Having been a long-time fan of this Margaret Truman series, I was saddened to learn of her death. However, after Donald Bain took up the reins and subsequently died (notice an eerie theme genre?) Jon Land took over and has done a fabulous job keeping the flow of the series, keeping the attention on Robert Brixton, Bain’s created protagonist. Brixton has been contacted by his best friend, Mackensie Smith, to help with a delicate situation. During the investigation, Brixton is distracted by a shooting spree on the steps of the Capitol. He connects with one of the logical authorities who is investigating, which opens up an intriguing and somewhat confusing connection to the CDC, an event that tangentially pulls Mackensie Smith into the mix as a well. Brixton soon learns of a mass poisoning event, with ties to the CDC. Now, he will have to help stop it before things get exponentially worse. Land does Margaret Truman (and Donald Bain) justice with yet another addition to the series. Fans should definitely take a look at this one!

Robert Brixton has forged quite the relationship with lawyer Mackensie Smith over the last number of years, so much so that investigating a delicate situation is not out of the question. When Smith asks Brixton to look into whether a young woman is actually an illegitimate child of his, things proceed with caution and ease. During their meeting, Brixton has no doubt that Smith has a daughter, but remains cautious about revealing too much.

Brixton is soon distracted when a shooting on the steps of the Capitol include his grandson’s classroom. When the teen cannot be contacted, Brixton rushes to the scene to help. He connects with Kelly Luftus of the US Capitol Police’s Protective Services, who thinks that she might have a link to the shooter. She runs some leads and Brixton adds some intriguing information his grandson has revealed as well.

A short time later, Smith calls Brixton to explain that his daughter has been rushed to Walter Reed, victim of an apparent poisoning. In a panic, Smith wants answers as his paternal side rises to the surface. Brixton and Luftus soon discover that there is more to the story than just the Capitol shooting, but rather a number of students at the school who were poisoned and died recently.

All the while, at a secret facility in Colorado, a man is harvesting what he calls the most deadly toxin ever. He’s planning to release it, which could decimate the population in one day, though no one is aware of what he has or his plan. As Brixton and Luftus hone in their investigation, it will only be a matter of time before the pieces come together, but will it be too late? Land does a marvellous job at keeping the intensity Truman made popular with this series. I can see that these books are in safe hands!

In my readings career, I have become attached to a number of series by authors who pique my interest. When I become enthralled with a series, I want to learn as much as I can, hoping the author will provide me with the needed insight. However, in the event of their death, particularly when a series is not yet tied off, there is a lingering concern about how things will progress. Some of the series are taken up by others, in hopes of breathing new life into them. Many fail to capture the same impact with their stories and narratives, but Jon Land bucks that trend, providing new life into an already long series. He’s done well to make it his own, while also keeping true to Margaret Truman’s roots. This is surely reason enough to keep reading the novels and trying to see how things will progress.

Robert Brixton remains at the centre of this piece, though he is not alone. The introduction of Kelly Loftus provides some added spin to the story and leaves the door open to see if they will collaborate more in the future. Brixton has quite the past, which Land has developed since taking over the reins, but there is still something about him at present that keeps the reader curious about where things are headed. Adding some personal impact in this piece, Land allows his protagonist to grow and show a softer side, if not one that shows what fuels him open a regular basis. Add to that, the Loftus angle keeps things from being too predictable and leaves readers wondering where future novels by the author might land, if you pardon the pun.

While many of the early Truman novels turn to Washington, DC landmarks, the story uses a less than obvious locale as its epicentre. Land pulls in some of the key characters that longtime and more recent fans have come to expect, developing a narrative that is both intense and highly descriptive. The reader can see the momentum increasing as the story comes into its own, with short chapters that push things along. A variety of locations and subplots keep the story from becoming too predictable and the spin on the delivery has the reader intrigued and informed in equal measure. Land has used his fabulous writing style to pull the reader in and leaves them wanting more, even as the series novels pile higher. I am eager to see what’s next and how Land will navigate further into the electric nature of DC life.

Kudos, Mr. Land, for another winner. I love this series and am happy you took it over. Now, I may have to explore some of your own work to see how it compares.

Be sure to check for my review, first posted on Mystery and Suspense, as well as a number of other insightful comments by other reviewers.
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MURDER AT THE CDC (A Capital Crimes Novel Book #32) by Jon Land is the latest political/crime thriller in this long running series started by Margaret Truman. This is the second book in the series that Jon Land has written, and he does a great job of giving the reader continuity with the previous books. It is an exciting crime/political thriller filled with “what-ifs” extrapolated from today’s headlines. These books can all be easily read as standalone novels.

Robert Brixton comes close once again to losing a loved one when his grandson in caught up in a mass shooting incident on the Capital’s steps. As he begins to investigate the motive for the shooting, he is also asked by his long-time friend to meet with his daughter who works for the CDC in their Washington office who he believes is in trouble. She ends up in the hospital fighting for her life from an unknown poison.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton who works for the Capital police and the two discover a scheme to change America forever with a bioweapon believed lost on a long-ago military transport.

I love these types of thrillers when they are well written as this one is. They are just plausible enough to be scarily believable and thank goodness there is always someone of principle to stand in the way of all the evil doers. Fast paced, action packed and full of twists, I could not put the book down. All the characters, good and bad, were well drawn. There are a very few times the pace slows down a bit, but the information given at these times is interesting and adds to the escalating consequences of the protagonists not saving the day.

I really enjoy reading Mr. Land’s additions to this series, and I am looking forward to reading many more in the future.
gifted-from-publisher20 s Anita2,275 178

"Murder at the CDC" has a wonderful mystery plot with shades of current events woven throughout. It also has a lot of unnecessary verbiage, so skim and skip reading are highly recommended. I loved the characters, but their inner dialogue was just plain boring. This would have been a better mystery book without a lot of it.

