J.M. MITCHELL Author of the Jack Chastain / National Park Mysteries
Killing Godiva's Horse
Why would a congressman attacking Park Ranger Jack Chastain compare his own cause to that of Lady Godiva? Honorable the congressman is not, and his motives leave Chastain with little choice but to go after the horse he rode in on.
When Ranger Jack Chastain is drawn into battle by a man trying to start a western lands rebellion, the agency hides him in Kenya until the storm passes and to finish the research of a scientist killed by rhino poachers. While there, he hears something shocking, a campfire revelation that pitches Jack into a dangerous investigation of a ruthless rhino horn buyer.
But Jack's life in New Mexico comes unraveled, forcing him home, and—inadvertently—onto a raft on an angry river, trapped between warring politicos. One man's pain can be another man's game. If the game is being played to hide secrets, the truth can be hard to find.
An action and adventure mystery sitting at the crossroads of international and wild-country thrillers
A National Park / Jack Chastain Mystery. ISBN: 978-0-9852272-7-2. $16.95
“...a pull-no-punches tale of the struggles between outsiders and residents, urban and rural, traditional and modern ... a good read.”
- Mark Lehnertz, Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver.
The Height of Secrecy
Colorado Author’s League 2015 Award for Mainstream Fiction
If a park ranger saves someone from danger—the reasons not quite understood—are they entitled to secrets that can’t be shared?
High on a treacherous canyon wall, a man from the pueblo clings to a ledge. Furiously working to rescue him, Park Ranger Jack Chastain is nearly killed. Now he wants an explanation, and the man refuses to talk.
Jack learns the secret revolves around a death sixteen years before, and a lot more is now at stake. While looking for answers, ghosts from Jack's own past threaten his new life in New Mexico.
When protecting a place loved by many—a national park—competes with the appeal of the rich and powerful, short-term admiration can have lasting consequences. Jack Chastain is forced to choose. Play the suck-up game with the others or protect a Native American man with something to hide.
A National Park / Jack Chastain Mystery. ISBN: 978-0-9852272-5-8. $14.95.
“Loved it. A masterpiece of plot, setting and characters, complete with insider authenticity.”
- Betty Palmer, op. cit. Books, Taos.
Public Trust
The story of our times. Common ground, or no rules and all's fair?
A National Park/Jack Chastain mystery. ISBN: 978-0-9852272-2-7; $14.95 paperback; $24.95 hardcover.
Who can you really trust? Nosy neighbors? Those damned outsiders? The government? … a Park Ranger who wants nothing more than to hide from the shadowy affronts that follow him?
Ranger Jack Chastain returns to the canyons of New Mexico after fighting wildfires, and steps into a political firestorm. But of whose making? He wants to run, but a beautiful woman makes him take a stand.
Who is behind the threats to destroy a national park? And a newly created national monument, and nature itself? When mysterious provocations pit neighbor against neighbor, a battle between 'self- interest' and 'do the right thing' ensues, trapping Chastain between people who face hard truths about who they can really trust, and a fire that can change everything.
Public Trust is the original Jack Chastain National Park Mystery, where he finds the embrace and solitude of the desert southwest, and meets Kelly Culberson, a woman lamenting seeing her community torn apart.
A novel in the tradition of national park mysteries and ranger action adventures.
“...a fun read ... Mitchell knows how things can go bad.” - Ranger Magazine.