Capitol Tales: Fiction set in Washington, D.C.



Andrews, Lori
The silent assassin / (2007)
When Dr. Alexandra Blake, a forensic specialist at the Armed Forces Institute, is assigned the task of returning several skulls brought home by American soldiers from Vietnam, she discovers that the case could be tied to another with a link to Vietnam.

Bernhardt, William
Capitol conspiracy  / (2008)
During a ten-year memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing, a terrorist attack kills the First Lady, prompting the president to call for contitutional reforms that will compromise civil liberties, and the suspicious wife of a renegade senator launches an investigation.

Buckley, Christopher
Supreme courtship / (2008)
When a television judge ends up on the Supreme Court, romance and the fate of a presidential election take center stage in this comic political satire.

Chiaverini, Jennifer.
Mrs. Lincoln's rival / (2014)
Beautiful, intelligent, regal, and entrancing, young Kate Chase stepped into the role of establishing her thrice-widowed father in Washington society and as a future presidential candidate. Her efforts were successful enough that The Washington Star declared her "the most brilliant woman of her day. None outshone her." None, that is, but Mary Todd Lincoln. Though Mrs. Lincoln and her young rival held much in common-political acumen, love of country, and a resolute determination to help the men they loved achieve greatness-they could never be friends, for the success of one could come only at the expense of the other. When Kate Chase married William Sprague, the wealthy young governor of Rhode Island, it was widely regarded as the pinnacle of Washington society weddings. President Lincoln was in attendance.  The First Lady was not. Jennifer Chiaverini excels at chronicling the lives of extraordinary yet little known women through historical fiction.

Coonts, Stephen
Liberty / (2003)
Learning that a terrorist network has obtained easily transportable nuclear weapons and is being aided by an American traitor with access to the highest levels of government, Jake Grafton is given orders by the president to stop an attack. On a quiet park bench in Manhattan--just miles from the ruins of the World Trade Center--spymaster Jake Janos Illin delivers a chilling secret message to Jake Grafton: A rogue Russian general has sold four nuclear warheads to a radical Islamic terrorist group, the Sword of Islam. The group intends to detonate them in America in the ultimate terror strike, the apocalypse that will trigger a holy war between Western civilization and the Muslim world.

Cutler, Jessica
The Washingtonienne / (2005)
A satirical novel based on the author's experiences as a Capitol Hill staffer follows the adventures, exploits, and misadventures of a young woman in Washington, including a paid lunchtime tryst with a married Bush-appointed bureaucrat.

Deutermann, P.T.
The firefly / (2003)
Retired Secret Service agent, Swamp Morgan is asked to look into a suspected arson at a Washington D.C. plastic surgery clinic as the presidential inauguration approaches, an event which is at the core of the arsonist's plot.

Fesperman, Dan
The amateur spy / (2007)
Former aid worker Freeman Lockhart is blackmailed into spying on his former Jordanian friend and co-worker Omar al-Baroody in order to prevent an act of terrorism against Washington's highest power brokers.

Flowers, Rebecca
Nice to come home to / (2007)
Panicking when her relationship with a mediocre boyfriend ends at the same time her friends are committing to marriage and parenthood, Prudence Whistler redefines her concepts of happiness when she opens her home to her dysfunctional family.

Flynn, Vince
Act of treason / (2006)

When a presidential candidate wins the election through sympathy votes two weeks after a terrorist attack kills his wife, CIA operative Mitch Rapp investigates dangerous allegations about the attack's hidden agenda, a case that threatens the government's stability.

Frey, Stephen W.
The fourth order / (2007)

The chief financial officer of a leading energy company, Michael Rose is working overtime to acquire a global information technology company, unaware that the corporation serves as a cover for intelligence agencies.

Gore, Kristin
Sammy's house / (2007)

Twenty-something Sammy Joyce--hypochondriac, klutz, jumper-to-conclusions--is in the White House as a health-care advisor to the newly elected administration. Everything seems to be falling into place for her. However, soon after taking office, the administration finds itself deep in a red-hot scandal. President Wye's old problem with the bottle re-emerges. An informant within the administration begins leaking damaging information. On top of it all, a secret deal with an Indian pharmaceutical company for an experimental drug unleashes a fury that threatens to shake the administration to its core.

Greeley, Andrew M.
The Senator and the priest / (2006)
Working hard in the U.S. Senate for the rights of the underprivileged, Tommy Moran is determined to restore compassion and civility to American politics, only to find himself the target of vicious personal attacks, false rumors, and assassination attempts.

Green, Tim
The first 48 / (2004)
When his daughter, an investigative reporter for the Washington Post, vanishes while preparing to break a story about a powerful senator, Tom Redmon heads for Washington, determined to uncover the truth and find his daughter.