In 2017 a military transport tanker filled with a deadly toxin goes missing on its' route from Utah to Oregon and is never seen again. With the reopening of life after COVID, tours at the Capital are resuming and a group of boys from a private high school are there for a tour when a gunman opens fire. Robert Brixton's grandson is one of the boys on the Capital steps. Mackenzie Smith is contacted by a young woman, Alexandra, claiming to be his daughter. She has a situation where she works at the CDC. Then she is mysteriously poisoned and is near death.

Kelly Loftus left the Baltimore Police Department, not by her choice, and is now a part of the Protective Services Detail of the Capital Police. She misses her former investigative work as a homicide detective, but not the Blue Wall that led her to the Capital Police. The aftermath of the shooting has given her a reason to investigate on her own and she joins forces with Robert Braxton, an international private detective with a black ops background, to find out how all these seemingly unrelated events are indeed frightenedly related.

My thanks to Forge, Publisher, and Margaret Truman, Jon Land, author, for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.arc mystery13 s Sherry Fundin1,996 143

WOW. That Prologue sure got my heart pounding and it’s ‘funny’ I read this right now, because I was just talking about hazardous waste, how they transport it, where it goes, what happens to it over time, and how frightening the whole situation is.

It all starts for Robert, an investigator, and his soon to be ally, Kelly Lofton, who is a member of the Capitol Police, with a shooting on the capitol steps. Terrorists? If terrorists, are they foreign or domestic?

Robert prays that he won’t lose another member of his family to violence. His grandson, Max, was on those steps. Max is a chip off the old block. Because of his past ‘work’, Robert knows many people who work in the shadows and he will need all the help he can get. Robert and Kelly both play by their own rules, so it’s not surprising that the threads they are both following bring them together.

Kelly was unfairly let go from her job with Baltimore Homicide. She had been good enough to be the city’s youngest female homicide detective, and she was also African American. The Blue Wall (of evil) reared its ugly head and I am ticked off for her. She makes unilateral decisions, holding things close to the vest and opening the door for those close to her to betray her.

I love damaged characters. I find it interesting, how they struggle through their daily lives, striving to do the right thing, to have a happy home life, while situations beyond their control cause them to put their lives on the line.

Government secrets…I know we need them. How else can we fight against those who want to bring us down. But, that also leaves things open for abuse. Just anything else, those who want to do good…will. Those who want to do bad…will. I love how Jon Land incorporates bits of reality into his stories. It’s these bits of reality that make the story even more frightening. Some even sound current events you would hear on the news…or leaked from behind closed doors.

The suspense and tension are ramping up. The action is nonstop. I am beginning to be very worried for some of the characters. How much danger is coming their way? Will they all make it, or will someone pay the ultimate price. Either way, they are in it to the end.

The more I read, the more I feel a sense of urgency. Not just to stop whatever is coming, but to save the lives of the characters. And, isn’t there always some religious zealot making his grab for power, not caring how many he destroys to gain it? We get to see into the mind of evil and find his motivation.

Each chapter hops to a characters moment in time. I love/hate it because it ramps up my need to know, mauybe even stop what happens next. LOL As if I could.

Even though I always recommend starting a series with the first book, it is not necessary. Each book can stand alone. I had never read any of the series before Jon Land starting writing it and began the series with Murder on the Metro. I don’t feel it affects the book, but it does make me curious about Robert and his past.

We have seen how fragile democracy is and how easily someone can twist things to try to achieve their own agenda, whether greed, power, or just plan hate. Murder at the CDC is a story that seems all too real, but…

WHEW…Brixton and Kelly will live to fight another day. Will they do it together? I know that Robert is the main character, but I love Kelly and hope I get to see more of her.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Murder at the CDC by Jon Land.

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Talk about being a latecomer to an author and a series…MARGARET TRUMAN, the
late daughter of U.S. President Harry Truman (1945-53), started her mystery
series, Capitol Crimes, in 1980. There is some controversy about how many she
actually wrote (of the first 25 or so). DONALD BAIN took over the series before Truman’s death in 2008. His name is on five of the books from 2012 to 2018. The two most recent titles were written by JON LAND. I began the series at book 32, MARGARET TRUMAN’S MURDER AT THE CDC. There is no way that I am going to be able to catch up on the previous books in the series in my lifetime. Nevertheless, I will try.

The protagonists of book 32 are Robert Brixton, Mackensie Smith and Kelly Loftus. I assumed that Smith and Brixton had appeared in previous stories and I have confirmed that Brixton dates back to the days of author Bain. After undergoing some personal crises in his life, Brixton is now
an international private investigator working out of the law offices of his best friend Mackensie Smith a well-known and influential trial lawyer.

Kelly Loftus is a newcomer to the books, I think. She is a Capitol Police Officer assigned to the Protection Detail of the Speaker of the House after a career as a detective (the youngest, the first
female and the first African American to make the grade) with the City of Baltimore
(Maryland) police department. She had been forced out of that dream job because
of “office politics”.

The story opens shortly after “Mac” Smith meets his 25-year year old daughter that he did not know about. Alexandra Parks was the result of a brief affair twenty-five years earlier with a woman who was the owner of a magazine empire in New York City. She never told Mac about
Alexandra.

After her mother’s death, Alexandra meets Mac in Washington, D.C. Mac believes her but asks his investigator, Brixton, to double check. Robert and Alex meet for lunch and she impresses him. She is employed by the CDC’s office in the nation’s capital. She begins to tell Brixton a story
about a scary but implausible phone call from a crackpot (so she believes). She
does not give him the details at first. However, was it a crank call?

