Margaret Truman passed away and Jon Land took up writing this series. This is the first book in the series I have read so I honestly can’t compare how she wrote to how he writes. However, remember this is her character and series. I will say that I enjoyed this book and it can certainly be read as a standalone.
Murder at the CDC by Margaret Truman, Jon Land
Series: Capital Crimes #32
Genres: Mystery, Thriller

Murder and intrigue on the steps of the United States capital building pulls Robert Brixton into his most personal case yet!

2002: A military transport on a secret run to dispose of its deadly contents vanishes without a trace.

The present: A mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol nearly claims the life of Robert Brixton's grandson.

No stranger to high-stakes investigations, Brixton embarks on a trail to uncover the motive behind the shooting. On the way he finds himself probing the attempted murder of the daughter his best friend, who works at the Washington offices of the CDC.

The connection between the mass shooting and Alexandra's poisoning lies in that long-lost military transport that has been recovered by forces determined to change America forever. Those forces are led by radical separatist leader Deacon Frank Wilhyte, whose goal is nothing short of bringing on a second Civil War.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton, a former Baltimore homicide detective. She has her own reasons for wanting to find the truth behind the shooting on the Capitol steps, and is the only person with the direct knowledge Brixton needs. But chasing the truth places them in the cross-hairs of both Wilhyte's legions and his Washington enablers.

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Robert Brixton has built a strong bond with lawyer Mackensie Smith over the years, so when Smith asks him to discreetly investigate whether a young woman might be his illegitimate daughter, Brixton approaches the situation with caution. After meeting her, he’s convinced of the connection but remains wary of revealing too much too soon. However, his focus shifts abruptly when a shooting outside the Capitol involves his grandson’s classroom. Unable to reach the teen, Brixton rushes to the scene, where he teams up with Kelly Luftus from the US Capitol Police’s Protective Services. Luftus suspects a link to the shooter and begins following leads, while Brixton pieces together troubling information from his grandson.

Before they can make sense of the chaos, Smith calls in distress—his daughter has been rushed to Walter Reed after an apparent poisoning. As Brixton and Luftus dig deeper, they uncover a disturbing pattern: multiple students at the school have recently died from poisoning. Meanwhile, in a secret Colorado facility, a man is cultivating what he believes to be the most lethal toxin ever created, planning to unleash it with catastrophic consequences.

As Brixton and Luftus race to connect the dots, the tension escalates, leading to a high-stakes confrontation that could determine the fate of thousands. Land expertly maintains the gripping intensity that made this series a standout.

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