Wilderness Mystery

"Wilderness," a darkly intriguing short story first published as an e-book original, was written as prelude to Dean Koontz’s novel of mystery, suspense, and strange wonder - Innocence.

Shattered by the discovery of her husband's affair, Liv knows they need to leave the chaos of New York to save their marriage. Maybe the road trip they'd always planned, exploring America's national parks - just the two of them - would help heal the wounds.

Since 1980, depth psychologist Bill Plotkin has been guiding women and men into the wilderness - the redrock canyons and snow-crested mountains of the American West - but also into the wilds of the soul. He calls this work soulcraft. There's a great longing in all people to uncover the secrets and mysteries of our individual lives, to find the unique gift we were born to bring to our communities, and to experience our full membership in the more-than-human world.

The house has sat empty for 15 years, taking up prime real estate along the picturesque coastline. Built by one of the founders of South Cove, its last known owner, Maryanne Demerit, vanished without a trace. Now her home will be demolished for a condo development, but until then, it's the perfect spot for a Halloween haunted house. Jill Gardner, her boyfriend, and three other couples are spending the weekend in the Demerit home. But what begins as an all-in-good-fun fright fest turns into a mystery begging to be solved as Jill is contacted by the ghost of Maryanne.

Can a dead serial killer still haunt her? Maribeth has created a safe little world for herself. A cabin in the middle of the woods is perfect for her, her dog, chickens and pigs. Throw in some back-breaking chores and bow-hunting and she has enough to fill her days. She doesn't have to fill her nights. That's when the ghosts of her family visit. Two years before, the case she'd worked as a homicide detective, didn't stay neatly within her business hours. It ended up following her home, destroying her and her family in the process. But now, something has invaded her safe space. Or has her ...

The Cold Creek Highway stretches close to five hundred miles through British Columbia’s rugged wilderness to the west coast. Isolated and vast, it has become a prime hunting ground for predators. For decades, young women traveling the road have gone missing. Motorists and hitchhikers, those passing through or living in one of the small towns scattered along the region, have fallen prey time and again. And no killer or abductor who has stalked the highway has ever been brought to justice.

After five years in hiding from their murderous father, the day Kristen and Ryan McIntyre have been dreading has arrived: Boyd McIntyre, head of a Los Angeles crime family, has at last tracked his kids to a small Montana town and is minutes away from kidnapping them. They barely escape in a small plane, but gunfire hits the fuel line. The pilot, a man who has been raising them as his own, manages to crash land in the middle of the Montana wilderness. The siblings hike deep into the woods, searching desperately for safety—unaware of the severity of the approaching storm.

No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world. For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that's exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he's got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she’s starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her - and he’s still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.

Faye Longchamp’s new archaeological firm has landed a project in St. Augustine, Florida. In four centuries, America’s oldest city has accumulated skeletons that should probably stay buried. Within a day of Faye’s arrival, a woman disappears, leaving behind blood, priceless artifacts, and a note asking for Faye’s help.

Nathan has been a prepper all his life - but just how prepared can one man be when faced with a 2,000-mile walk through hell itself? In the second installment of Thomas A. Watson's explosive prepper classic, the long-predicted Coronal Mass Ejection has arrived, destroying civilization. Nathan Owens has been prepping for a disaster like this for years.

After inheriting his uncle’s lodge, Silas Matheson hopes the grandeur of the California Sierra Nevada will be a fresh start for his two young sons, and a chance to finally face his demons. It was here, fifteen years ago, that Silas and his friends Jessica, Danny, and Meg ventured into the mountain wilderness and Jessica vanished without a trace. When his boys go missing in the same dark woods, the fear and guilt that Silas has been running from ever since come crashing back.

Archaeologist Faye Longchamp-Mantooth has dug herself a deep hole, and she can't make her way out of it. As she struggles to recover from a shattering personal loss, she sees that everyone she loves is trying to reach out to her. If only she could reach back. Instead, she's out digging holes all over her home, the Florida island of Joyeuse.

Thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to a remote reform program for troubled teens by a juvenile court judge. But when he arrives at the camp, located on the edge of the vast wilderness of northwestern Montana, he immediately recognizes that there is something off about the counselors. They’re too friendly and upbeat…yet Ben can tell there’s an undercurrent of menace. As he gets to know the boys in his cabin, he soon discovers that they each have far more going for them than whatever crime landed them there.

Elizabeth wakes up in the middle of a forest, with absolutely no memory of how she got there. Even worse, she does not have her phone with her, and the food and water supply in her backpack only consists of two water bottles, an apple, and a granola bar.Without a flashlight, she needs to get out of there before the sun goes down. More importantly, she needs to find out what happened to her and how she got there in the first place. But with the paths in the woods all plagued by a significant deal of overgrowth, she can barely even get around. It becomes a fight for survival as Elizabeth must...

The exciting series that details the life and adventures of mountain man Nathaniel King returns, as Nate outfights the Indians and renegades roaming the unexplored territory. When trappers start turning up dead, their bodies mutilated, Nate and his friends vow to track down the merciless killers.

When a floatplane mysteriously explodes above the Alaska wilderness, investigators begin digging into the lives of the five passengers and the pilot. Was the target of the bomb the US senator in the midst of a hotly contended reelection campaign or her husband, a corporate raider with no shortage of enemies? Or could the bomb have been meant for the cannery owner involved in a contentious divorce, or the refuge manager who had a long list of adversaries, including one who vowed to get even with him?

When two men, recently discharged from the Air Force, set out for a hunting trip on Kodiak Island in Alaska, they expect the adventure of a lifetime. Instead, they find themselves embroiled in a never-ending nightmare. More than 40 years later, biologist Jane Marcus and her friends discover human remains near Karluk Lake in the middle of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.

After being placed in foster care, Rhi is hungry for a fresh start and begins working at the Happy Valley Wildlife Preserve. While in the woods, she stumbles upon a surreal sight: a pack of wolves guarding four feral and majestic girls. After Rhi gains their trust, they reveal that they’re princesses from another land, raised by a magical prophet they call Mother—and they're convinced Rhi is their lost fifth sister. Unsure what to believe, Rhi ushers the girls to civilization, where they’re met with societal uproar and scrutiny, dubbed “The Wild Girls of Happy Valley.”

Some cages are in our minds. Nellie has no memory of life before the cabin. Pleasing Jack and caring for her small daughter are her entire life. Living far in the woods, away from the chaos of the destroyed world keeps them safe. Life is simple. Jack goes scavenging, she stays home and cares for Aster. Above all else, keep Jack happy. Everything changes when she finds the doll. Then a chance encounter makes her realize life outside the woods may not be what it seems. Her entire life may be built on a lie. Nellie starts to question her past and question Jack. Jack doesn’t like to be ...

It starts with a footprint. It ends with a murder. Wildlife tracker and survival expert Tye Caine just wants to live in the woods and be left alone, but a killer haunts the misty forests of the Pacific Northwest. When someone attempts to abduct a child, and a local resident is murdered, Tye is drawn into a web of hidden secrets and madness. Soon he finds himself teamed up with a motley crew of the local librarian, a retired detective, and a local blacksmith with a secret. First, they try to separate the truth from lies, then find themselves just trying to survive. If you like mysteries set ...