Shortly after their lunch, there is a mass shooting on the steps of the U.S. Capitol during which several high school kids are killed, a U.S. Senator is nearly wounded and Brixton’s 15-year-old nephew is a hero. Loftus is on duty but her role is the protection of the Speaker. Once the
Speaker is safe, Kelly’s police instincts kick in and she rushes out to the scene. There she finds a distraught young woman who disappears into the crowd. Kelly finds “stuff” that had fallen out of the woman’s purse as she fled from the Capitol.

The contents of the bag have clues as to who the shooter was. Alexandra and her boss end up in Walter Reed Hospital, victims of a poisoning at the CDC. The poison, with a high kill rate, had been developed at Tooele Army Depot in Utah. Supposedly, it had been destroyed before the 45th
U.S. President was sworn in so it would not fall into his hands. Eventually, Brixton and Loftus meet and team up. She withholds some information from an F.B.I. agent with whom she has a personal relationship. That gets her into trouble, again.

The villain in the story is Deacon Frank Wilhyte the very wealthy son of a deceased televangelist. Deacon is an evil man who beats his son with a belt as his father (who died under mysterious
circumstances) had done to him when he was a kid. Wilhyte has connections to hundreds of militia groups across the United States. He preaches the beliefs of a recent, disgraced, former U.S. President that liberals are ruining the country and only Deacon can fix it.

The story moves at breakneck speed. The characters, both good and evil, are terrific. There is plenty of action. If you stories set in the seat of power, this is for you. If you, me, have not dipped into this series, by all means do so. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

GO! BUY! READ!


21st-century-adventure-thriller 21st-century-mystery literary-fiction ...more4 s Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller2,055 40.3k

Jon Land has long been one of the top “high-octane” authors working today. In fact, he often leaves others with this designation in the dust in much the same way as Secretariat used to leave his opponents. MARGARET TRUMAN’S MURDER AT THE CDC is a perfect example of this. It breaks quickly out of the gate and never lets up.

What sets Land’s books apart from other thrillers in this style is that his stories never lack for substance. His latest novel seems to pick up more and more data and vital background information with each passing section, which keeps the intrigue at a nice, elevated level throughout. Structurally, it is set up the literary version of a Steven Soderbergh film with numerous characters playing their roles, some of whom never actually meet, but each remaining necessary to the story and the inevitable explosive outcome.

A brief but important scene set in the year 2017 opens the action as a tanker driven by two members of the military is battling through a winding road in the middle of a violent storm. They lose control of the huge truck, the dashboard lights flicker and die, and it drops off into oblivion. We will learn later the deadly cargo this vehicle was carrying at the time of its sudden disappearance.

In the present, word of a shooting at the Capitol spreads quickly on the news wire, and reports surface that the shooter was screaming out Biblical phrases as he fired. Once the dust settles, there are seven victims, all of whom were visitors from a local high school on a field trip. Kelly Loftus of the Capitol Police comes across a woman holding a purse chanting, “I know why he did this.”

Private investigator Robert Brixton rushes to the scene because his grandson was on that school trip. Fourteen-year-old Max is alive and swears that they were the killer’s targets. Kelly meets up later with her colleague, Xander Peel, who shares that the shooter’s name is Philip Rappaport and the woman she encountered is his wife.

A hate group led by radical separatist Deacon Frank Wilhyte may have been behind the attack, and this just may be the tip of the iceberg. We learn that his group has close ties to Senator Byron Fitch, who helped in their efforts to locate that missing tanker from 2017. It carried a substance known by many different scientific terms, as well as one really scary street name: “White Death.” Mere drops of White Death could kill a single human being, and the tanker was loaded with it.

Before teaming up with Brixton, Kelly is conducting her own investigation. She is trying to figure out why Philip Rappaport had called both the CDC and Senator Fitch’s office prior to his shooting spree. When a death occurs at the CDC, a possible murder or suicide from poisoning, things really start to get interesting. Somewhere at a lab in Colorado, Dr. Efrem Lutayne is about to meet up with a mysterious figure who is known to Brixton. They will be directly involved in the hunt for White Death and its deadly administration.

MURDER AT THE CDC, the 31st installment in the Capital Crimes series started by the late Margaret Truman, just does not let up. The last section is a literal race against time to prevent a massive and indefensible bioterrorism attack within our own borders nothing we have ever seen before. This modern tale of terror is sure to keep you up long into the night until the final page has been turned.

Reviewed by Ray Palen2 s Loraine3,115

I began reading Margaret Truman Capital Crimes books when the series first began in 1980. They were well written, clean, and gave a great insight into the events and buildings of our nation's capital. John Land has recently continued this series with 2 books.

This novel had an interesting and timely focus with a lethal gas that could kill millions of people and involvement by a sitting senator. It also focuses on armed groups focused on changing the current trends. The story begins with a mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol with 3 characters, Kelly Loftus, Robert Brixton, and Max, all connected to law enforcement and also having connections to the shooting.

Overall Land did a good job of replicating Truman's style of writing and keeping the focus on Washington DC. There were quite a few characters; and at the beginning, it was difficult to keep them straight. There were also a few obscenities. But overall an enjoyable suspense read.general-market intrigue kindle ...more2 s Julie Watson44 18

Jon Land has executed another superior addition to the Margaret Truman Murder Mystery series with his rendition of MURDER AT THE CDC. Land has skillfully crafted a political espionage thriller tied into biochemical warfare, and the launch of a US insurrection that leads directly to a massacre/ assassination attempt on the steps of Capitol Hill. Our protagonist,Robert Brixton returns as the former security operative for the US State Department/cop and now private investigator, working in the offices of one of the most prestigious law firms in Washington DC, headed by his best friend Mac Smith.

