Books published by publisher Five Star

Rattlesnakes are much maligned primarily because they are much misunderstood, In Rattlesnake Rules, award-winning children's author and science editor Conrad J. Storad removes the veil of mystery from these fascinating creatures and imparts to young readers valuable information that will help them better understand rattlesnakes and to keep both the children and the snakes safe. Now available in paperback for the first time!

Snow before Halloween shocks the residents of tiny Park County‚ Tennessee. While dealing with a multitude of minor issues‚ Sheriff Tony Abernathy is contacted by a charter pilot who claims his passenger jumped‚ without a parachute‚ into the most remote spot in the county. After riding mules into the wilderness to collect the body‚ Tony and his deputy must travel to North Carolina‚ in a blizzard‚ to notify the widow. Problems multiply. Tony's wife‚ Theo‚ is shocked to see a woman at the grocery store with a knife embedded in her back. Then a priceless quilt is stolen.As the sheriff‚ Tony hates Halloween. Even so‚ he never expected a valuable coffin‚ and the body inside‚ to go missing.

2015 Will Rogers Bronze Medallion AwardWill Braddock doesn't want to be forced into an unwanted blacksmith apprenticeship. The newly orphaned fourteen-year-old embarks upon a quest to determine his own destiny. He heads west to seek work on the first transcontinental railroad.Will learns to rely upon himself to achieve his goal. He constantly battles a young Irish thug who is determined to kill him. A mixed-blood Cheyenne youth‚ whom he saves from quicksand‚ gives Will two eagle talons from his amulet in thanks. The talons save Will's life‚ and though not magical‚ he's convinced they are lucky.When a feisty young lady he has befriended is kidnapped by the Indians‚ and the Army refuses to send troops‚ Will decides to risk his own future to free her from captivity.

Everything you know about evil magicians is wrong.Tymon the Black is the latest in a long succession of magicians to suffer under a curse called “The Long Look.” He gets glimpses of future horrors, horrors that will almost certainly come to pass unless he acts. When one such glimpse prods him to arrange for the murder of a headstrong young prince, he sets a cascading chain of events in motion that could lead to a future even more terrible than the one he tried to prevent.Now all he has to do is hang on to a friend, train an apprentice, prevent a prince obsessed with revenge from destroying himself and his entire kingdom, help a princess come to terms with guilt and grief, make sure a wedding happens, make sure a war doesn't, and send a creature of ultimate darkness back to the void from whence it came.All in a day's work for the world's most evil wizard? Not quite. There's also a goddess to contend with, and there's nothing like attracting the interest of a goddess to upset the balance of any evil scheme. No matter. No one ever said that the life of a fiend was an easy one.The Long Look is a fantasy novel with a unique blend of action, introspection, speculation and humor that should keep any reader both involved and confused, but don't worry. It all makes sense. Eventually.

Big John McTavish has been hunting and trading among the métis buffalo hunters of the Red River Valley for more than thirty years. He's a trusted member of the half-breed nation, and a leader of the mixed-bloods' twice-yearly buffalo hunts. But when he returns to the settlements in the autumn of 1832 with a mountain man he's rescued from a Chippewa war party, he has no way of knowing the chain of events the outsider is about to unleash on the unsuspecting hunters. Or the kind of destruction that will follow them onto the buffalo ranges that border the lonely Missouri River. Before the hunters return to their homes along the Red River, Big John will learn the macabre secret that has brought the trapper from the far reaches of the Rocky Mountains. He will discover a daughter he thought he'd lost forever, and relive the horror that took her away. And the métis will will discover that if they are to survive as an independent nation, they must forever free themselves of the influence not only of the powerful Hudson Bay Company, but of the man they have viewed as their friend for more than a quarter of a century. "Beneath A Hunter's Moon" is a novel of honor and treason, love and betrayal, but mostly it is a story about a proud and wonderful People -- the métis of the Red River Valley of the North.

The body of young Froggy Quale lies, covered by a blue tarp, in the pasture behind Castle Dunlaggan in the Scottish Highlands. Froggy was the on-site pollen and spore expert at the nearby archaeological dig and a graduate student who doesn't seem to have had an enemy in the world.Dotsy Lamb, ancient and medieval history teacher from Virginia, and her friend Lettie are boarding at the castle while Dotsy works at the dig. They and the other guests are cared for in the ancient castle by its owners, William and Maisie Sinclair.Suspicion for Froggy's murder falls on his roommate, Van Nguyen, a graduate student from America. Dotsy has become fond of both Froggy and Van and is sure Van can't be the killer. When the dig's director dies from poison mushrooms, Dotsy sees connections to the magic mushroom party at the dig and to ownership of castle lands.This is a suspenseful brainteaser that pits the brains of an American history teacher against the dark secrets of a tragic family history.

Historical cozy mystery set in Los Angeles, CA, in 1926.Mercy Allcutt, Boston Brahmin, wants to experience life in all its grittiness. How better than by working for a down-on-his luck PI in Hollywood? Once she discovers what PI actually stands for, she knows Mr. Ernest Templeton is the boss for her.Raised in the ivory tower of proper Boston, when well-bred Mercy gets a job with Ernest Templeton, Private Investigator, she's ecstatic. Ernie, a jaded ex-cop, is incredulous. Together, they must cope with a stray child, kidnapping, blackmail, murder, a toy poodle, a vamp, a stalker, Mercy's overactive imagination and Ernie's strong protective streak. Throw in a speakeasy, Chinatown, and a couple of down-and-dirty criminals, and Mercy and Ernie are in for a drama that will put the motion picture industry to shame . . . if they can survive long enough to tell the story.

WITH FULL MALICE - A Crime ThrillerGale/Cengage5 Star MysteriesNo one suspects a murder conspiracy - until a traumatized food critic stumbles onto the scene.*Investigating a murder is the last thing food critic Madison Young wants to do. Her parents slaughtered when she was six, haunted by his threat to return for her, she prefers her safe, sheltered life surrounded by food and kitchens. But when her editor needs her to cover a paroled sex-offender's brutal murder, Madison's world turns upside down. She traces clues, shocked when they reveal a link to a vast secret societyand connections to the man who murdered her parents, horrified when warnings to stop the investigation become deadly. Now everyone she trusted is suspect.Together with San Bernardino homicide detective Dexter Quinn, they must unravel the treachery before she runs out of time. Together, they discover a terrifying adversary, one who'llstop at nothing to protect the Ruby Red Society's secrets.*"A likable heroine, a deadly conspiracy, a white-knuckle climax - Brenda Hill's With Full Malice has it all!"Michael Prescott, New York Times bestselling author of Stealing Faces*"From its opening chapter to its stunning conclusion, With Full Malice is a thought-provoking, first-rate novel."The Big ThrillInternational Thriller Writers"Fast-paced, excellent investigativethriller, strong cast."Mystery Gazette"...a home run."Gumshoe Mystery Reviews