In the real world, public figures are
faced with hazardous situations every day. Stalkers, inappropriate or
threatening communications, and unwelcome approaches are all part of
public life. The fiction thriller Mortal Shield, by
protection-expert Thomas Taylor, delves into the hearts and minds of
bodyguards, the dignitaries they protect, and the opponents they attempt
to foil. Mortal Shield is a realistic and spellbinding portrayal
of protection work, which captures the everyday challenge of guarding
high-level VIPs.
When Allison Culbertson takes the case of Joey
Red Horse, an Osage Indian charged with stealing a sacred artifact from the
Heartland Mound Builder Museum, she finds herself in the middle of a
courtroom battle pitting contemporary American Indians against a private
museum over legal rights to the bones of "Bootheel Man," a Native American
who lived, fought, and loved Cahokia and Southeast Missouri in the year
1050.
Around noon, November 22, 1915, everyone in Stoutland, Missouri, who
could walk or ride rushed to view the mortal remains of one of the
area’s most prosperous farmers and leading citizens. Hidden in a brush
pile on nearby Rouse Hill, the victim’s body displayed the marks of a
determined and vicious killer.
Alan Terry Wright’s suspenseful tale of greed, fraud, political
influence, and cold-blooded murder will keep you riveted. His
descriptions of the predawn killing, carried out in pitch darkness on a
public road, and the agony of “Sam,” Francis’s prized horse, tied by the
killer and left to starve, are both frightening and moving.
The novel traces the life of
African-American Brewster McAtee, a hardworking and innovative carpenter, as
he struggles for his dreams to own land and build a home and respectability
in rural Alabama. When the Civil Rights Movement explodes, he is drawn into
the core of the conflict, where he and his family face the ultimate loss
from which they may never recover.
Winner of the James Jones First Novel
Award Winner of the Langum Award for Historical Fiction
Selected by Booklist as a top choice for adults and young adults
An exciting historical novel that begins and
ends with a modern-day courtroom drama over buried treasure. The secrets of
the treasure emerge in a journey back to the steamboating days along the
Mississippi River. Two young lovers face myriad trials and adventures
together until—in the ultimate test of their love—the Civil War places them,
their community, and an entire nation in devastating turmoil.
