This column was submitted by Evangeline Cessna, Local History Librarian at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library. 

The latest from author Mary Alford is titled “Ambush in the Mountains.” Former soldier Axel Sterling and his dog run into a pregnant woman in a mountain storm. Little does he know that helping her will put him right in the path of dangerous human traffickers. The woman, Summer managed to escape from her abductors and flee into the mountains. Between the icy wilderness and the armed gunman tracking their every move. One false step and Axel and Summer could lose their lives.

“Tom Clancy: Defense Protocol” is the next entry in the Jack Ryan series by Brian Andrews. President Jack Ryan makes a minor misstatement that threatens the safety of Taiwan. He implies that the U.S. is unwilling to go to war with mainland China in order to protect the island nation. This is not true however, and her is determined to protect Taiwan and its independence. He’s hoping that his slip of the tongue will not cost the lives of thousands of young soldiers, sailors, and Marines.

“Clive Cussler: Desolation Code” is the continuation of the NUMA files by Graham Brown. In this entry, Kurt Austin and the NUMA crew are facing swarms of deadly bio-engineered sea locusts, an out-of-control AI system, and a sinister cult. While investigating a mass stranding of aquatic life in the Indian Ocean, Kurt and his team accidentally uncover a deeper mystery. NUMAs files are quickly stolen by someone who doesn’t want them examining the dead whales. They then receive a cryptic text through the NUMA satellite network. The odd phrases and numbers resemble NUMA codes. Kurt and his team—along with Max, the agency’s supercomputer—will have to work double time to decrypt data, infiltrate a cult of cloned men, and prepare for both a physical and a digital battle.

The latest from William W. Johnstone and J. A. Johnstone, “On the Royle Range,” is based on real events and the actual history of the legendary King Ranch in South Texas. With Civil War brewing, change is inevitable. Regis Royle dreams of making Royle Ranch the biggest cattle supplier in the country, but the country is on the verge of tearing itself apart. Regis’s kid brother joins the Army, and his trusted foreman has left to rejoin the Texas Rangers. Not to mention that the rail lines have been rerouted for the war effort, which means that Regis will have to transport cattle with a skeleton crew the old-fashioned way—a cattle drive. As they drive the cattle northward, they face attack from a band of Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, and half-breeds. They are bombarded with violent storms, relentless heat, stampeding herds, and snakes. But for Regis, giving up is not an option.

The fourth entry in B. N. Rundell’s McCain Chronicles is titled “Naches Trail.” The great Northwest is the land of the Nez Perce, Yakama, Nisqually, and Muckleshoot peoples, but the land has been ravaged by the Indian Wars of 1855 and beyond. Settlers are drawn to come for the promise of riches from the remnants of the gold fields. Though the Civil War is over, there are those who still harbor grudges and are determined to strike a blow against the Union. Elijah McCain wanders into this conflict looking for his missing son. He joins a freighter wagon train that will cross the Cascade Mountain Range by way of the Naches Trail—the most treacherous and deadly route known at the time. When bandits attack another wagon train and leave a massacre in their wake, McCain’s journey becomes even more dangerous. The renegades have set their sites on his wagon train, and it’s load of gold bound for the territory. Too bad they don’t know who they’re dealing with—former Union Colonel Elijah McCain.