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| I've read all of Truman's books, at least the ones that are Large Print. |
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.
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"Murder in the House"
He died beneath the Statue of Freedom, clutching a 9-mm pistol in his hand. But as dawn rose, the politician would die again--in a hail of rumor and character assassination.
Now one man suspects the shattering truth: that the congressman's suicide was a carefully planned murder.
In the heart of the free world, a furious struggle begins: to reclaim a man's innocence, expose a woman's lie, and stop a chilling conspiracy of murder that reaches halfway around the world. . . .
"Murder at the Kennedy Center"
During 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...
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...
"Murder on Embassy Row"
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 Watergate"
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.
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| The Watergate Complex |
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 Annabel
"Murder at the Union Station"
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 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.
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.
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| Click on the photo to read about Union Station |
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.
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| The National Cathedral |
"Murder at the National Cathedral"
Murder didn't stop Mac Smith and Annabel Reed from falling in love, or from getting married at the glorious church on the hill in Washington, D.C., the National Cathedrals
But the brutal murder of a friend drags them from their newlywed bliss into an unholy web of intrigue and danger.
The body is found in the cathedral. There are scant clues and no suspects. And to further complicate matters, a parallel crime is committed at a church in England's Cotswolds, where the honeymooners have recently been visitors.
Across the sea go the Smiths again, 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.
"Murder at the Washington Tribune"
At the big, aggressive Washington Tribune, a young woman, fresh out of journalism school, has been brutally strangled to death–and the hunt for her killer is making sensational headlines.
Then a second woman is found dead. She, too, worked in the media. For veteran Trib reporter Joe Wilcox, the case strikes too close to home: His daughter is a beautiful rising TV news star.
Seeing a chance to revive his free-falling career, Joe spearheads the Trib’s investigation and baits a trap for the murderer 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 . . . one who hides in plain sight.
" Murder at the Opera"
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.
"Murder in Foggy Bottom"
Once it was a swamp. Now Foggy Bottom is swimming with real-estate sharks. When a man is found stabbed to death in this trendy D.C. neighborhood, it is major news.
But within forty-eight hours the nation is gripped by a fear that leaves this comparatively small crime in the dark.
Three passenger planes are shot out of the sky. Everywhere–in law enforcement, in the media, and in the most secret realms of government–men and women scramble to find out who shot hand-held missiles at the planes, and why.
It is a search that reaches from Moscow to the Pacific Northwest, putting some people’s lives in jeopardy and turning others lives inside out.
But no one can guess the truth: that the epicenter of the terrorist outbreak is Washington D.C. . . . and a dead man behind a park bench in a place called Foggy Bottom.
This was my first E-book, and I read it on my browser.
"Murder at the National Gallery"
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.
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.
"Murder Inside the Beltway"
Rosalie Curzon, a Washington, D.C., call girl, is found bludgeoned to death in her Adams-Morgan apartment. At the murder scene a video camera is discovered 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 heatedly running for reelection against consummate politician Robert Colgate, who is expected to win.
Colgate, though, is not without cracks in his slick exterior: Rumors swirl about his failing marriage and various dalliances.
But no one is prepared for the explosive development that erupts when the daughter of Colgate's closest friend is kidnapped and Detective Mary Hall and rookie cop Matthew Jackson uncover a shocking connection between the abduction, the Curzon case-and a killer no one will see coming.
"Monument to Murder"
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.
"Experiment in Murder"
"Experiment in Murder"
When a Washington psychiatrist is found dead in his office, Mackenzie Smith is called in to defend one of his patients who has become a suspect. Then information emerges that links the slain shrink to a highly secret CIA mind control project.
A programmed assassin strikes and kills the wildly popular frontrunner in the presidential race. As a result of the assassination, the other government agencies have become aware of the rogue CIA program. They want to infiltrate it, and Mac Smith's client, the accused killer, seems to be their perfect spy.
But the assassin is programmed to kill anyone who threatens him or his organization, which includes Mac and his wife, Annabel....Margaret Truman thrills again with "Experiment in Murder," the riveting next installment in her Capital Crimes series.
"Murder at Ford's Theatre"
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.
