Historical Fiction Mysteries Collection

Here are three crime stories in an historical setting. All of them have been inspired by a true incident and their settings have been rigorously researched to give you the sense of being there in 1854, 1863 and 1872. From Richmond, Virginia, at the height of the American Civil War to the dry Southwest riding along with John Wesley Hardin and Wild Bill Hickok, you are there.

Caution is a second-generation ace pilot desperately trying to bury his past and the memories of his father - a daredevil barnstormer who perished trying to wow crowds and killed Caution's mother from the shock. Now Caution has worked his way up the ladder as an ultra-conservative general manager of a small airline. But against his better judgement, Caution must risk the hazards of a round-world air race. Joined by a fiery blonde stunt flyer as his female co-pilot, he begins the journey only to discover that a rival airline is trying to sabotage their every move.

Lucky Martin is a daredevil of the skies - a test pilot who lives to break the rules and push the envelope. He’s a trailblazer - flying higher and faster than any pilot out there. His latest invention could change the face of air warfare and alter the balance of world power. It’s The Dive Bomber - a perfectly designed aircraft for the US Navy. There’s only one problem - up to now, every test flight has ended in disaster. The reason: sabotage.

Pilot Pete England used to think there was nothing more exciting in the world than flying off into the wild blue yonder. But lately, the blue yonder hasn’t been wild at all...it’s been downright dull. Pete’s hungry for adventure - and he’s about to get his fill. Pete has fallen into a rut, flying the same route - New York to DC - with the same passengers, day after day after day. He might as well be driving a bus...until “her highness” climbs aboard. Apparently a princess, and for one flight, she’s bought up every ticket on the plane.

Winchester Remington Smith is a crack shot. Problem is, surrounded by roller coasters and merry-go-rounds, his talent is going to waste, knocking down ducks in a carnival shooting gallery. Win wants some real action, and he’s running off to join the US Marines to fight a guerilla insurgency south of the border. In the jungles of Central America, Win takes a different kind of roller-coaster ride. Quick and quiet, he’s now a runner. It’s a vital role, but he feels like a messenger boy, unable to put his rifle to good use.

American Ann Halliday is as fiery as the Sahara sun. And now she’s feeling some real heat, as the prize captive of the Berber leader Abd el Malek also known as “The Killer”. But Abd el Malek wants Ann alive - and in chains - subject to his every whim and fantasy. Dusty Colton, however, an American deserter from the French Foreign Legion, has a different idea, and he’s determined to give “The Killer” a taste of his own bloody medicine. The only problem is Dusty himself is wanted for murder.

The ancient jungles of the Yucatan hide a world of secrets ... the secrets of wealth, love, and fate. Now daredevil pilot Kurt Reid is about to tempt fate and fly into the heart of that jungle in search of his destiny—an adventure as daring and dangerous as any undertaken by Indiana Jones. He’s looking for gold, but not just any. He’s after one particular nugget—flying blind into a tropical haystack in search of a very valuable needle.

Embittered by past failures and broken dreams, American fighter pilot David Duane believes in but one cause - his own. Europe is at war, and he’ll fight it for a price, selling his deadly flying skills to the highest bidder. Duane has come to the icy white wastes of Scandinavia to wage a private war in the skies. But he’s about to take off on a flight and undertake an unforgettable journey - On Blazing Wings - to a place beyond the imagination...leading to a revelation that will open his eyes and his heart.

A blind obsession. A driving ambition. A relentless, unrestrained, single-minded pursuit of a shiny metal. These are the symptoms of a condition known as gold fever, and, like Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, American mining engineer Captain Humbert Reynolds has got it bad. Possible side effects include: temporary insanity, a propensity for violence, and death.

Mart Kincaid may be the fastest gun in the state, but it does him no good - because his gun and his life are not his own. They belong to Gar Malone, the King of Concha Basin, a ruthless rancher driven by his thirst for power, wealth, and conquest. Now Gar has set his sights on the Singing Canyon spread - the richest land in the basin - and he commands Kincaid to run its true owners off. If not, he threatens to reveal a dark secret that could ruin Kincaid's brother.

