Showing results by narrator "Clay" in All Categories

It is 1890. In the twilight of his years, Carl Brooke records his reminiscences as a member of the Agora Society. Each letter describes the society's involvement in solving a crime, often coming to the aid of Captain Barnwell of the Boston police.

Learn the history and surrounding beliefs, as well as practices and spirits and saints of African American Hoodoo.

Join Carl Brooke and Captain Barnwell on their final adventure together. Reeling from the horrific pain of the loss of Anne, his wife, Carl Brooke must face his ultimate nemesis, Thomas Drake. Did Drake play a hand in Anne’s death? Can Carl stop Drake before he harms his daughter, Mary?

Fresh from West Point, Second Lieutenant Marcus Cavanaugh arrives with a platoon of recruits from the East into territory seething with Indian trouble. Two Eagles and his renegade band of Cheyenne warriors have broken the peace, raiding railroad crews and wagon trains, slaughtering men, women, and children, then disappearing into the hills. Scouting for Two Eagles' war party, Cavanaugh, at last, discovers their winter village, barely escaping with his life to report back to the fort. But nothing in his military training has prepared him for the danger he encounters.

An anonymous telegram introduces Carl Brooke to both his future wife and her conflicted brother, who harbors a dark secret from the Civil War. The discovery of a deliberately cut tree reveals the presence of a mysterious one-legged man and the possible reemergence of Carl's nemesis, Thomas Drake.

Five years after botching the Gabriel Wheeler abduction case, Detective Harvey Sam faces the second major case of his career. An asthmatic mother, Gillian, eats peanut butter before surgery - and dies on the operating table as planned. Her suicide ends an abusive affair and is meant to provide for her family through a malpractice settlement. Instead, Gillian’s husband, her teenage son, and a doctor with a multiple personality disorder must flee for their lives. They are pursued by the doctor’s husband, the psychopathic lover who drove Gillian to her death.

Take a Hike! is the story of one man's journey on the 2,167 mile long Appalachian Trail. Tim Hewitt, whose trail name was Paddler, talks about trip planning and preparation and shares with you his daily journal for his six month adventure. He is joined on the trip by his 13-year-old son David for five weeks in the summer. David's journal and perspective are also included. This book is not intended to be an all-inclusive planning guide for your Appalachian Trail thru-hike, but it does contain information that the author believes will help you succeed in your own adventure.

Carl Brooke, a scholar of ancient Near Eastern languages, now spends his twilight years chronicling the adventures of his youth as a leading member of the Agora Society, a society dedicated to the betterment of man. Fans of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot will enjoy Carl Brooke and his Agora Society in these five very different cases.

An art critic is brutally murdered, and the subject of his last review is suspected. Did the artist do it, or was it one of the family members - all of whom had motive and opportunity? Join Carl Brooke and Captain Barnwell as they uncover the clues and weed through the red herrings to discover the surprising identity of the murderer.

Captain Barnwell, a longtime honorary member of the Agora Society, presents to the members a solved case one clue at a time. Three suspects. One murderer. Who is the murderer and why?

Edison, the most proper member of the Agora Society, hides a past he thought was long buried. The sudden appearance of a strange priest, however, reveals secrets that demand Edison honor an oath made long ago. With news of the imminent arrival of assassins, can Captain Barnwell and the members of the Agora Society discover the truth in time to save a friend?

Murder and intrigue abound. At the center of it all appears a mysterious sheikh and his cursed ruby.

The goal of mankind is knowledge. That is the one ideal placed before us by Eastern philosophy. Pleasure is not the goal of man, but knowledge. Pleasure and happiness come to an end. It is a mistake to suppose that pleasure is the goal. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that men foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal for which to strive. After a time, man finds it is not happiness, but knowledge, toward which he is going, that both pleasure and pain are great teachers, and that he learns as much from evil as from good.

This book contains two short stories, inspired by my experiences thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. The first tells of the Ugalu, a Cherokee Nation spirit-beast and how it was instrumental in the creation of the balds in the Southern Appalachians. The second is a tale of Pamola, the Penobscot Nation demon-beast who inhabits the summit of Mount Katahdin, the Northern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail in Maine.

A string of thefts ends in a grisly murder. Certain evidence leads Captain Barnwell to suspect a former thief, Rutherford Nordlinger, as the culprit. Carl Brooke becomes personally involved as Nordlinger’s guilt is questioned. In the style of Arthur Conan Doyle, Clay Boutwell brings back the Agora Society and its premiere scholar, Carl Brooke. This is the second novella in the Agora series, the first being Two Tocks Before Midnight.

Kidnapped! An honorable man has gone missing and his wife is not in the least helpful. The sheriff dithers and every day brings death closer to a reality. It is late 1865. After hostilities cease, the Agora Society, led by the indomitable Carl Brooke, sends a group to aid the reconstruction of Wilmington Port in North Carolina and to encourage its sister society, the Nec Temere. Unknown to the volunteers, a heinous crime has been committed, creating a greater urgency for the Agora's more ... colorful services.

During one of the most successful exhibitions in the history of the British Museum, catastrophe strikes. An unexpected seismic anomaly rocks London, causing immense damage to the exhibits on show. One of the damaged artifacts is a male sculpture belonging to collector Dr. James Heidmann's collection of Greek Mythology. Upon investigation, benefactor Dave Purdue and curator Prof. Helen Barry discover that the broken statue had in fact once been a human being. This begs the question as to the origin of its condition, which immediately sparks Purdue's interest.

Two years after losing their infant son to a tragic accident, Peter Martell, a novelist with a peculiar knack for finding lost things, and his wife, Sylvia, are devastated to learn they may no longer be able to have children. In need of a fresh start, and compelled by strange dreams, the couple decide to rent a lake house in the idyllic town of Gilchrist, Massachusetts, a place where bad things might just happen for a reason. As bizarre events begin to unfold around them, Peter and Sylvia are drawn into the chaos.

In the 1830s, Jack Kelly is an Irish lad sold into indentured servitude. Jack's master turns out to be a mean-tempered drunk in frontier St. Louis and treats him harshly. There, Jack learns how to hunt, shoot a bow and arrow, trap, and throw a Tomahawk superbly - gaining his nickname, "Hatchet Jack". One day, Jack's master beats him to within an inch of his life. Jack vows to escape to the untamed West to become a Mountain Man fur trapper. Thus begins an adventure.

A young Chatti by the name of Adalwulf rides his stolen horse to the lands of the Marcomanni, hoping to find a ring-giver and a new life. What he finds instead is a mysterious priestess looking for him, his innate ability to fight like a demi-god, and plenty of trouble. In the era of Augustus, the borders of River Rhenus are waiting for a change. While the Marcomanni have an uneasy peace with Rome, Rome is turning its eye to the north. The feuds of two Goth lords, Bero and Hulderic, thrust Adalwulf in a desperate quest that will determine his future.