Land creates complex, intricate tales with a cast of well developed protagonist and secondary characters, whose roles within the story line are unique and integral to the execution of the story. He presents his tale a jigsaw puzzle, where participants of the given event are dropped into place and the reader gets to figure out piece by piece how the parts fit together. Be it hero or villain, Land seems to pluck his characters right from today’s headlines. MURDER AT THE CDC carries a plethora of figures who emerge on a ghastly day when a psycho appears to gun down a bus load of visiting teens on the Capitol Building steps in broad daylight in Washington DC. In reality, it is the attempted assassination of a political figure who holds the key to the killing of millions of fellow AMERICANS because he objects to their politics.

Our story opens with Brixton’s best friend, MacKensie Smith,dropping the bombshell he has a newly found 20-something illegitimate daughter and asks Braxton to check her out, see what he thinks. She is a brilliant neuroscientist working in the DC offices of the CDC, clearing reports of potential medical threats to the populace. The jigsaw pieces begin to drop. Brixton’s grandson was on the Capitol Steps standing next to his friends dropping as bullets hit them. He claims there was a second shooter. It pays to have friends with specialized jobs in DC. Brixton’s entry into the genocidal plot starts with examining videos of the shooting. While doing so, he gets a frantic call from Mac. His newly found daughter is in the hospital having been poisoned, along with a dead colleague. Miles away, a high school is reporting the mysterious death of 7 student athletes, with no suspects.

Kelly Loftus, a former Baltimore Homicide detective,now with the DC Capitol Police Dept finds herself on the Capitol Hill Grounds right after the time of the shooting. She stumbles across a mentally ill older woman who is highly distraught ,but leaves a trail of disjointed notes falling out of her purse as she walks away. Notes that leave clues to the shooter.

Across the country, a long retired, crippled biochemical botanist, who once worked with the deadliest plants on the planet, orchids, to create a toxin capable of killing millions with only a drop, is freaked out when learning of the 7 dead students. Has the stolen 15,000 gallons of the missing neurotoxin finally resurfaced? Where would you hide a tanker filled with the deadliest toxin on the planet?

And what role,ties,does a psychopathic evangelist along the lines of a Ernest Angeley have to do with this sinister deadly tale? One with a teen son who hates his fellow students. What links this evangelist to an equally megalomaniacal US Senator who was the intended target for assassination on the Capitol Hill steps?

As this tale unfolds, its plausibility sends an OMG shudder up your spine. Spooks who have been watching, waiting for a long while, begin the tracking, the frantic search, for this deadly missing neurotoxin. One by one, these investigators realize they are tied to the same case and match their wits and resources to resolve this deadly threat. a good old fashion thriller where bodies shot are stacking up, this novel is no different but people die in very unique ways. There is no guarantee these madmen can be stopped.

Jon Land excels at setting the exact tone of urgency, franticness of action in his novel. He leaves you pondering the age old question - will they be in time. This is a once you start, you don’t put it down novel. Knowing that many of today’s newest pharmaceuticals are derived, have their origins, in the jungles of Brazil, Bolivia, Central America, from exactly the type of plants that are discussed here is not exactly reassuring. Remember Sean Connery’s MEDICINE MAN from 30 years ago? As you read the novel,look closely at the figures, personalities being described. Their counterparts are found in our every day life, in our daily news. This novel is so close to reality it takes your breath away. scary thrillers? Think about it, this one meets the criteria. Think Putin assassinating his political opponents with polonium or Novochok is an isolated incident on the other side of the world? Think again. Upon my returning to the Midwest, five miles away, authorities went after a man producing ricin in his basement. The house was sealed up for years afterwards. Don’t ever assume that something this can’t happen to you in your neighborhood. Being informed and vigilant is its own reward.

This is truly an enthralling novel involving greed, assassination,insurrection, murder, hatred of political philosophies, and of how far powerful men would go, and of the men and women determined to resolve the mystery, bring justice,and a sound night’s sleep to America. Well done, Jon Land! MURDER AT THE CDC gets a big 5* and a high recommendation to those who love political intrigue!2 s Tammy Lunsford - Escape to Books By Tammy1,128 30

Thank you to NetGalley and Forge Books for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily. Holy cow! This book will give you nightmares! The book begins with the mysterious disappearance of a military vehicle transporting dangerous bioweapons. Fast forward to the present and a lone gunman sprays bullets into a crowd of students on the Capitol steps where a Senator is also present. One of the surviving students is the grandson of Robert Brixton. Kelly Loftus is a Capitol police officer who feels there is a lot more to the story of the shooting. She decides to do a little investigating of her own after she ends up with some very juicy evidence. Brixton and Loftus end up paired up trying to fight against an invisible monster and a mighty powerful network of individuals who can cause evidence and people to disappear. This was a full, action-packed novel of corruption, conspiracy, greed and devaluation of human life. I know this is a fictional story, but it will truly make you shiver. You will find yourself cheering for some of the characters in the book, and you will find yourself wanting to throttle some others! It is fast-paced and full of mystery. As far as thrillers go, this one will top the charts. You will be fully absorbed into the story from the first page. Forget about sleep because you will not want to put this one down, and it actually may give you nightmares!2 s Thomas BrusoAuthor 24 books221

At the start of Jon Land’s second gripping Capital Crimes novel, “Murder at the CDC,” a military transport of dangerous materials turns catastrophic when the shipment goes missing while in route.

Land shifts narratives from past to present; it is a delicate balancing act executed with talented precision. The action begins when attorney Mac Smith and his friend, Robert Brixton, become embroiled in a disturbing murder plot as gunshots are fired at the Capitol building.

Land integrates an emotional story arc that includes Brixton’s grandson, who attends a school trip at the Capitol when some of his classmates are shot and injured, and tensions escalate.

Officer Kelly Loftus adds dimension and intrigue to the already colorful cast of familiar faces. Loftus’ motivation to help investigate the crimes at the Capitol lead her through complicated and dangerous trails of treachery, chaos, and murder.

