Showing results by author "Loretta Jackson" in All Categories

In Book 2 of the Ardis Cole mystery series, Ardis travels to Scotland to do a facial reconstruction on a skull her friend Bruce McBrier has discovered in the woods outside his ancestral castle. Because of an ancient ax buried in the skull, Bruce presumes the skull to be a historical relic, possibly the remains of a medieval ancestor murdered in battle. When Ardis makes the shocking discovery that the remains are that of a more recent murder, Constable Mark Ridley asks for her help.

When Lorene Whitten returns to Garland, Kansas, because of her father's illness, she is shocked to find that her childhood playmate, Cassa, has been missing all of this time. The Lander farm evokes haunting, ghost-like memories of her little playmate, as if Cassa were beckoning to her from the grave. Lorene starts asking questions and encounters resistance from the close-knit group of three long-time friends and town leaders who call themselves the Knights of Garland, of which her father is a member.

This is book #1 in the new Ardis Cole mystery series. Ardis is an archaeologist (a female Indiana Jones), and in this adventure she travels to Egypt to help excavate a minor tomb of ancient origin recently discovered by her mentor, Jane Darvin. When Jane is murdered, Ardis must assume responsibility for the project.

When Sheriff Jeff McQuede's friend, Barry Dawson, tricks him into attending a Bigfoot convention at the small town of Trails' End, he finds the adventure is only beginning. He is soon invited by the head of the research team, Dr. Adam Kurtz, to hike with them into the isolated mountains below Lost Man's Peak where few people ever venture.

Ardis travels to China to help her elderly friend, Dr. Yong Po, locate a Han dynasty cave tomb. Her American associate, Grant Merlin, fails to join her as planned. Grant had fallen out of favor with the University when a small jade miniature was stolen from a traveling exhibit under his charge. Sheri, Grant’s ex-wife joins Ardis instead of Grant. When Sheri is attacked by someone wearing a crimson mask, she swears Grant has followed her to China to seek revenge.

Ardis Cole is summoned to Russia to help Grant Merlin’s friend, Nikolai, locate a priceless marble statue called Neva. The life-sized sculpture vanished seven years ago, along with the artist, Nikolai’s uncle Treve Savik. Most people believe Treve destroyed his masterpiece and then committed suicide after being jilted by the statue’s beautiful model, Varina Morinsky.

Enterprising Boyd Archer decides to purchase and renovate the old ghost town of Galva, Wyoming, site of the once prosperous Galva Gold Mine. During the mine’s heyday, a strongbox filled with gold and jewelry was stolen in a stagecoach robbery by Max Rigby, the vicious Black Mountain Bandit. This treasure is rumored to be hidden somewhere on his rugged mountain property. As a promotional stunt, in the spirit of fun, Archer advertises a hunt for the missing strongbox. Archer doesn’t count on the ruffians who appear in serious quest.

Sheriff Jeff McQuede becomes suspicious when a robber breaks into the Coal County Museum and steals only one item - a black-and-white class photograph. Under the name Jerome Slade the photographer had printed two ominous words: never graduated. When a body is unearthed beneath the newly demolished school, McQuede realizes Slade had not left Black Mountain the night of the spring dance. McQuede soon uncovers hidden rivalries between Slade and his classmates.

Sheriff Jeff McQuede finds "Bartering Bill" Garr murdered at his rural antique store. Only one item is missing - a rare artifact believed to be the Pedro Mummy. First discovered in a cave in Wyoming, the Pedro Mummy was reported missing in the 1950s. Dr. Seth Talbot, newly arrived in town, has put out a $15,000 reward for any information on the mummy, hoping that modern technology will prove his theory that a tiny race of people actually existed: one the Shoshones call the Nimerigar, or Little People.

The famous Carlo painting Stealer of Horses sells for cash in a small Wyoming town and gallery owner Sheldon Spence gives the $200,000 to his wife, who walks over to the bank to make the deposit...and never returns. A witness claims to have seen a frightened-looking Susan Spence in a battered old Chevy, speeding out of town. And each succeeding clue reveals a different angle on her disappearance.

