Books with title The Old Rugged Double Cross

It’s 1957, with Mitch Miller on the radio and Sputnik orbiting overhead. In this fourth Father Hardy outing, Hardy and his friends brave the drifting snow and deadly Arctic chill to search for a missing local woman. Can they find her in time? What Hardy reveals to the marshal about her, will shock you. There’s a prowler on the loose. Is he a murderer? Is he a stranger or, God forbid, “one of us?” Can they catch him before he strikes again? And with the nearby Clear Station DEW Line facility a reality, scanning the skies for Soviet bombers and possible nuclear attack, can spies and saboteurs be far behind? Or are they already here? In the sub-Arctic half light of this remote Alaskan town, strange and deadly secrets and twisted passions will be revealed. In Chandalar, where everybody once knew everybody and relied on each other, who do they know now? With doors locking, shades pulling, people looking back over their shoulders, is Father Hardy, with Andy, Evie, and William, up to an international enemy? Or will they be blown away. Over at the Coffee Cup Café, with brightly-lit windows frosted, cigarette smoke gently rising, and the mooseburger sizzling, Rosie is right: It’s cookin’.

It’s 1957, with Mitch Miller on the radio and Sputnik orbiting overhead. In this fourth Father Hardy outing, Hardy and his friends brave the drifting snow and deadly Arctic chill to search for a missing local woman. Can they find her in time? What Hardy reveals to the marshal about her, will shock you. There’s a prowler on the loose. Is he a murderer? Is he a stranger or, God forbid, “one of us?” Can they catch him before he strikes again? And with the nearby Clear Station DEW Line facility a reality, scanning the skies for Soviet bombers and possible nuclear attack, can spies and saboteurs be far behind? Or are they already here? In the sub-Arctic half light of this remote Alaskan town, strange and deadly secrets and twisted passions will be revealed. In Chandalar, where everybody once knew everybody and relied on each other, who do they know now? With doors locking, shades pulling, people looking back over their shoulders, is Father Hardy, with Andy, Evie, and William, up to an international enemy? Or will they be blown away. Over at the Coffee Cup Café, with brightly-lit windows frosted, cigarette smoke gently rising, and the mooseburger sizzling, Rosie is right: It’s cookin’.

Nell and her grandmother volunteer to help fellow quilter Suzanne lead a quilting retreat at a new bed and breakfast, and at the last minute another member of the group, Bernie, decides to join them. When they arrive, Bernie's old high school sweetheart, George, greets them at the door of the inn.Bernie is visibly shaken by the reunion, particularly since George's new wife is her former best friend, Rita. To make matters worse, Nell learns that her own romantic interest, Police Chief Jesse Dewalt, was spotted back in Archer's Rest on a date with a pretty redhead. Nell spots George and Rita fighting, and she suspects that George has slipped a sedative into her lemonade to keep her quiet. But before anyone can confront him, George's body is found in the woods -- and Bernie was the last person seen with him.

The book starts on a May day in 1939 as several twelve-year-old friends are headed to their favorite swimming hole on the Solomon River near the town of Downs, Kansas. A problem develops for them as they seem to cross swords with a W.W.1 wounded veteran tending his goats. The story continues and they find various ways to earn money by catching crawdads, and they observe a "raid" by the State officials on a bootlegger's house. They have a meeting with the "restless spirit" of a disturbed Indian warrior. These kids don't realize that they are in a "depression," because almost everybody they know is in the same situation except for a few people who "have money." Quite a lot of the book is devoted to their school experience with outstanding and devoted teachers, and T.Y.S. (Twelve Year Syndrome) begins to affect them. These kids mostly have a happy time, but are awakened to grief with the loss of a good friend. The end of the story has these same kids going down the same road a year later. They have learned a lot in one year, and they are saddened when "Billy Goat" is not there anymore. They had found out that he was a friend. How wise we are when Chance is gone, And a glance we backward cast. We know just the thing that we should have done, When the time for doing is past.