Down to Davy Jones

Down to Davy Jones (Raleigh, NC: Dry Bones Publishing, 2023)

Ricky Bradshaw, Down to Davy JonesOnce more, our reluctant hero Ricky Bradshaw faces a life-threatening event. His mom is sick. Like, really sick. Desperate to try anything to get a miracle, and having watch the movie Jesus Revolution with his Mom, Ricky agrees to be baptized in a creek by the Pirate Preacher. But things go from bad to worse to apocalyptic when Ricky doesn’t come up for air. In the next moment, he’s on a ship with Jonah the prophet, in the middle of a raging storm.

Sensing that the gods want someone to be sacrificed, the crew of barbaric men ― none of whom are fond of bathing ― casts lots to see who’s gonna be the unlucky chump that goes into the sea. Ricky’s all like, “Don’t pick me, don’t pick me!” but before he can show his stick, Jonah steps up like the whale of a guy that he is. Except, surprise surprise, fate has other plans. The Kraken, Down to Davy JonesBecause out of nowhere, this giant octopus grabs Ricky and drags him down, down, down into the abyss. For a few harrowing moments Ricky and Jonah share a really tiny space in the gut of the Kraken. Then Ricky gets vomited out.

When Ricky finally washes ashore, he realizes he’s in the underworld, where the crew of the Flying Dutchman sails around collecting souls of the dead. And wouldn’t you know it, they want Ricky’s soul most of all. Talk about a bad day. But even a bad day in the underworld can be a fun, adventurous sail, when there’s love and sacrifice, demon-pirates and scores to settle, hope for a miracle and the chance to meet the one who made the wind and sea.

Down To Davy Jones is a fictional retelling of past pirate escapades based on future events.

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Medium Well Done

Medium Well Done (Dry Bones Publishing, 2022)

2023 Selah Award Winner — Purple Dragonfly Book Award Honorable Mention

Are there such things as ghosts? Can we talk to the dead? Is it wise to try? These questions haunt Nick. But when the only eyewitness to a murder is a ghost, where do you turn for the truth? 

Confronted by a “ghost” and challenged by a psychic who swears she is a channel into the spirit world, Nick learns that dabbling in the occult can leave you chasing spooks in the night.

Nick Caden is no stranger to solving mysteries of a supernatural nature. By looking at the facts and dismissing the myths surrounding ghosts, vampires, zombies, and werewolves, he relies on his favorite cop and detective shows to reveal who the most likely culprit might be. But what he witnesses in Bonaventure Cemetery leaves Nick terrified. 

When a “ghost” accuses his neighbor Keisha of murder—and minutes later she goes missing—Nick is forced into an unlikely partnership with Jaz, a teen with a gift for knowing the thoughts of the dead: or so she claims. As the pair work to find Keisha, they must rely on the word of “Sistah Séance,” a Gullah woman on Georgia’s Sea islands, who seems able to “bring up the dead.” As the pair race against time to find the ghost’s real killer, the two teens find themselves entangled in a dark world where every clue leads to new dangers and uncovers the haunting truth that no one wants to believe.

“This time Nick doesn’t have all the answers, but he asks the right questions. And what he learns is worse than any lies a fake fortuneteller might pass off as truth. I highly recommend Medium Well Done.” – Kim Childress, Book Editor, Girls’ Life Magazine

Parents can trust the Caden Chronicles to be safe reading for children. There is no sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language, only a wee bit of humor and stories that point readers to the best selling book of all time. 

A Stand-Alone Middle Grade Mystery!

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4.6 out of 5 stars
62 global ratings
A Phantom Gunslinger Out for Revenge

Phantom Gunslinger (Dry Bones Publishing, 2021)

Someone is coming for Nick—and maybe his sister and all the girls who ever helped him solve a mystery. In an abandoned theme park atop a Georgia mountain on New Year’s night, a phantom gunslinger steps from the shadows and calls Nick into Main Street for a showdown. Why does the Man In Black want Nick to leave Old West World in a pine box? Nick counts the cases he’s solved and realizes he’s made lots of enemies, any number of whom might want him gone. Nick is about to learn that loose ends from past cases may leave him tied to a train trestle with the Black Beauty’s cowcatcher bearing down. In Old West World, doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons may leave you on the wrong end of a tombstone.

Complete the “Official Criminal Inquiry” to see if you have the makings of a homicide detective. With questions at the back of the book, you can fill in the answers while you read. When finished, your book report should be thorough enough to catch a crook! Parents can trust the Caden Chronicles. There is no sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language, only a wee bit of humor. 🙂

★ Shortlisted as a Selah Award Winner for Middle Grade Fiction ★

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Dead Low Tide—Do the Dead Stay Dead?

Dead Low Tide (Illuminate YA, 2019)

★ Shortlisted as a Selah Winner for Teen Fiction ★

On vacation with his parents in Savannah, Georgia, Nick Caden is eager to investigate the mystery surrounding Heidi May Laveau, a girl who supposedly died years ago but whose body just washed up on the shore. Once again, Nick’s curiosity gets the better of him, only this time he brings his sister, Wendy, along to investigate—and she’s taken by what appears to be a zombie of the dead girl!

Of course, no one believes Nick when he claims a member of the living dead pulled his sister away in a canoe, even after she proves impossible to find. But this “zombie” has a message for Nick from “beyond the grave.” Now he faces the difficult task of sorting fact from fiction before his worst fears come true. It’s a race against the clock to discover where the true danger lies. And the answer might be right under Nick’s nose.

Who knows what horrors will be found when the tide recedes?

Complete the “Official Criminal Inquiry” to see if you have the makings of a homicide detective. With questions at the back of the book, you can fill in the answers while you read. When finished, your book report should be thorough enough to catch a crook! Parents can trust the Caden Chronicles to be safe reading for children. There is no sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language, only a wee bit of humor. 🙂

Dead Low Tide is an excellent book for tweens, teens, and young adults who love a good mystery adventure.

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4.5 out of 5 stars
72 global ratings
Skull Creek Stakeout vampire running loose

Skull Creek Stakeout (2018)

★ Purple Dragonfly Award Winner for Middle Grade Fiction ★

Nick Caden has a “supernatural” knack for finding trouble, and his relentless search for the truth leads him into worlds of darkness with grave consequences and really creepy mysteries. After solving the Deadwood ghost story, Nick lands a job as a roving reporter for The Cool Ghoul Gazette, a website on paranormal disturbances. When the editor sends Nick to Transylvania, North Carolina, Nick finds a body on a golf course with fangs, bite marks, and a gaping hole in its chest, courtesy of a wooden stake. Is the victim a real vampire or is this a hoax?

Will Nick solve the case before his new job sucks the life out of him?

Complete the “Official Criminal Inquiry” to see if you have the makings of a super sleuth. With questions at the back of the book, you can fill in the answers while you read. When finished, your book report should be thorough enough to catch a crook! Parents can trust the Caden Chronicles to be safe reading for children. There is no sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language, only a wee bit of humor. 🙂

Skull Creek Stakeout is an excellent book for tween, teens, and young adults who love a good mystery adventure.

Only $5 at Ink-A-Dink!

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4.5 out of 5 stars
82 global ratings
Is There a "Ghost Killer" