Lots of things have been going on. Two new books have been released. ‘The Golden Disc of the Mayans’ came out in KINDLE and paperback versions on Aug. 13, 2025. It’s the third book in the Lizard Key Series following the adventures of the modern-day pirate, Nick Roberts. And now, the second book in the Victor Grant, Private Detective series, ‘DRAGON EYES’ was released on Oct. 28 in both KINDLE and paperback versions. All books are available through AMAZON BOOKS. Just type in my name and they should all come up.
Continue reading News from Lizard Key BooksTag Archives: Novel
Victor Grant, Private Investigator: Dragon Eyes
When Victor Grant, a private investigator, gets a call from Detective Captain Walt Ritter from the San Francisco Police Department he gets an offer he can’t refuse. As a former police detective with the SFPD, Victor and Walt are old friends. The assignment seems simple. A wealthy widowed relative of Walt’s wants a bodyguard to escort her on a very secretive trip to Hawaii where she plans to buy something. She won’t divulge what it is, but she is a well-known art collector, so it’s assumed it’s a valuable art object.
Continue reading Victor Grant, Private Investigator: Dragon Eyes
The Gold Disc Of The Mayans
In 1542 Spanish conquistadors led by El Mozo began their final conquest of the Mayans in the Yucatan area of what is now Mexico. The Mayan king knew the end was near and gave his son the assignment to hide their most sacred object before it would fall into the hands of the Spanish. The object was a golden disc with a pure quartz stone in the middle and was said to be a gift from the Gods. The disc was kept in a box made of jade and the young prince was instructed to hide in a place where it could not be found. It should remain hidden until such time when the Mayans could rise up again against their Spanish oppressors.
Continue reading The Gold Disc Of The Mayans
The Voyage of the Island Girl – A wartime Tale of the South Pacific
In 1939 the world was in turmoil. Germany, under Hitler and the Nazi regime had invaded several smaller countries with little or no resistance. When they invaded Poland, Great Britain and France declared war and World War II began. On the other side of the world, the Japanese had invaded China and were also at war. Emboldened by the lack of response to Hitler’s aggression they attacked China and were making inroads into the South Pacific driven by their imperialism and need for raw materials.
The United States was trying to remain neutral as they were providing aid to both Great Britain and Europe. Tensions were also rising between the United States and Japan as the United States was aiding China and refusing to sell oil to Japan.
Continue reading The Voyage of the Island Girl – A wartime Tale of the South Pacific
The Adventures of Bo Avery: Shanghaied – A Western Adventure
Bo Avery and his friend, Charlie Bixby, led a wagon train to California in 1858. Bo had fallen in love with a girl named Kate who had left the train at Fort Hall. Kate, her sister, and her sister’s husband went on to the Oregon Territory to get established in the new country.
Bo promised Kate as soon as he was done with his obligation to get the wagon train to California, he would come to Oregon to be with her. When they got the emigrants to Sacramento, he and Charlie got their pay. Charlie wanted to go to San Francisco because he had heard so much about it and he wanted to see the ocean. Bo decided to go along and then make his way north to the Oregon Territory and find Kate.
Continue reading The Adventures of Bo Avery: Shanghaied – A Western Adventure
The Adventures of Bo Avery: The Way West – A Western Adventure
In 1850, the United States was less than seventy-five years old. In the context of the long-established countries of Europe it was in its infancy. Yet the speed and development as a country was unprecedented. From the thirteen original colonies on the east coast, the country had now spread west all the way to the Pacific. The concept of manifest destiny had taken hold, and the millions of Indians living there were viewed as in the way of the nation’s progress. The discovery of gold in California created a boom of development on the west coast but between the east and west coasts lay the vastness of America, still wild, untamed and lawless. Between Independence, Missouri and California would be turbulent weather, unimagined hardship, disease, hostile Indians, bandits, and for many, death.
Continue reading The Adventures of Bo Avery: The Way West – A Western Adventure
Terror of the Flesh Eater
Ralph Glidden (1881-1968) was a self-proclaimed, self-taught archeologist who lived on Catalina Island from the age of fifteen. He was primarily viewed as a charlatan, self-promoter, and grave robber but he did discover over 800 grave sites and 4000 skeletons on Catalina Island. He was the curator of a morbidly bizarre museum where he displayed the bones taken from the graves. Shelves held up with thigh bones displayed sculls among a variety of other artifacts. Towards the end of his life, he claimed to have uncovered the secret history of Catalina’s past, a race of ‘White Indians’ and a race of giants that inhabited the island. He related a tale of finding the grave of a ‘Royal Princess’ buried in a ceremonial 138-pound urn with a group of sixty-four children buried with her and at the bottom of the grave, the skeleton of a seven-foot, eight-inch giant. Mainstream scientists rebuffed him and his findings, thoroughly discrediting him. His claim was never validated and his collection of skeletons, reportedly sent to several museums, has never been seen again.
Continue reading Terror of the Flesh Eater
Lady in Blue
San Francisco… 1935. During the depression San Francisco was not much different then most other cities in the United States. The economy was depressed and there were men out of work. The Golden Gate and Bay Bridge projects were underway which helped a bit, and the port provided some jobs, but not enough to go around.
Continue reading Lady in Blue
Lynching at Stone Creek
A Novel of the Old West
Fort Smith, Arkansas sat on the border of Indian Territory in 1875. It was a rowdy place filled with brothels, saloons, and outlaws. It was said that there was ‘no law west of Arkansas’ and not much in Fort Smith. That changed when Judge Isaac Parker was appointed to the bench. Known as ‘the hanging judge’, Judge Parker was stern and unbending in his application of the law… his court often referred to as the ‘court of the damned’. The jail at Fort Smith where outlaws were held awaiting trial wasn’t a pleasant place to be and was considered to be ‘hell on the border’.
Continue reading Lynching at Stone CreekTexas Jack: Morgan Hawk’s Last Ride
A Western Adventure: Texas Jack Book 6
The Kansas/Missouri border was a dangerous place during the Civil War and in the years that followed. Kansas entered the Union as an anti-slavery State only months before the war started and was bordered by the Pro-slavery State of Missouri. ‘Border Ruffians’ like William Quantrill fought for the Confederacy while ‘Free Staters’ and ‘Jayhawkers’ fought for the Union. They were all guerrilla fighters led by men of often questionable morality. There was only some measure of legitimacy given to them by the Confederate and Union governments respectively because they claimed they were fighting for the same cause. The results on both sides was the same… people killed while towns were sacked and burned.
Continue reading Texas Jack: Morgan Hawk’s Last Ride