In 1940 Leland Langtry ran off with his redheaded secretary and $10,000 in company funds... Or so everyone believed... Forty years later, Langtry's remains are found in a boarded-up silver mine tunnel. And as the knife still jammed between his ribs had belonged to his partner in Lang-Star Mining, Tom Starbuck—also long since dead—a jury decided that Tom had killed Langtry. But Tom's widow, Delia, resists that verdict and persuades that very private investigator Conan Flagg to find the real murderer—an impossible job made tougher by the curious reticence of nearly everyone in town whenever Leland Langtry is mentioned....

The war between the McFalls and the Drinkwaters had taken a nasty turn: someone had dynamited a reservoir, depriving the Drinkwaters' Double D ranch of its precious water supply. And Aaron McFall’s eldest son George was found dead at the site, apparently killed in the blast. It looked as though George had been the victim of his own plan for wanton destruction, but his old friend Conan Flagg thought otherwise. Sensing mysteries beyond the immediate tragedy, Conan began to search for both families’ secrets and found that revenge was but one motive for murder. There were also romantic entanglements to consider, and something frightening and unnameable as well....

Book One of The Phoenix Legacy In the 33rd Century, a vast empire teeters on the brink of collapse. “Has the sweep and power of Asimov’s Foundation.” —Jean M. Auel, author of the Earth’s Children ® series At the heart of the Concord, unrest is festering. Unrecognized by the Elite, the ruling class, an undercurrent of rebellion is surging through the enslaved Bond class. It’s a threat that could bring down all of civilization, creating a third Dark Age. Lord Alexand, first born of the House of DeKoven Woolf, stands to inherit a vast industrial empire along with a seat on the Directorate, the Concord’s ruling body. But he sees the writing on the wall and realizes that if the Bonds explode into total rebellion, there will be nothing to inherit, and the toll in human suffering will be beyond calculation. He makes a terrible choice then: He chooses to “die” and join the Society of the Phoenix, a clandestine organization whose existence is known to only a few Directorate Lords, who consider membership treason and punishable by death.About the AuthorM. K. WREN has also written nine mystery novels, featuring series characters Conan Flagg and Sheriff Neely Jones, as well as the post-apocalypse novel, A Gift Upon the Shore. Website: www.mkwren.come-mail: mkwren@wcn.net

The police called it an accident. The dead man's wife insisted it was murder. Either way it was maddeningly mysterious.Captain Harold Jeffries, swaddled in his robe, had settled down for a cozy evening with Crime and Punishment when his wife left the house for a bridge party. An hour later he was dead. What could have induced him to dress and go out into the stormy night—much less to walk on the beach, which he hated and never went near?Conan Flagg, proprietor of the Holliday Beach Bookshop and Rental Library, is persuaded by Jeffries' widow to investigate privately; and astonishingly, all the clues lead to Flagg's own Dickensian establishment. With passing assistance from Meg, the bookstore cat, Flagg baits a trap to catch a rat—and finds himself dangerously involved in a crime with implications far beyond this lazy seaside village.

IN 1940 LELAND LANGTRY RAN OFF WITH HIS REDHEADED SECRETARY AND $10,000 IN COMPANY FUNDS. Or so everyone believed. Forty years later, Langtry's remains are found in a boarded-up silver mine tunnel. And as the knife still jammed between his ribs had belonged to his partner in Lang-Star Mining, Tom Starbuck—also long since dead—a jury decided that Tom had killed Langtry. But Tom's widow, Delia, resists the verdict and persuades that very private investigator Conan Flagg to find the real murderer—an impossible job made tougher by the curious reticence of nearly everyone in town whenever Leland Langtry is mentioned...