Dangerous Latitudes

by Jack Woodville London

Overview

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.

 

 
 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798990128965
Publisher:	Stoney Creek Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/18/2025
Pages:	326
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

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).
 

Editorial Reviews

"The underlying events in this engaging novel are true. There are nice twists, enjoyable main characters, and rich local color. Fans of historical fiction will love this one!" 
—Kirkus Reviews

 

Dangerous Latitudes is entertaining not only because of the raucous adventures its young protagonist Alexandre LaBranche encounters while mapping the Texas/Mexico boundaries, but also for Alexandre’s transformation from a bumbling, naive surveyor into a confident spy. Historical fiction at its best, blending larger-than-life characters with action/adventure.
 — Southern Literary Review

“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
 

“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
 

From the Publisher

2025-03-08
A young man sets out on a perilous expedition for the Republic of Texas.

In 1841 Louisiana, surveyor Alexandre LaBranche errantly draws a boundary line that puts many of his father’s slaves on his neighbor’s plantation. Oops! His fed-up father tells him he’s worthless and disowns him. Alexandre leaves home and is introduced to Texian president Mirabeau Lamar. (They weren’t called Texans until statehood.) Having confirmed that the youth can determine latitude and longitude, Lamar offers him $10,000 to map the Texas border up to the source of the Rio Grande, also secretly hoping he’ll find the 300 lost soldiers Lamar had sent to Santa Fe. Off the lad goes in a wagon, but soon two thieves rob him and toss him into a bramble-filled ditch. A free Black woman named Noeme eventually rescues him. She works for Sam Houston, who later succeeds Lamar as president. Various characters disparage Alexandre’s surveying skills and consider him a “plantation dandy” who can measure the Earth by looking at the sun and stars but can’t use a compass. He is a terrific mapmaker, though. His maps show every last building, Mexican soldier, and tortilla press along the Rio Grande in lifelike detail and perspective. The contrast between Alexandre’s professional skills and shortcomings strain believability: “You learned geography…but you didn’t learn which way the wind blows,” Houston tells him. Houston falsely accuses Alexandre of a murder and gives him the choice of either hanging in a gallows or spying on Mexico. The desire to prove himself, make money, and avoid execution all give plenty of motivation to forge ahead. The underlying events in this engaging novel are true. Before statehood, Texas was “the most ill-defended and beleaguered republic in North America” with undefined borders and constant attacks on Anglo settlements like San Antonio. There was indeed a massacre at Hacienda Salado where the 17 prisoners who drew black beans from a jar were executed by a firing squad. There are nice twists, enjoyable main characters, and rich local color. But will Alexandre achieve his goals?

Fans of historical fiction will love this one.

Kirkus Reviews