Haig, Brian
The kingmaker
/ (2003)
Begged by a former lover to help her husband, General William Morrison faces the death penalty after being accused of innocent pawn in a government conspiracy.

Harrington, William
Elliott Roosevelt's murder at the president's door : an Eleanor Roosevelt mystery / (2001)
Eleanor Roosevelt embarks on her latest adventure when she delves into Washington's seedy underworld in search of the mastermind behind an assassination attempt.

Hawksley, Humphrey
The history book / (2007)
Returning from a harrowing mission only to receive a cryptic message from her sister, Kat Polinski is horrified when her sister is subsequently murdered and investigates possible clues pertaining to a controversial international security project.

Huston, James W.
Marine One / (2009)
The President rushes across the South Lawn of the White House to Marine One to fly to Camp David late at night. His advisers plead with him not to fly during the pounding thunderstorm, but he insists. The helicopter crashes into a ravine in Maryland, killing all aboard. The government blames the European manufacturer of the helicopter and accuses them of killing the president.

Jones, Edward P.
All Aunt Hagar's children / (2006)

A collection of fourteen short stories is set in Washington, D.C., and follows morally complex characters caught between the old ways of the South and the temptations of modern city life.

Klasky, Mindy
Sorcery and the single girl / (2007)

Jane tries to join the snobbish Washington Coven.

Lawson, Mike
House of reckoning / (2014)

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 hit man 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.

Leotta, Allison
Speak of the Devil / (2013)

On the very night she gets engaged to the man she loves, sex-crimes prosecutor Anna Curtis’s professional life takes a shocking turn that threatens everything she holds dear. A few miles away from where she’s enjoying her romantic dinner, two separate groups are gearing up to raid a brothel. A vicious killer known as Diablo--the Devil--leads one group. A few minutes later, Anna’s own investigative team heads in to search the brothel, as part of an ongoing fight against human trafficking in DC. Both groups are caught off guard, with deadly results.

Mallon, Thomas
Fellow travelers / (2007)

Historical novel about the competing claims of faith, love, and politics during the McCarthy era. Washington, D.C., early 1950s: a world of bare-knuckled ideology, hard drinking, and secret dossiers, dominated by such outsized characters as Richard Nixon, Drew Pearson, Perle Mesta, and Joe McCarthy. Timothy Laughlin, recent Fordham graduate and devout Catholic eager to join the crusade against Communism, meets a handsome, profligate State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leading to Tim's first job and--after Fuller's advances--his first love affair. Now, as McCarthy mounts an increasingly desperate bid for power and internal investigations focus on "sexual subversives" in the government, Tim and Fuller find it ever more dangerous to navigate their double lives.

Margolin, Phillip
Executive privilege / (2008)
When private detective Dana Cutler is hired by an attorney with powerful political connections, the assignment seems simple enough: follow a pretty college student named Charlotte Walsh and report on where she goes and whom she sees. But then the unexpected happens. One night, Cutler follows Walsh to a secret meeting with Christopher Farrington, the president of the United States. The following morning, Walsh's dead body shows up and Cutler has to run for her life.

Massey, Sujata
The pearl diver / (2004)

A dazzling engagement ring and the promise of a fresh start in a new country bring antiques dealer and sometime-sleuth Rei Shimura to Washington, D.C. But while she tries to play catch-up with her beautiful, politically connected cousin, Kendall, and is commissioned to furnish a chic Japanese-fusion restaurant, things start to go haywire. First, Kendall vanishes from the restaurant's opening-night party, and then Rei is drafted to help Andrea, the restaurant's elegant, cagey hostess, investigate the disappearance of her own Japanese mother thirty years earlier.

Meltzer, Brad
The zero game / (2004)
Bored with their jobs as senior staffers to a respected congressman, Matthew Mercer and Harris Sandler become involved in the clandestine Zero Game, but when someone close to them turns up dead, they discover the sinister intent of the "game."

Michaels, Fern
The marriage game / (2007)

Having failed to gain entry into the CIA, Sam, Slick, and a trio of ex-wives set out to exact vigilante justice against a philanderer, an effort that is interrupted by their recruitment into a secret law enforcement agency that is covertly spying on the five women.

Mrazek, Robert J.
Unholy fire : a novel of the Civil War / (2003)
Working in the Provost Marshall's office after receiving a wound, a Civil War soldier investigates the murder of a young woman who attended the birthday party of notorious playboy general Joseph Hooker.

North, Oliver ; with Joe Musser
Mission compromised / (2002)

U.S. Marine Major Peter J. Newman discovers that a top miltary official is planning to betray his country by thwarting a mission to eliminate key Middle East terrorist leaders.

