adventure

Spirit Ridge by L. A. Kelley

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Spirit Ridge by L. A. Kelley

A dark shadow rises.

San Francisco in 1885 was a dangerous place for those who crossed Colin Doyle. To Nob Hill elite he was a successful businessman. To the underbelly of San Francisco he was The Mick, a criminal mastermind ruling from the shadows. If a buyer’s tastes ran to opium, a whore, or a politician, The Mick could name a price. No one who betrayed him ever escaped the city alive.

Until now.

Nell Bishop is a fearless investigative reporter for the San Francisco Dispatch. She’s on the run to the Arizona Territory with the one witness who can expose Doyle’s corrupt empire and stop the plan to extend his evil dominion to the West.

Marshal Sam Tanner of Spirit Ridge in the Arizona Territory fought the visions sent by his Apache blood. They always foretold a death he couldn’t prevent. Then Sam dreamed of the coyote with golden brown eyes who warned of a black shadow spreading evil across the land. Did the message call him to help the beautiful woman who stepped off the stagecoach? Can Sam and Nell elude the mysterious dark riders who dog their trail or will the next vision mean death for both of them?

Featured Book: Bushranger Gold by David Cairns of Finavon

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

In 1853, Australia was rocked by the robbery of £6,000 of gold from an escorted shipment on a country road heading from the McIvor gold fields to Melbourne, Within days, 400 men were searching the bush for the audacious bushrangers who numbered between 6 and 15 depending on who was telling the story. Despite aboriginal trackers and extensive searches, they could not be found. The full weight of the constabulary was thrown behind the case and a round up of possible suspects began. The leader was a man by the name of Joe Grey. He disappeared and was never heard of again. Or was he? The ship that some of the bushrangers intended to use to escape to London left Melbourne and was never seen again. Mystery upon mystery. And then there is the involvement of one of Australia’s most famous bushrangers, Frank Gardiner.
This is a fast-paced story of a daring robbery in the rumbustious times of the Victorian gold rush and what happened next.

Buy Bushranger Gold Here

David Cairns of Finavon’s Website
Follow David Cairns of Finavon on Twitter

Healing Lance by M.D. Grimm

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Healing Lance by M.D. Grimm

A baby’s laughter.

A mind uncaged.

Lance is known as Scourge, the warrior in the black armor, the dog of the warlord Ulfr Blackwolf. He was just a boy when Ulfr found him and molded him into the perfect weapon. He slaughters and pillages on command, merciless and numb, devoid of emotions. Then a baby girl laughs at him during a raid.

And everything changes.

When Gust, a talented healer, is out deer hunting and stumbles across a magnificent horse bearing a mortally wounded rider, he has no idea that his life is about to change forever. Gust applies all his skills to his patient, determined to save the rider’s life, and is rewarded when the man opens his eyes.

As friendship, and more, bloom between warrior and healer, so does the danger over the horizon. Ulfr has not forgotten, and Lance must take his first steps on the long road to redemption.

Amie African Adventure by Lucinda E Clarke

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Amie African Adventure by Lucinda E Clarke

Amie reluctantly agreed to accompany her new husband to go and live in Africa. Life was very different but she soon made friends and began to enjoy life. Then civil war broke out and she was left behind when the last plane evacuating the foreigners took off from the airport. Now, Amie was on her own, alone, and defenseless. To survive she sets out to walk to safety across the African savannah.

Crossword by Alan Bricklin

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Crossword by Alan Bricklin

By early 1944 Hitler’s general staff realized that they had lost the war. Hitler did not. In late 1943 Allied bombers destroyed the Norwegian power station that supplied power for the factory making fissionable material for Hitler’s drive to produce an atomic weapon. The remaining material was ordered to be brought to Germany under heavy guard, but a lone German general set into motion a series of events that threatened to alter the outcome of World War II.

A troubled OSS agent is sent behind enemy lines to prevent the development of the atomic weapon that could win the war for Germany; but Hitler and the Allies are not the only ones interested. There are secret forces at work in both the United States and Germany that want the fissionable material for their own reasons.

Alone and injured in Germany, the OSS agent must enlist the aid of a beautiful, young German woman to help him while he plays cat and mouse with his enemies, both known and unknown. An undertaking gone terribly wrong. Has it turned into a suicide mission?