Land’s deft hand at characterization gives gravity to this superb entry, and the sharp-witted dialogue between good and bad characters is solid. Not one word is out of place. He weaves timely political and environmental issues the coronavirus throughout the story, seamlessly and without being preachy. No filler—all action.2 s Ray Palen1,634 48

Jon Land has long been one of the top ‘high octane’ authors working today. In fact, he often leaves other self-proclaimed high-octane authors in the dust in much the same way as the thoroughbred racehorse Secretariat used to leave his opponents. MARGARET TRUMAN’S MURDER AT THE CDC is the perfect example of this --- a novel that breaks quickly out of the gate and never lets up. What sets Land’s novels apart from other thrillers in this style is that his stories never sacrifice on substance.

This novel seems to pick up more and more data and vital background information with each passing section and that keeps the intrigue at a nice, elevated level throughout. Structurally, the novel is set up the literary version of a Steven Soderbergh film with numerous characters playing their roles, some of whom never actually meet, but each remaining necessary to the story and the inevitable explosive outcome.

A brief but important scene set in the year 2017 opens the action as a tanker driven by two members of the military is battling through a winding road in the middle of a violent storm. They lose control of the tanker, the dashboard lights flicker and die, and the huge truck drops off into oblivion. We will learn later what deadly cargo this tanker was carrying at the time of its’ sudden disappearance.

The return to the present begins the whirlwind of action and interchanging characters and storylines that will all eventually converge in some fashion or another. Word of a shooting at the Capitol in Washington D.C. spreads quickly on the news wire and reports surface that the shooter was screaming out Biblical phrases as he fired. Once the dust settled seven victims were the final tally, all visitors from a local High School on a field trip. Kelly Loftus, of the Capitol Police, came across a woman holding a purse chanting: I know why he did this.

Private Investigator Robert Brixton rushes to the scene because his grandson was part of that school trip. He thankfully finds his grandson, Max, alive. However, Max swears that the High School students were the killers’ targets. Kelly meets up later with a colleague, Xander Peel, who shares with her that the name of the shooter was Philip Rappaport and that the name of the woman she has seen chanting to herself had been his wife.

A hate group led by a man known as Deacon Frank may have been behind this attack and it may be just the tip of the iceberg. We learn that Deacon Frank’s group has close ties to a Senator Fitch who has helped the group in their efforts to locate the whereabouts of that missing tanker from 2017. That tanker carried a substance known by many different scientific terms as well as one really scary street name --- ‘white death.’ Mere drops of white death could kill a single human being and this tanker was loaded with it.

Kelly, before she ends up teaming with Robert Brixton, is conducting her own investigation. She is trying to figure out why Philip Rappaport had called both the CDC and Senator Fitch’s office prior to his shooting spree at the Capitol? She has no idea how close she is getting to putting the facts together in this deadly case. When a death occurs at the CDC, a possible murder or suicide from poisoning, things really start to get interesting.

Somewhere at a lab in Colorado, a Dr. Lutayne is about to meet up with a mysterious figure who is known to Robert Brixton, and they will also be directly involved in the hunt for the ‘white death’ and its’ deadly administration. This novel just does not let up! The last section of the MURDER AT THE CDC is a literal race against time to prevent a massive and indefensible bio-terrorism attack within our own U.S. borders nothing we have ever seen before. A modern tale of terror that will surely keep you up long into the night until the final page has been turned.


Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter1 OpenBookSociety.com 3,912 121

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Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

Events in this volatile, totally unpredictable thriller could almost be ripped from today’s headlines. It is a fast-paced and riveting read that I enjoyed from beginning to end. Some scenes were edge-of-the seat frightening, but what truly scared me is how it could really happen. I am relatively new to this series and found sufficient background on people and events to be comfortable with Robert Brixton and Mac Smith. These and other characters are three-dimensional, and descriptions of their surroundings at any given time drew me further into the action.

Robert Brixton is an international private investigator who now works primarily for the legal firm of best friend Mac Smith, one of DC’s finest criminal attorneys. He has many years of experience in highly classified areas of government and a strong sense of justice, especially when it comes to his friends.

Mac learns he has a twenty-five-year-old daughter after her mother passed away and she found his name in her mother’s documents. His first wife and only child were killed in a car accident years earlier, so learning about and meeting Alexandra was especially amazing. Mac asked Brixton to meet Alexandra and give his honest thoughts about her. He is concerned, also, as she seemed troubled about something.

They meet for a late lunch and Brixton is convinced that Alexandra is the real thing. She resembles Mac, right down to the same unusual eye color. She works at the DC office of the CDC, mostly answering congressional requests for information. She mentioned concerns about a call she received recently that was so crazy it could be true and, if so, it terrified her. Confidentiality keeps her from giving specifics, so he suggested how she could proceed. Alexandra now calls her dad’s best friend Uncle Robert.

While they were at lunch, a shooter opened fire at the steps of the Capitol building where students on a tour from an area high school were. In less than a minute, seventeen people died, seven of them students. Another student died shortly afterwards, and many were injured. Brixton had missed calls from his daughter Margo; her son Max was with the school group at the Capitol and didn’t answer his phone. Brixton had lost one daughter to a terrorist bombing in DC. He ran to the Capitol, afraid of losing his grandson, too.

Kelly, a Capitol Police officer working a protection detail, was leaving after the all-clear was given. She sat on an outdoor bench for a few minutes. The woman on the bench was talking to herself, including “I could have stopped it and didn’t.” Kelly turned to help an officer break up a situation that was heating up; when she turned back, the woman was gone. She had dropped many papers from her purse, so Kelly collected and took them home rather than to her boss, wanting to follow up on what she finds.

