Bøker i Examinations of Paradise-serien

"John Holt's writings make the stark beauty of wilderness lands seem as real as if you're standing there on a high plateau with him. His characters are sunburnt, wind-blistered real. The harsh reality of living off the land offers a pleasure all its own. And death is always a integral part of Holt's landscape."- Nick Teranzi, Online Critics CornerJack Graves lived off the land, hunting and fishing and making his own way in this harsh, dry country that lay well away from cities. Free. Lonesome. No rules. But then his solitude is interrupted. Dark Star helicopters hovering over Mad Woman Gulch. Fires. Dead men. What was happening to his beloved Montana wilderness? Coal mining, that was nature's enemy. Meanwhile, Dark Star went about the business of punching the line through, hopefully before the winter weather, ugly storms screaming down from the arctic, closed in sometime in November. Piles of steel railroad ties, miles of heavy steel track, powerful graders, earth hauling rigs the size of houses, lots of explosives, track-laying machinery, D-11s, all of this stuff began accumulating in the company's yard. Would his life ever be the same?

"I've become a big fan of this amiable mystery series that's mindful of Jonathan and Jennifer Hart of Hart To Hart. It's addictive."- Barthélemy Banks, Mumm's CurseNorm and Catterina Knoll lived in the on Sugarloaf Key in the Florida Keys. They had it made. He had a successful high-end boat dealership and they enjoyed lots of leisure time on the water. Their Friends, Will and Betsy Black often shared the good times with them. Then Catterina was kidnapped. Norm was devastated and moved heaven and earth to get the ransom money ... but everything kept going wrong. Would he ever see his wife alive again? You'll be captivated as this tale unfolds ... where everything is not as it seems and there are plot twists around every corner.

"Westerners have come in all sorts - ranchers, frontiersmen, gold miners, gunfighters, even singing cowboys. John Holt gives us a poet, lamenting the passing of the West. His character's poems equal the story he tells."- Hollis George, editorial director and anthologistThe West has been celebrated with songs, words and photographs for well over 100 years. This novel is about poet John Wesley Gill, who lives in the Sweet Grass Hills, and his struggle to come to grips with the changing West as he also decides to resurrect his writing career through good deeds and very dark ones including murder. The book is a reflection of his travels. Gill's poems define his road experiences and this lyricism is reflected in the narrative that takes him along rough roads that lead to wild, out-of-the-way high plains mayhem and desolate locations.

Can men overcome their darkest nature and most compelling fears in this life, even if this struggle ultimately leads to their deaths? The wildly spectacular Arctic north of Canada is the setting for The Lost Patrol, a page from history Four men were led by Royal Northwest Mounted Police Inspector Francis J. Fitzgerald as they attempted to deliver annual reports and mail to the district office. The patrol left Ft. McPherson, Northwest Territories in late December 1910 headed for Dawson City, Yukon. Their trail runs along now-frozen rivers, through dense virgin forest, over rugged mountain passes and across trackless Arctic tundra, all of this during days holding less than four hours of light. Trouble sets in as the men become lost and are forced to constantly retrace their steps looking in vain for a turnoff that leads over the Wernecke Mountains. Temperatures reach minus 64 degrees then suddenly warm up to the point that frozen rivers turn to slush making travel nearly impossible. Food runs short. Their guide becomes disoriented. The now frost-bitten, emaciated men are forced to eat their sled dogs, then the animals' leather harness. They all die within a couple of days of each other along the Peel River, only 20 miles from the salvation of the fort. Fitzgerald's disaster is still discussed in the north country. People wonder what went wrong and say over drinks in isolated taverns in isolated settlements, "If it could happen to him, it could happen to me." Death is always close by in this beautiful, little-changed landscape. The Lost Patrol's fate brings this death that much closer.