Whiskey Thief by Chris Bostic

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Whiskey Thief by Chris Bostic

When their Kentucky bourbon tour takes a turn for the worse, two engaged couples join up with strangers to seek shelter in the ruins of an old distillery. Grace encounters more than abandoned spirits on the decaying property, bringing her semi-comfortable world crashing down.
Tensions pull at the group, splintering the couples into teams. Only it’s hard for Grace to know what side to be on when bonds are tested, and opposites no longer attract. Questions abound. Who really are the strangers they paired up with? Should she break convenient bonds for a risky one? Then again, does it even matter if they don’t make it out alive?
Please be advised – The Bourbon Country Series features fast-paced adult psychological thrillers where sexual assault, PTSD, self-blame, and functional alcoholism combine to form a potent blend. Recommended for mature audiences, ages 18+

Prepper Mountain by Chris Bostic

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Prepper Mountain by Chris Bostic

School’s getting out for the summer, and Zach has finally worked up the courage to ask Katelyn to walk home with him—only to find the Feds parked in his driveway again. His unemployed accountant father is an outspoken critic of the recent default on the crushing national debt, which brings on most of their problems with the law. But his mother is the real complication when it comes to bringing potential girlfriends over to the house. She’s a fanatical prepper.
Though Zach can’t see the imminent danger, his parents whisk his family away to the Great Smoky Mountains in case the entire country crumbles into martial law. When the new regime’s drones circle like buzzards and the bombs start falling, someone has to be the resistance….

The Frights of Fiji by Sunayna Prasad

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

The Frights of Fiji by Sunayna Prasad

A world of magic and adventure awaits…

Sent to live with her strict, aloof, and uncaring uncle after her parents are killed in a car accident, twelve-year-old orphan Alyssa McCarthy longs for the life she used to have—one filled with fun and love. Then one stormy night, a message appears in the raindrops on the window that will change everything.

“Your life will never be the same again, as magic will interfere.”

Before long, Alyssa is kidnapped by Master Beau, a banished sorcerer with a mysterious connection to her who can only regain his power by weakening hers. Suddenly hurled into a world of wizardry filled with fantastical beasts and marvelous technology beyond her wildest imagination, Alyssa must defeat Master Beau if she ever wants to get home again. But Master Beau will stop at nothing, including using Alyssa’s friends, to ensure he is triumphant.

Originally titled “From Frights to Flaws”, this story is the exciting and enchanting first book in the “Magical Missions” series.

Pinot Noir by Lorraine Evanoff

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Louise Moscow hops from one undercover assignment to another, aided by both a curiosity about how the world works and a determination to make it work for her. Equal parts scholar and sensualist, she will find out the answer but enjoy herself while doing so. One moment she’s deploying her brand of “forensic accounting” to uncover some obscure financial information that may blow up the case; the next she’s swooning over the complex “barnyard smells” of a particular Burgundy. Evanoff is clearly besotted with French history and effectively blends it with her heroine’s struggles against uncooperative witnesses, a mysterious vine disease, a gun-wielding monk, and a secret society. Moscow glides through it all with a James Bondian flair. Able to handle a high-powered speedboat, an ex-lover, or a ginger-haired villain with equal ease, this international spy is a protagonist you’ll want to follow.

Targeted Age Group:: 15 and up

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Before I even began writing PINOT NOIR, I had already decided to make Book Two a fictionalized version of the real-life ‘bankers grave’ scandal, the un-solved murder of billionaire Edmund J. Safra. My mother suggested the title during an event associated with my first novel, FOLIAGE. It stuck with me, and I began my research of Pinot Noir wine, which pointed to the Burgundy region of France. What shocked me was the real-life crimes of the region I discovered, which were linked to high level public officials leading all the way to the capital of the European Union, Brussels, Belgium.

Foliage by Lorraine Evanoff

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Investment banker Louise Moscow loves her new career in late 1980s Paris. With a high-profile dream job wooing rich clientele, she enjoys the lavish lifestyle in a glamorous city. When she stumbles upon criminal activity at her company, the FBI and CIA force her to cooperate and bring down the murderous bankers in what turns out to be one of the greatest financial scandals of the twentieth century.

Targeted Age Group:: 18-80

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
When I lived in Paris, several of my close friends worked at the BCCI Paris branch. When the bottom fell out, they lost their jobs and it was a really big deal. When I decided to write my novel around that scandal and began to dig deeper, I realized how complicated the story was and I needed to conduct more research beyond what I learned from my friends. The opening scene of my book was my invention, but was loosely based an event mentioned in a book called “The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI,” written by journalists Jonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne. I found more helpful facts in the “Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate,” by Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown. (Toni Nealie)