The following day, Mac was contacted by Walter Reed Hospital. Alexandra was there, unconscious. She had been meeting with her supervisor when they both took ill. Her supervisor didn’t make it. They had been poisoned and doctors could not determine the toxin so they could treat her. It was eerily reminiscent of the recent deaths of seven boys at a Baltimore high school, where the cause was undetermined.

Characters are described primarily through dialog, actions, and pertinent backstory. We also get to know the bad guys, a little at a time. I appreciated how new acquaintances Robert and Kelly worked in concert to put together seemingly unrelated events with valuable help from one of Robert’s old contacts. I found the descriptions of the past secret government positions held by Brixton and others to be interesting, including how they coped with their duties.

Robert had stated: “Sometimes you don’t know how far you’ve fallen until you can’t look up and see the light anymore.” Some people in this thriller, him, could rise above how far they had fallen, others couldn’t, or wouldn’t. I was saddened by how some of those who enacted violence on others had once been victims themselves. Despite having met some of the bad guys, there is still an explosive, surprising resolution! The end is as satisfactory as the rest of the novel. I absolutely enjoyed this thriller from beginning to end and highly recommend it!jeanie1 Russell26 14

MURDER AT THE CDC: A Capital Crimes Novel

By Jon Land



Reviewed by Russell Ilg



I’ve reviewed more books by Jon Land than I can count but his latest, MURDER AT THE CDC, stands out for all the right reasons.



And all the wrong ones, too.



That’s because the book, completed prior to the January 6, 2021, eerily explores the very mindset that made that chaotic, violent day possible. Not only does the book open with, yes, a mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol Building, it centers around a crazed plot by unified militias and extremist groups to wage what is essentially a second civil war to seize power forever.



Five years ago, we learn in the prologue, a tanker carrying a deadly bio-weapon called the “White Death” seemingly vanished into thin air. Once those contents fall into the hands of an unscrupulous politician eyeing the White House and the powerful offspring of a famed televangelist, all bets are off and a fanatical plot that dwarfs January 6 is underway. We’ve seen the politician, Senator Byron Fitch, before. It’s a classic thriller trope and there’s nothing new there.



What is new, and fabulously so, is the character of Deacon Frank Wilhyte, a man forever living in his dead father’s shadow who finds himself repeating the same mistakes with his own son. Deacon Frank’s murderous tendencies, we learn, were passed on to the boy, making them probably the oddest of father and son couplings ever seen in the genre.



At the heart of MURDER AT THE CDC, though, is its protagonist Robert Brixton, whom Land inherited from previous entries in the late Margaret Truman’s penultimate mystery-thriller series, but enhances substantially here. Brixton is drawn into the action when his grandson is nearly killed in the aforementioned Capitol shooting. That comes after Brixton meets, at his best friend Mackensie Smith’s behest, Mac’s long-lost daughter who’s troubled by something she’s uncovered at the, you guessed it, CDC where she works.



Brixton, in tandem with wronged Baltimore detective turned Capitol cop Kelly Loftus, trace the terrible truths of the Capitol shooting to its roots on Deacon Frank’s doorstep. This as even more terrible truths are revealed about the White Death’s capacity to kill millions of Americans by the bio-weapon’s wheelchair-bound creator. Around for the ride, once again, is the shadowy government fixer Brixton calls Panama, as well as the eccentric, pigeon-loving scientist known only as the Professor. Good thing because Brixton is going to need all the help he can get.



All of that combines to make the 32nd book in this stellar series a can’t miss, can’t put it down,

absolute stunner of a tale guaranteed to chill you to the bone. In Land’s able hands, Capital Crimes has regained the fervent pace and keen plotting that once made these books perennial bestsellers. Jam-packed with action and intrigue, MURDER AT THE CDC is as riveting as it is relentless and relevant. An early pick for the best thriller of 2022. 1 Kathleen Kelly1,375 129

Murder at the CDC, a Capitol Crimes novel, written by Jon Land is a spectacular book. I had never read one of Margaret Truman's books. This one is the second one penned by Jon Land.

Five years previous, a tanker carrying a deadly bioweapon called the “White Death" disappears, enter Dr. Efrem Lutayne who knows what the White Death is and how it could be used to kill millions of people if it falls into the wrong hands. We have another character, Senator Byron Birch who meets with Dr. Lutayne regarding the tanker. This is a world of militants and extremists who have found out about the White Death and want to use it for their own reasons.

There was a poisoning at a Baltimore High School, no one knows why seven students were killed and who had done it. Then there is a shooting on the Capitol stairs that leaves many dead and wounded. Among those at the shooting is our protagonist's, Robert Brixton's grandson who saves a friend of his. He thinks that he saw a second shooter. Brixton ends up investigating the shooting, along with his friend Mac. Mac had asked Brixton to meet with his newfound daughter Alexandra. She works at the CDC and thinks she is in trouble; she might know too much about something; this she confides to Brixton. Before he can do an investigation into what Alexandra is worried about, she ends up in the hospital, poisoned.

There is a parallel storyline, one of Kelly Loftus, an employee of the Capital Police, who coming off her shift, was witness to the shooting on the Capital steps. She came upon a woman on a park bench who she questioned, the woman was incoherent and all she kept saying was that "I know who did it". Kelly was interrupted by a crowd, and she asked the woman to stay put she would be right back. The woman did not stay but her purse must have opened, and she left a trail, breadcrumbs, of the contents in her purse. Kelly retrieves the items, but instead of turning them into the FBI, she keeps them and wants to investigate what the clues mean.

The three of them, Brixton, Mac and Kelly work together to find out who the shooter was and why? So why were these kids shot at, why was Alexandra poisoned? Kelly is apprehended and questioned by the FBI. A good friend of hers, or so she thought, turned her into the FBI as the information she had was too important.

