Element of Secrecy


Heather Slawecki - 2020
    The setting is picturesque with old farmhouses, dirt roads, covered bridges, streams. It's also rich with Native and early American history. What sets it apart is a big secret. Jenny O’Rourke has been haunted by blurred memories of the town's dark secrets for over twenty years. Brick walls and tight lips have kept her from understanding why she was torn from her home and family in the middle of the night. And why her brother’s murder was brushed under the rug. To find the answers, she has to elude two powerful forces standing in her way ... an estranged but lurking father and the watchful eyes of the Witness Protection Program. She's about to break the only rule they have in common: Never go home. Jenny finds an opportunity, giving her access to everything she thought she ever wanted to know. What she discovers changes everything and leaves a small town in need of some major damage control.

Follow Me Down


Gordon Mackinney - 2017
    Six years earlier, Drax Enterprises’ negligence killed his father and left his mother strung out on Valium. Lucas longs to punish the corrupt behemoth of Cincinnati real estate development, but what can one man do? "Plenty," says old Mr. Blumenfeld, Lucas's boss and a former photojournalist with too many secrets. Evidence to bury Drax exists, he claims, but to find it, Lucas must breach the city's welded-shut subway system. Lucas takes the plunge, aided by his best friend and moral compass, Reuben Klein. The deeper the duo infiltrates the dangerous underground, the further back they turn the clock. They learn that Drax's corruption intertwined with fascism's rise in Germany. That campfire tales of a subway crypt were true. That no one can be trusted, not even Lucas's boss.

Supertide


Steven F. Freeman - 2020
    The ocean is coming to visit you…Deep in the Atlantic, the ocean floor is shifting, changing in ways unseen for millions of years. The tectonic movement launches a pair of tsunamis on North America’s East Coast, killing thousands and flooding Washington, D.C.A small band of scientists fears the possibility of another disaster. As they strive to convince skeptical authorities of the risk, the likelihood of a more powerful seismic event grows…

Rope on Fire


Mark Parragh - 2016
    He’s all dressed up with nowhere to spy. Josh Sulenski is an Internet prodigy with some serious James Bond fantasies and more money than 37 countries. Together, they’re out to save the world…in style. John Crane bursts onto the espionage scene in Rope on Fire. On only his second mission for the top secret Hurricane Group, the U.S. Government suddenly shuts Hurricane down, leaving Crane an agent without an agency. Adrift in Key West, he's approached by Internet billionaire Josh Sulenski, who asks him to find out why one of his charitable projects is under attack deep in Puerto Rico's rain forest. Crane finds himself battling corrupt police officers and drug smugglers with no authority and no backup. For the first time, he's on his own. Branislav Skala is an aging gangster whose ruthlessness and ambition helped him claw his way up from the gutters of communist Czechslovakia to rule a criminal empire. Skala thinks he’s reached the top of the heap and is ready to retire to his palatial country estate—until he discovers a whole new game of transnational power blocs, capital networks, and vicious battles among competing factions. Skala wants a seat at this new table, and he has a plan to get one. It’s a plan that puts him squarely in John Crane’s sights. When their destinies collide, Branislav Skala will learn that this new game doesn’t follow the same rules he’s used to. And John Crane will find a broken laptop with the power to change his life forever. So join John Crane for freewheeling adventure in a world of glamour, intrigue, and action. Because spy stories are supposed to be fun!

The Secret of the Stones


Ernest Dempsey - 2010
    Former government agent, Sean Wyatt, learns of his friend's disappearance and must race against the clock to unravel the clues to the ancient mystery. But to save him, he will have to fight off highly trained mercenaries in hand to hand combat, violent shootouts, and high speed car chases through the Blue Ridge Mountains.And in the end, what he learns will change the history books as we know them.

