in sweat lodges at the Océti Sakówin camp, the North Dakota landscape outside blanketed in snow. In Oregon, white men and women in army surplus and western gear, some draped in the American flag, gather in the buildings of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. The world witnessed two standoffs in 2016: the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's protest against an oil pipeline in North Dakota and the armed takeover of Oregon's Malheur Wildlife Refuge led by the Bundy family. These events unfolded in vastly different ways, from media coverage to the reactions of law enforcement. In Standoff, Jacqueline Keeler examines these episodes as two sides of the same story that created America and its deep–rooted cultural conflicts.




House Privilege


Book Description

A Washington fixer takes on a simple babysitting job for a powerful politician—that soon escalates into embezzlement and murder: “Excellent.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Fifteen-year-old Cassie Russell, the only daughter of a mega-rich Boston couple, is the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed her parents. She’s also the goddaughter of the Speaker of the House, John Mahoney, who’s now her legal guardian. Normally, Mahoney would send his kind-hearted wife to deal with his new ward, but she’s unavailable—so he dispatches his fixer, Joe DeMarco, to make sure the girl’s okay. DeMarco’s job is only to put things into a holding pattern until Mrs. Mahoney is able to step in—but DeMarco unintentionally flips over a rock and out from under it crawls a lawyer, the one managing Cassie’s vast estate. DeMarco learns the lawyer has been embezzling—and may have killed Cassie’s parents. What should have been a simple assignment soon unleashes murderous plots involving a Boston mob boss and his thugs, and DeMarco ends up chasing the scheming lawyer halfway around the world to save Cassie and ensure that justice is done—though he may ignore some of the legal niceties—in this fast-paced new mystery in the “consistently entertaining, well-crafted series” from the Edgar Award-nominated author (Booklist, starred review). “A writer who gets everything right.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer




House Reckoning


Book Description

"DeMarco always knew that his father Gino had a shady job for a local mafioso, but he didn't understand that Gino had been a hitman until he was murdered. Now, nearly twenty years later, one of Gino's former mob associates is dying of lung cancer, and he wants to get something off his chest before retiring to his grave: the truth about Gino's killer"--Amazon.com.




House Rules


Book Description

Panic grips Washington, DC, in this thriller featuring “a lightning-paced plot [and] a charmingly likeable character” (Tess Gerritsen). Author of House Witness, 2019 Edgar Award Finalist for Best Novel Two foiled terrorist attacks and a law targeting Muslim Americans are about to send Joe DeMarco on a dangerous mission among mobsters, meth dealers, and the political elite. First there was the bomb meant for the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. Then a private plane headed straight for the White House is shot down. An atmosphere of fear and panic overruns the country, and when a senator proposes to run extensive background checks on all Muslims and deport any who aren’t citizens, his bill gains surprising traction. John Mahoney, the larger-than-life Speaker of the House, is not pleased. But Mahoney has a connection to one of the attackers, one he wants kept secret. So he calls on Joe DeMarco . . . “Full of insider information, this novel reinforces Lawson’s place in the upper rank of Washington thriller specialists.” —Publishers Weekly




House Blood


Book Description

“The plot and pace are relentless” as Joe DeMarco investigates a pharmaceutical corporation that has gone beyond the bounds of science and into murder (Booklist, starred review). Author of House Witness, 2019 Edgar Award Finalist for Best Novel Things have been better for Washington, DC, insider Joe DeMarco. His boss is no longer Speaker of the House and his girlfriend has left him. So, when he’s asked to look into the murder conviction of a lobbyist, he’s less than enthusiastic. But he soon uncovers a conspiracy that ignites his sense of righteous rage. Two years ago, Orson Mulray, CEO of Mulray Pharma, discovered a miracle drug worth billions. But the drug needed to be tested on humans. And Mulray needed more than blood samples—he needed autopsy results. So he sent the drug into a devastated warzone as part of a “relief effort.” But when his twisted scheme was discovered, someone had to die—and a certain lobbyist had to take the fall for murder. To clear his name, DeMarco must go up against a remorseless corporate juggernaut with almost unlimited resources, and take on a pair of callous killers unlike anything he’s ever encountered . . . With House Blood, Mike Lawson delivers “another page-turner brimming with authentic Washington, DC, detail and distinctive, engaging characters” (Library Journal).




House Justice


Book Description

In this “engaging” thriller, Washington, DC, insider Joe DeMarco is on the hunt for a mole deep in the shadows of US intelligence operations (Publishers Weekly). Author of House Witness, 2019 Edgar Award Finalist for Best Novel When an American defense contractor goes to Iran to sell missile technology, the CIA learns about it about it from a spy in Tehran. But when the story is leaked to an ambitious journalist, the spy is caught, brutally tortured, and executed. Joe DeMarco’s boss, Speaker of the House John Mahoney, tasks him with finding the leaker. But Mahoney has his own reasons for taking action. He once had an errant fling with the journalist who broke the story—and now that she’s in jail for refusing to compromise her source, she’s threatening to tell all unless Mahoney helps her. But someone else is out to avenge the spy’s death, and hoping DeMarco will lead him straight to his prey. And if DeMarco gets in the way, he’ll have to die, too . . . In this “superb example of the post–Cold War espionage novel” Mike Lawson brings readers behind the closed doors in the halls of power—and right into the line of fire (Booklist, starred review).




Standoff


Book Description

I often feel as though I've entered a standoff between what happens around me & what's going on inside--& this life that goes on & on inside my head goes on & on & on it seems almost without me, as it has since childhood . . . --from "Standoff" For three decades, David Rivard has written from deep within the skin of our times. With Standoff, he asks an essential question: In a world of noise, of global anxiety and media distraction, how can we speak to each other with honesty? These poems scan the shifting horizons of our world, all the while swerving elastically through the multitude of selves that live inside our memories and longings--"all those me's that wish to be set free at dawn." The work of these poems is a counterweight to the work of the world. It wants to deepen the mystery we are to ourselves, stretching toward acceptance and tenderness in ways that are hard-won and true, even if fleeting.