Created by James Swain
“Security companies are licensed and bound by a strict set of rules in the state of Florida. I’m not licensed, which lets me do pretty much whatever the hell I want.”
JON LANCASTER may look like a pot-bellied, belligerent asshole, but when push comes to shove, well… yeah, sorta. He also makes Jack Reacher look like a pussy.
A former cop and a former Navy SEAL, he bills himself as an “unlicensed” private detective, which he seems to think means the rule of law — or even common courtesy — doesn’t apply to him. He’s a relentless and nasty piece of work, ready to unload a world of hurt on anyone he sets his sights on. Keeping him more or less in check is FBI agent and former abduction victim Beth Daniels.
Together they make a formidable team, specializing in rescuing abducted children, in this breathless, take-no-prisoners series of action novels, that even in the five-star laden fields of Amazon “reviews,” seem to rub an awful lot of people the wrong way. Me? I thought it played out like a road company version of Die Hard, the literary equivalent of a popcorn flick, and I could have done without the glut of condescending exposition and political digressions. But I’d like to see how the sequel does.
Novelist and amateur magician James Swain has over twenty mysteries under his belt, including the Tony Valentine series, and has worked as a magazine editor and screenwriter. He received a Florida Book Award for fiction, and was awarded France’s prestigious Prix Calibre .38 for Best American Crime Writing.
UNDER OATH
- “Jim Swain is crime fiction’s master of misdirection. I can’t think of anyone who comes close. If you are tired of retread plots and characters—the same old, same old, give Jim Swain a try. I dare you to grab a copy of The King of Tides and tell me how it will end after reading a few chapters.”
— Mike Bursaw, Mystery Mike’s Bookstore
NOVELS
- The King Tides (2018) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- No Good Deeds (2019) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Bad News Travels (2020) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
