John McLain

Describes the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today. The open-range cattle era lasted barely a quarter century, but it left America irrevocably changed. The tale takes us from dust-choked cattle drives to the unlikely splendors of boomtowns like Abilene, Kansas, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. We meet a diverse cast, from cowboy Teddy Blue to failed rancher and future president Teddy Roosevelt. This is a revolutionary new...

On Groundhog Day, secrets surface alongside a waterlogged corpse The rural town of Balaclava greets Groundhog Day as an excuse for one last cold-weather fling. The students and faculty of the local agricultural college drink cocoa, throw snowballs, and, when the temperature allows, ice skate. Oozak's Pond is not quite frozen this year, though, and as the Groundhog Day celebrations reach their peak, the students see someone bobbing through the ice....

Loving a prodigal is a long and desperate journey, filled with fear, worry, anger, self-recrimination. You wait for the phone call--will it be from jail or the hospital? You plead with your loved one. You search for help. You feel the shame. You cry out to God, "How long, Lord?" Author Judy Douglass knows these lovers of prodigals well. She is one herself and has created a large and growing community with others. When You Love a Prodigal is a collection...

When Harry Doyle was ten years old, he was murdered by his mentally ill mother-and brought back to life by two Tampa cops. Twenty years later he has dedicated his life to putting killers behind bars as a homicide detective who has the unwanted ability to hear the postmortem whispers of murder victims. Dubbed "The Dead Detective" by his fellow cops, Doyle now faces his most difficult case-a beautiful murder victim who was a notorious child molester....

Previously published as The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney. When a brilliant billionaire is diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, he realizes that all his considerable wealth cannot prepare him to meet his Maker. But he has an idea that might: he will stage the ultimate reality show. With his true agenda hidden, he auditions followers from all the world's major religions, inviting them to the trial of their lives on a remote island, where they...

The George Floyd riots that have precipitated great changes throughout American society were not spontaneous events. Americans did not suddenly rise up in righteous anger, take to the streets, and demand not just that police departments be defunded but that all the structures, institutions, and systems of the United States-all supposedly racist-be overhauled. The 12,000 or so demonstrations and 633 related riots that followed Floyd's death took organizational...

Crime-fiction librarian Ray Ambler gets more than he bargained for when he acquires the archives of a controversial hardboiled crime author in this contemporary twisty mystery set in New York City. Hardboiled crime writer Will Ford might be critically acclaimed, but he's every bit as drunken and disreputable as the ne'er-do-well private eye in his novels. So when Ford offers Raymond Ambler - crime-fiction curator at New York City's prestigious...

From the first Gilded Age to the second, a "charming, zippy history...a rollicking, informative lesson in real estate, American history, and current events." -Town & Country Looking at the island of Palm Beach today, with its unmatched mansions, tony shops, and pristine beaches, one is hard pressed to visualize the dense tangle of Palmetto brush and mangroves that it was when visionary entrepreneur and railroad tycoon Henry Flagler first arrived...

Donald Trump, Statesman? Critics dismissed the idea out of hand. Even his fans questioned whether President Trump could do what other presidents had considered impossible. But in less than two years, Trump has: - Put North Korea on the path to de-nuclearization and peace with South Korea. - Destroyed the "state" of the Islamic State. - Forged a de facto alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel. - Doled out real punishment - not empty threats - for...

What's the secret to a life of happiness? "In this delightful book brimming with humorous and poignant passages, radio personality Hugh Hewitt provides the answer. The starting place is generosity, he says, and there are seven gifts that are sure to improve the lives of both giver and receiver: encouragement, energy, enthusiasm, good humor, graciousness, gratitude, and patience. Anyone can give these gifts, but Hewitt shows that some people are particularly...