Dangerous Latitudes

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Western Fiction

Fiction

Espionage, Survival, and the Fight for Texas Independence

From the author of the French Letters trilogy comes a sweeping historical adventure full of unforgettable Texas legends!

Six years after the fall of the Alamo, Mexican armies invade freely across the Rio Grande, and Texas is but one skirmish away from losing its hard-won independence.

Against this backdrop, naïve surveyor Alexandre LaBranche accepts a dubious commission to map the Rio Grande boundary between Texas and Mexico but soon finds himself far out of his depth.

Laced with exuberant, Texas-sized historical figures such as Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Jack Hays, Dangerous Latitudes is a quest across a war-torn frontier that becomes a race to save two hundred captured Texans who the Mexican army has marked for death.

About the Author

Jack Woodville London is a historian and author who is Director Emeritus of Writing Education for the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA). He first studied creative writing under crime fiction author Peter May in St. Céré, France, and is presently a postgraduate student at Rewley College, Oxford University. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Jack is also a speaker and seasoned writing teacher, who participates in speaking opportunities with state, national and international historical and writing groups, including MWSA, the Writers League of Texas, SouthWest Writers, Historical Novel Society, and Historical Writers of America. Jack and his work have been featured in national, regional and local print, television, radio, podcasts and social media. He was given the President’s Award by MWSA in 2022 for his contribution to teaching the craft of creative writing to military veterans.

Jack’s previous books include the multi-award-winning French Letters trilogy, about the American generation that came of age in World War II and their children, Shades of the Deep Blue Sea, and A Novel Approach (the accepted text used by the Military Writers Society of America to introduce veterans to the basics of writing).

Praise

“Espionage meister John LeCarre be aware: There's a new breed of spy on the literary scene. And while protagonist Alexandre LaBranche goes about his role unwillingly and often with minimal success -- George Smiley he's not -- readers will root for him with the turn of every page. Award-winning author London's fast-paced tale, set in the infant days of the Texas Republic, has it all -- the troubled young surveyor who's only desire is to chart Texas' southern border, his horse thieving partners, self-serving politicos, vengeful Mexican soldiers, and, for good measure, a moving love story. Saddle up. DANGEROUS LATITUDES is a wild ride.”

— Carlton Stowers, two-time Edgar Award winner

“Just as in real life, Jack Woodville London's territory in Dangerous Latitudes is a land of spies, rough frontiersmen, Mexican military figures, Indians, and men seeking opportunity, redemption, or both. London has woven a clever spy story with historical events and some of the larger-than-life people who inhabited the Texas-Mexico borderlands to create a colorful novel of the Republic Era.”

—Frank de la Teja, Former Texas State Historian

Jack Woodville London has tackled a little-touched-upon part of Texas history in Dangerous Latitudes, life on its murky frontier after the victory at San Jacinto. Texas in those days was overrun by factions, brigands and intriguers, and London’s protagonists seem to encounter all of them. Throughout its pages, the reader is entertainingly reminded of a solid historical truth—Texas in its Republic days was not for the faint of heart.

— Mike Vance, Texas Historian, Documentary and Filmmaker, and Author of Getting Away with Bloody Murder

Published by Stoney Creek Publishing Group