Death in the Beginning


Gary Williams - 2011
    First, he discovered a magnificent manmade cave in the Canary Islands off the African coast. Then, while exploring a newly-found gunpowder magazine inside a 300-year-old stone Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida, a man emerged. The man is killed by police before his identity can be ascertained. All evidence indicates that the man had been sealed in the room for centuries. When Curt uncovers a link between the Canary Island cave and the unidentified man, he realizes that he has stumbled upon a secret lost in history; the catalyst for the Fountain of Youth legend. But the revelation holds terrifying consequences. And there are those willing to murder to guard the truth. As Northeast Florida braces for a deadly hurricane, Curt and his friends are drawn into a monumental conspiracy which could alter the balance of power…and destroy humanity.

Code Name Camelot


David Archer - 2018
    With the help of childhood friends, he learns to watch others around him and mimic their behaviors, in order to conceal the fact that his mind operates more like a computer that he has spent years programming. That program is what allows Noah to pass himself off as normal, by establishing parameters of right and wrong that are completely inviolable to him.As a young adult, Noah finds structure in the U.S. Army, and becomes an excellent and exemplary soldier, but when his self-imposed programming is put to the test by the murderous acts of the superior officer, Noah finds himself quickly made expendable, charged with crimes he did not commit and facing the possibility of execution. Without any reasonable hope for a reprieve, Noah's logic-based mind accepts his fate.Sometimes, though, things are not all as they seem to be, and Noah is offered one chance to save himself. It was his disability, his lack of emotion, that made him the soldier he had become. Now, an ultrasecret organization known as E & E wants Noah's talents, offering him a chance to survive…As the most deadly assassin the world has ever known.

30 Pieces of Silver


Carolyn McCray - 2010
    John the Baptist's bones inscribed in ancient Greek. A dark secret carried from the foot of the crucifixion. Can science solve the world's greatest mystery?

Deep Fried and Pickled


Paisley Ray - 2012
    She has barely had time to acquaint herself to the dorm food before finding herself threatened by a jealous She-Devil, fending off the advances of a thirty-something redneck, and stumbling upon an art fraud scheme. To top things off, her parents go their separate ways: her mom to follow a psychic calling; her dad adrift in his midlife crisis.Bad decision-making, law-bending behavior, and surprise romances make freshman year memorable in Paisley Ray's DEEP FRIED AND PICKLED.

Once a Soldier


Benjamin Blackmore - 2019
    Can an ex-soldier put aside his own demons to stop them? Ex-military contractor Harper Knox has taken over his family’s farm in eastern Washington, ripped up the cherry trees and planted grape vines, hoping that the wine life will ease his PTSD-riddled soul. But he still has nightmares, and he’s still diving into the dirt every time a kid sets off a firework.Desperate to taste battle again, he accepts a bodyguard gig in Seattle protecting a doctor involved with controversial AI research. Sometimes the only way to deal with the fire is by jumping back into the flame. Things go bad quickly, and Harper and Italian mercenary Francesca Daly join forces to make things right. Technology and religion collide as the two vigilantes race through Seattle on a hunt for a madman.

Nothing New Under the Sun / The Wolves of Freydis / The Alboran Codex / The Nabatean Secret