Enter Deacon Frank Wilhyte an extremely rich man but mean man who can't seem to get out from his dead father thumb, he seems to treat his own son he was treated by his father. Kelly and Brixton trace the poisonings and shootings right to the Deacon's doorstep.

This is a story that takes place before the January 6th, 2021, but the workings behind the shooting in the book are reminiscent of that event, scarily so. Political greed, scary individuals bent on power and not caring about anything but their own means. A novel that moves right along, a real page turner. I knew that this book would be a thriller of the best kind as I read a few of Jon Land's Caitlin Strong series and love them. You need to start this series with whatever book you want, there are so many. If you want a recap on some principal characters, you can go back in the series, otherwise Murder at the CDC can be read as a standalone.

Loved it, I give it 4 stars. I received a copy for review purposes only.1 Jay538 19

MURDER AT THE CDC, author Jon Land's 2nd entry in the Margaret Truman Capital Crimes series, opens five years in the past. A top secret military tanker truck filled with deadly contents disappears without a trace.

Fast forward five years and Robert Brixton is meeting with his lawyer friend Mackensie Smith. In a bombshell development, the man has learned that he is apparently the father of a now adult woman. This is something he never knew before but with a desire to be cautious, Mac is asking Brixton to meet with the woman to determine if she's telling the truth.

It's a different kind of bomb than the two set pieces that opened Land's previous book MURDER ON THE METRO, but the consequences could be just as devastating, if on albeit smaller scale.

Brixton agrees to Mac's request and the meeting happens. But before he can do anything else, he gets news of a mass shooting incident on the steps of the Capitol. He has a stake in this because his grandson narrowly missed being a victim.

If investigating the shooting wasn't enough to keep him occupied, Brixton soon finds himself working on two fronts. The woman claiming to be Mac's long-lost daughter is found poisoned. Her boss at the CDC was also poisoned. But who would want to poison her, she didn't really have a high profile and wasn't handling anything sensitive or top secret.

Brixton needs to find out the truth behind the poisoning now too, if for no other reason than to give Mac some sense of peace. But the shooting is taking up a lot of time as well. And without having an official way into the case, he ends up teaming with an ex-Baltimore detective named Kelly Loftus. She's got the information he needs and the two soon are working together to find the killers.

Meanwhile, a radical preacher is making moves to bring the country to its knees and bend it to his will. As Brixton and Loftus work their way towards revealing the motives behind the shooting, their paths will not only cross with the preacher but those in power who agree with his extremist viewpoints. The target is on their back and now their investigation not only has to bring killers to justice but keep them one step ahead of those who to work in the shadows of the D.C. political system.

I finished this book quite a while back but just never got around to writing my review of the book. Don't let that fool you into thinking that I somehow didn't thoroughly enjoy the book though. Land is a superior writer and not only does he set the stage with huge opening salvos, but he then follows that up with an implacable investigator (or two, really), a superb plot and plenty of action sequences that will keep reader's adrenaline levels on high.

I don't know if there's going to be a third entry in this series with Jon Land as the author but I can attest strongly at just how effectively absorbing the plot is for MURDER AT THE CDC. It's another outstanding thriller from Land who is operating at a level that a lot of others can only hope to achieve.1 Lelia Taylor872 18

Years ago, I read quite a few of the mysteries written by Margaret Truman, initially because I was curious about whether this president’s daughter could actually write. As it turned out, she was a decent writer and, more importantly, could craft a mystery and I also thought she had a leg up on other political crime fiction authors, having a very intimate knowledge of that unique environment. I eventually drifted away because the books started to feel formulaic and there were too many other authors I wanted to explore.
Today, I don’t really get why an established author wants to write in someone else’s name but so be it. Jon Land knows what he’s doing and his ability to create a very good story, ripped from the headlines, as it were, shines through.

This is a book full of the things that trigger us all today; surely there’s no one left on the planet who doesn’t know what the CDC is and have an opinion about them and many Americans have a love/hate relationship with our politicians. Mr. Land kept the tension high with plenty of surprises and lots of political intrigue, not to mention vivid characters.

I really d the interplay between Robert Brixton and Kelly Lofton , especially because they both bring a lot of expertise and drive to the table. I wonder if we’ll see this duo again and hope that we will.full-1 Debbie Rozier922 58

I’ve been reading this mystery series since Margaret Truman was alive and writing the series. Donald Bain also wrote books in this series until his passing. Jon Land took over writing the series and wrote last year’s book, MURDER ON THE METRO as well as this one.

All that being said, I’m a raving fan of this series and really enjoyed this book. Thanks to my library app and @partnersincrimevbt, I did a combination of listening and reading this one.

I do want you to know that if you’ve never read any of the series you don’t need to start 31 books back to enjoy this book. Some of the characters from previous books are in this one so if you’ve read any from the other series, you’ll appreciate their familiarity. But you won’t be hindered if this is your first read in the series. Remember this series started over 20 years ago, so I feel even though some of the characters from Margaret Truman’s original books are in this, the plot is what makes this book stand out.

The plot is definitely more political thriller than just generic mystery. It also combines lots of elements of our society today. It makes for a great and face-paced read/listen.

A lost tanker truck from years ago filled with a lethal biological substance, an extremist political leader, a shooting on the capital stairs that includes high school students as victims, and a “crack pot” call to the Washington branch of the CDC are all part of this complex plot that intertwine to make for a fantastic read. I also love the way all the characters play a part in unraveling a complex series of events.