Patterson, Richard North
Balance of power / (2003)

President Kerry Kilcannon and his fiancee, television journalist Lara Costello, have at last decided to marry. But their wedding is followed by a massacre of innocents in a lethal burst of gunfire, challenging their marriage and his presidency in ways so shattering and indelibly personal that Kilcannon vows to eradicate gun violence and the crush the most powerful lobby in Washington- the Son's of the Second Amendment

Patterson, James
Cross country / (2008)
When the home of Alex Cross's oldest friend, Ellie Cox, is turned into the worst murder scene Alex has ever seen, the destruction leads him to believe that he's chasing a horrible new breed of killer. When the elusive killer's trail turns up in Africa, Alex knows that he must follow. Alone.

Pelecanos, George
The turnaround / (2008)

Thirty-five years after a devastating accident that irrevocably shapes the lives of six people, a pair of redemption-seeking survivors reaches out to one another in an effort that is compromised by a fellow survivor's release from prison.

Power, Jo-Ann
Missing member / (2006)

Few Americans remember these days that politics can be funny.But Texas congresswoman Carly Wagner knows this firsthand. She won her first election delivering one-liners about her opponent that made people chuckle so hard they voted her into his seat. She won not only because she could outtalk her rival but also because she wasn't shy about employing her sexy contralto, big baby browns, and the long legs that once got her the crown of Miss Texas.

Robards, Karen
Pursuit / (2009)
After rookie lawyer Jessica Monaghan meets with the First Lady, the VIP is killed in a car accident in which Jessica manages to survive. When she suspects the accident was something else and she becomes the next target, she and experienced FBI agent Mark Ryan team up to uncover the plot behind the First Lady's murder.

Rosett, Sara
Getting away is deadly /
(2008)
Seeing the sights in Washington, D.C, while her husband attends military training, a very pregnant Ellie Avery finds mystery in the nation's capital when the man she is supposed to meet as a favor for her cousin is murdered on his way to see her.

Sanchez, Patrick
Tight / (2006)

Three women--Brenda, a thirty-six-year-old wife and mother; Nora, a fitness fanatic approaching forty; and Kamille, a beautiful, but insecure, African American woman in her twenties--set out to fulfill their dreams through plastic surgery.

Sandlin, Tim
Honey don't / (2003)

Set in the very near future, Honey Don't features a hit list that runs the gamut: from a goatish President dying in flagrante, to an aging Don appalled by modern manners; from a certifiably stupid mafia bagman fleeing both the Secret Service and the mob with $656,000 of dirty money in a locked attaché case and the President's head in a carry-all, to a coke-snorting, blow-dried VP who has suddenly caught the brass ring. Circling them are conniving White House staffers, corrupt politicos, sleazy journalists, and rancid pro-football coaches-all adding up to a DC three-ring circus.

Thor, Brad
The Lions of Lucerne / (2002)

On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the President of the United States has been kidnapped and his Secret Service detail massacred. Only one agenthas survived—ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. He doesn’t buy the official line that Middle Eastern terrorists are behind the attack and begins his own campaign to find the truth and exact revenge. But now, framed for murder by a sinister cabal, Harvath takes his fight to the towering mountains of Switzerland—and joins forces with beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office. Together they must brave the subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus—where their only chance for survival lies inside the den of the most lethal team of professional killers the world has ever known.

Truman, Margaret
Undiplomatic Murder : a Capital crimes novel / (2014)

Private investigator Robert Brixton has always hated Washington. Against his better judgment, he decides to stick around and take a job as an agent in a new State Department security agency headed by his former boss at the Washington P.D. After work one day he meets his youngest daughter, Janet, for a drink at an outdoor cafe. Shockingly, a young Arabic woman blows herself up, killing Janet and a dozen others. Seeking revenge for his daughter, Brixton follows the tracks of the bomber to a powerful senator's son. Brixton finds himself digging deep into what turns out to be a small but powerful cabal whose goal is to kill embassy workers from nations involved in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tucker, Neely
The Ways of the Dead / (2014)

When the teenage daughter of a powerful Washington, D.C., judge is found dead, three local black kids are arrested for her murder--but reporter Sully Carter suspects there's more to the case. From the city's grittiest backstreets to the elegant halls of power, wry yet wounded Sully pursues a string of cold cases, all the while fighting against pressure from government officials, police, suspicious locals, and his own bosses at the newspaper. Based on the real-life 1990s Princeton Place murders.

Woods, Stuart
Mounting fears / (2009)

President Will Lee is having a rough week. There are some loose nukes in Pakistan--and a rogue CIA agent--that might just trigger World War III if Lee's diplomatic efforts fall short. It's up to Holly Barker, Lance Cabot, and a few other Stuart Woods series regulars to save the world--and the upcoming election.

Zigman, Laura
Her / (2002)

Elise becomes obsessed with her fiancé's ex-girlfriend, a Yale-educated, French extraction, ravishing, "mother of all exes."

Oshkosh Public Library
June 2014