Saddle tramp Petey McGuire doesn’t have much to live for. The trail in front of him stretches out long and hot, and there’s no end in sight. He’s been beaten down, beaten up, and kicked around so long, he’d run away from his own shadow if he could. But there’s one fight he can’t run from - the fight against hunger. Petey needs a job quick, before he drops dead in the dust. But the only way to get one is to act cool and talk tough - in other words, become the exact opposite of Petey McGuire.

The Chinese city of Shunkien is under siege, the Japanese military laying it to waste. In the middle of the city sits the American consulate, a fragile sanctuary packed with refugees, threatened not only by artillery, but by the ravages of starvation and cholera. 200 miles away, on the USS Miami, stands their only hope - Marine Gunnery Sergeant James Mitchell. As tough as Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan - and just as stubborn - if anybody can negotiate a crucial supply of gold and medicine through 200 miles of bullets, bombs and butchery, it’s Sergeant Mitchell.

Forged in the hot sun and sand of the Arizona desert, Chinook Shannon is as tough as they come. But Chinook is far from home—in the north country of Montana—and facing a challenge as big as the territory itself. Following his grandfather’s suspicious death, he’s come to Montana to claim his inheritance—the family’s cattle ranch. But the territory’s crawling with bandits and bankers, and they all want a piece of Chinook’s land.

Penniless, homeless, and virtually lifeless, the vagrant “Doughface” Jack is about to discover that where medical marvels meet the mysteries of the human mind, amazing things happen. The Tramp acquires a capability beyond his imagination and without equal on Earth. Riding the rails, Jack runs afoul of a local sheriff and ends up with a crushed skull. He’s as good as dead until a savvy country doctor performs a bit of medical magic.

An obscure original manuscript of Marco Polo’s travels ... A tantalizing clue to the site of Kublai Khan’s fabled burial site ... A chance to unearth the truth behind a long-lost treasure. It’s an opportunity that would make Indiana Jones drop everything but his whip and race off to China. But he’d be too late. Lieutenant Jonathan Daly is way ahead of him. Two bullet holes and a bad case of malaria may not be enough to stop Daly, but a crew of criminals, a brood of British agents, and the entire Chinese army are all in the game ... and determined to keep him out of it.

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Johnny Trescott is as smart, tough, and fearless as they come. But he’s about to lose everything - his boat, his freedom, and his identity. Johnny’s mission is to track down drug runners in the Gulf of Mexico, and he’s got his eye on the biggest fish of all - Georges Coquelin. But an SOS from a downed plane that’s sinking fast leads him straight to disaster. Coquelin springs a trap. Stranding Johnny and the plane’s passengers on a deserted island, the drug smuggler commandeers Johnny’s boat and his name.

As a young man Monte Calhoun was as wild as they come, thinking the measure of a man was how hard he could drink and how straight he can shoot. But several years of schooling back East have changed him. Monte has become The No-Gun Man. The East Coast has civilized him, and he’s bringing some of that civilization home to Superstition, Arizona...even if it means refusing to avenge the murder of his own father.

Every man walks with a shadow...but what happens when he acquires a second one? Just ask Brazos, a cold-blooded killer for hire with blood on his hands and a posse on his tail. Desperate for cash, Brazos accepts $200 to gun down a local man named Brant. He’ll earn every penny...but in the end there’ll be the devil to pay. Because to put a bullet in Brant means putting one in his partner as well - an eerie stranger schooled in the black art of witchcraft. This is one killing that brings with it a deadly curse - and a second shadow.

The Japanese military has turned the once-thriving Chinese city of Nencheng into a reeking pile of blood and ash. And now the Japanese Rising Sun threatens to scorch the ancient - and oil-rich - Kingdom of the Silver Lake. Can the Chinese survive the onslaught? Do they have a prayer? The answer is about to fall out of the sky. He is The Falcon Killer.

Flying into action, daredevil photojournalist Johnny Brice is always looking for trouble...and more often than not, finding it. But he doesn’t know what real trouble is until he rescues the beautiful woman he calls Jinx from a sinking ship. They’re made for each other - even if they are a dangerous mix.