Late at night, Sheriff Jeff McQuede is awakened by a frantic pounding on his door. Arden Reed, his rival for Loris Conner, pleads for his help in finding Loris, who has been kidnapped. Reed claims she possesses a metal cross that will lead to a Spanish cave filled with history-changing artifacts.

When Ardis Cole’s colleague, Red Michels, meets with a fatal accident, she volunteers to take over his project. Ardis flies to Galveston, Texas, where in 1858 the old clipper ship, The Fortune, wrecked in a hurricane. Known to be aboard the sunken ship is a fabulous gem - the Sea Star Emerald - once stolen by the infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte. Ardis soon discovers that modern-day treasure hunters are determined to beat her to the jewel.

While returning from Professor Dawson's lecture on haunted places, the last thing Sheriff Jeff McQuede and Dawson expect to encounter is a terrified woman clinging to the railing of Mirabella's Bridge, crying for her lost baby. It looks as if Rae Harris has thrown the infant over the bridge in a fit of despair, but she claims he has been stolen by a ghostly figure she calls Mirabella. Similar to the La Llorona legend Dawson just spoke about, Mirabella was a local pioneer woman who was rumored to have drowned her infant after being abandoned by a lover.

When Ardis is sent to South Dakota to handle a bequest of pioneer and Sioux artifacts left to the University of Chicago by wealthy private collector Anthony LaMoine, she gets a load of trouble that she hadn’t expected - a stolen ruby, a friend’s missing son, and a skeleton in the cellar! Ardis learns that Anthony had an adopted son. For reasons unknown to Ardis, his son ran away from home during his teenage years. “Find the son,” the housekeeper tells her, “and you’ll find the thief.”

In the heart of a raging blizzard Sheriff Jeff McQuede discovers a woman frozen to death in her car. At first he believes her death to be an unfortunate accident - until he finds clues that point to cold-blooded murder. Margaret's husband, Arthur, left her in the stalled vehicle to brave the storm and manages to reach Joe Trevino's isolated ranch. The case becomes more complicated because of the recent warehouse robberies at Trevino's store. McQueede finds that Trevino is Margaret Burnell's business partner and that she has traveled from their Casper store to conduct a company audit.

Who killed Judge Grayson? When Sheriff Jeff McQuede finds Durmont's highly respected judge, Phil Grayson, bludgeoned to death in his study, a black executioner's hood shoved over his head, he faces his toughest case yet. The judge has many enemies, including Darin Keefe, sentenced by Grayson and just released from prison. McQuede soon finds out that Keefe's case is linked to a city scandal that may involve Grayson.

To create excitement, Ruger, a shady dealer at the annual rendezvous flea market, puts up for auction a locked Civil War trunk with contents to be sold sight unseen! That night, the highest bidder, Zeke Jones, is found stabbed to death beside the trunk. Sheriff Jeff McQuede believes Jones has interrupted a robbery in progress. Several people had offered to buy old coins, photos, and medals from him, which indicates to McQuede that Jones had already sold what the robber had been after.

Sheriff Jeff McQuede battles treacherous rapids in search of Andy Norton. Twenty-one-year-old Andy, known for perpetuating fake publicity stunts, has wandered from the isolated Rapid River Outpost and failed to return. When McQuede arrives at the lodge, to his amazement he encounters the person he least expects — Loris Conner — who has just days ago left him at the altar.

Threatened victim, waiting grave...Sheriff McQuede is called to the cemetery by Ben Ward, a member of Durmont's Good Old Boys' Club. Ward's tombstone, where he plans someday to be buried with his first wife, is vandalized. A menacing date of death, fast approaching, has been drilled into the stone, and splotches of red paint drips over it like blood.

Lara Radburn arrives minutes after a crime is committed. She finds her renter, Crystal Mar, a local artist, dead. She has been bludgeoned by one of her own works in progress, the sculpture of a fierce lion. Her four-year-old daughter, Karma, has disappeared. In a frantic search through the surrounding woods, Lara encounters a stranger who helps her find Crystal’s child. But she soon discovers that Dane Lanford is the man who has taken her late brother’s role as head of the local art retreat, a place shrouded in rumors and mystery, and has ties to Crystal through her artwork.