This is a perfect read for all of you that love a behind the scenes look at life in the political inner workings in Washington , DC.1 Tom Burkholder271 3

In the book Murder at the CDC, author Jon Land has continued and updated Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes series. What does the 2017 disappearance of a military transport on a secret run, a mass shooting on the steps of the Capital and a poisoning at the CDC have in common? That is what Robert Brixton is trying to find out as he joins Capital Hill police officer Kelly Lofton on a crazy ride to find the truth.
I would highly recommend this book. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.1 Sherry1,306 49

We start with a shooting on the steps of the capital and a private investigator and officer with protective services try to work out why it happened. With a lot of moving pieces and twists along the way, this is a great political thriller. What I about this series is there are some core characters that are in danger and the state of the free world is at stake and you know the majority of the characters and world will survive, but the journey is still good.

We start off knowing there is danger and then as the plot progresses, the pace and the danger increase and the investigation turns into a cat and mouse game.

I enjoyed this installment and while I have read some but not all of the series. This can be read as a stand alone.

If you fast paced political thrillers, you should pick this one up.1 Nancy246 1 follower

You won’t want to put this book down. Tell everyone in your home that they’re on their own because you don’t have time to eat or sleep.

There’s more than one mystery in this book. There’s also more than one law enforcement officer going out on their own to catch the bad guys. They just don’t know exactly how many bad guys that are out there.

I’m not going to tell you any more because I’m afraid I might give away the plot. All I’m going to say is Robert Brixton and Kelly Lofton make a good team.

Thank you, Jon Land, for continuing the series and giving us this book. I’m hoping you’ll give us another one soon.

***A special thank you to PICT for providing this book without charge.***1 Diane Saul1,713 22

It’s been awhile since I read a book in this series. I enjoyed this one. Plenty of suspense that starts from the 1st page. It was a little too political for me at the beginning. There are plenty of twists in the story that will keep you guessing. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.1 Mary Grant6

Book was “ok” but kind of what I expected. Easy read, likable characters. 1 Karin Carlson390 11

Murder and intrigue on the steps of the United States capital building pulls Robert Brixton into his most personal case yet, in Margaret Truman's Murder at the CDC. I love the Capitol Crimes Series and I am so happy that they are being continued. This one was fast paced, full of twists and turns and kept me guessing until the end. Hoping for more! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.1 Candy739 16

I haven’t read a book in this series for years and I’m so happy to be back in the fold after reading this book.. Jon Land has done a masterful job keeping the spirit of Margaret Truman alive. This story caught me from the start and it was difficult to pull myself away. It was frightening to get into the mind of the crazies but it was satisfying to see them fall…hard. Good ending.1 Joan3,848 89

This political thriller starts with intense action and keeps moving at a steady pace. The plot is especially timely with a powerful man coordinating fringe militia groups, attempting to disrupt life in the U.S. and kill millions of people in the process. There is also a past secret government bio-warfare project with product missing. Private citizens, though with many important connections and immense power, race to prevent the coming disaster. Throw in some child abuse and bullying and you have a driving plot.

Brixton seems a bit much for me. He has almost endless quasi-government or private resources. And when his resources fail him and he gets in a bind, he is rescued by yet another quasi-government fellow with even more resources. I prefer wits and grit needed to oppose the bad guys rather than endless resources.

There is one aspect of Land's writing style that bothered me. People's names were repeated frequently in dialogue, about every other sentence. That's just not normal. Try addressing your conversation mate by name in nearly every statement you make and see how awkward it is.

This thriller is a good one for readers who to read about quasi-government people outwitting a radical group that has an inside politician on their side. I Loftus as a heroine and hope she appears in future novels. I'll be looking for them.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours. My comments are an independent and honest review.1 Beth382 1 follower

I was very happy to have another of the Margaret Truman Washington DC books. This one follows our favorite attorney Mac Smith and his friend Robert Brixton.
Mac just learns some shocking new information and he wants his friend Brixton to use his investigative skills to find out more information. While they are having lunch, there are reports of shots fired at the Capitol. Brixton's grandson is at the Capitol on a school trip. Many of his classmates have been shot. Bring in new character Kelly Loftus a Capital police officer in the protective detail. She will soon join forces with Brixton to investigate this shooting and then find so much more.
There's murder and intrigue. Poison and the CDC. And even some sharp driving skills.1 Natalie831 41

A genuine thriller that really continues the work of the late Margaret Truman. I am so glad that the new writer has followed her trajectory with this interesting story.

Mac has discovered a daughter and she is almost killed by the unleashing of a deadly chemical attack. At the same time, children visiting the capitol are randomly shot, while a group of high school students were mysteriously poisoned.

Mac and his friend, the dangerous Robert Brixton, become involved with investigator Kelly Loftus to stop an exceedingly dangerous plot. I had to smile when the progenitor of the evil Deacon Frank was named Rand. So timely, that it involves a sitting Senator in the evil mix.

Job well done! Thank you Netgalley for this fast paced read.1 Jan5,285 75

Very interesting characters on both sides of the law and in between. Main white knights are the well-seasoned veteran of several government agencies (Robert Brixton), a former marine and ex homicide cop who got a bad rap for being female and black (Kelly Loftus), a DC lawyer (Mac Smith) with some interesting connections. The dark forces are a US senator, a far wing zealot and his , and a lost shipment of toxic chemicals. Toss in a poisoning of high school students and a mass shooting on the steps of the capitol building and you have an idea about this fast-paced riveting read!
Loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Forge Books via NetGalley. Thank you!black-ops family-dynamics feds ...more1 Robert117 5

I’ve been a long time fan of Jon Land, so going back into one of his books is a fantastic ride.
Robert Brixton is back to solve a problem that hits close to home.
Jon Land brings his A game once again in a taut, edge of your seat thriller that is hard to put down.
The author tests our heroes in quite a number of ways. With personal stakes and more broad reaching ones.
This book started out strong and didn’t let up. It was a great ride from start to finish.
I eagerly look forward to the next installment.1 Paula1,137 36

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