J.C. Ryan - 2017
    And before long, Carter finds himself with not only a large number of critics from across the world, but also a number of ardent followers. Through the ages kings, rulers, power seekers and governments, have been trying secretly, and sometimes not so secretly, to get their hands on artifacts believed to have immense power. Examples include the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, Bachal Isu – the staff of Moses, carried by David, and the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, the Spear of Destiny, the time machine “the glock” created by the Germans during WWII, and ancient lost cities with hidden fortunes of gold and artifacts with unimaginable powers. There is a no shortage of unscrupulous, power hungry people who will do anything, including kill, to possess these relics- if they exist. Most frightening of them all are the ancient texts that speak of earth’s destruction by nuclear weapons thousands of years ago. Do those nuclear weapons still exist? If so where are they? Can Carter Devereux discover them before anyone else can? The Wolves of Freydis Carter Devereux’s idyllic world had been shattered and catapulted into chaos, and with it, the fate of humanity itself. With a traitor in their midst who seems to stay one step ahead of them, it is a race against time for Carter Devereux and a team of Special Forces operators who must fight evils never before encountered. Can they uncover the traitor, free the captives from an unknown location, and stop the evil from sweeping in and changing the world as we know it? The Alboran Codex In the year 106 AD, when the Roman legions marched on their capital at Petra, the Nabateans surrendered their empire to the Romans, without a fight, and according to historians ceased to exist. But very few knew that the Nabateans didn't cease to exist, they just stayed out of sight for more than 1,900 years, and now they are on the verge of implementing their final plan. Carter Devereux, with his knowledge of the City of the Giants and their library in the Egyptian desert is the only obstacle in the way to achieve their goals. Therefore, the order of the Council of the Covenant of Nabatea is clear; “We MUST have that information. All of it. Move in on Carter Devereux… and get it at all costs, up to and including the killing of everyone….” The Nabatean Secret Sentries at the Main Gate of Patch Barracks had turned away the last of the local Fasching revelers an hour or so before, laughingly joking with them that the Barracks were too quiet for their parties. A few soldiers, somewhat worse for wear after joining the locals for the opening night of Germany’s “Fifth Season”, straggled in around midnight. They were cheerfully waved through the gate by the envious guards, who had pulled duty that night and didn’t get to celebrate. Since then, the night had been still, only the night sounds typical of the region breaking the silence. The cell and radio tower behind the thick trees was lit by an eerie glow from the remains of the Fasching bonfire a few miles away. It would be six long hours until sunrise and their relief. The peace of the night lulled them to silence.

A Perfect Eye


Stephanie Kane - 2019
    Lily Sparks was born with a perfect eye. As Conservator of Paintings at the Denver Art Museum, she uses her keen visual powers to restore masterpieces and detect what's authentic and what is not. When the museum's billionaire benefactor is brutally murdered and Lily is dragged into the case, the grisly tableau stuns her: it's the human embodiment of the museum's prized landscape by famed Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte. Lily comes to believe the Caillebotte was forged and the killer is a painter the art world spurned. But this knowledge comes at a terrible cost. As she confronts where art ends and fraud begins, she must face the deceptions in her own past.

The Alchemist's Secret


Scott Mariani - 2007
    But it soon becomes apparent that others are hunting this most precious of treasures – for far more evil ends. It seems that everyone – from the Nazis of the past to the shadowy modern organisation known as Gladius Domini – wants to uncover the secrets of immortality.Teaming up with attractive American scientist Dr Roberta Ryder, Ben is led on a wild and dangerous trail from Paris to the ancient Cathar strongholds of the Languedoc, where an astonishing secret has lain hidden for centuries…

Witness for Wendy


M.K. Turner - 2021
    A bored writer. A matter of life and death when their stories collide……Actress Wendy Knight thought her life was finally turning around. But when her ex came back into the picture, he wanted to take all of that away from her and more…and then she disappeared.Scriptwriter Angie Bearing longs to write something deeper than daytime soaps. When the plot for a new thriller comes to her, she doesn't question it. At least until she discovers an uncanny resemblance between her story and the unsolved disappearance of an actress named Wendy. Angie begins to investigate. As she retraces Wendy's footsteps, she doesn't realise that someone is watching her. Someone who would do anything to keep the awful truth buried for good…Witness for Wendy is the captivating first book in the Bearing Witness series

All the Blue-Eyed Angels


Jen Blood - 2012
    The Solar Temple. Heaven's Gate. In the summer of 1990, the Payson Church of Tomorrow joins the ranks of those infamous cult suicides when thirty-four members burn to death on a small island off the coast of Maine. At ten years old, Payson member Erin Solomon watches helplessly as the church and its congregation are reduced to ash and embers.More than twenty years later, Erin is an accomplished investigative journalist when she receives word that she has inherited Payson Isle... and all its ghosts. She returns to Maine to learn the truth behind the tragedy that has haunted her since childhood, aided by the rakish mentor who's stood by her side since she was a teenager, her trusty mutt Einstein, and a mysterious stranger with his own dark past.Soon, Erin is enmeshed in violence, conspiracy, and scandal, as she fights to unearth the secrets of the Payson Church of Tomorrow -- secrets someone will kill to keep buried.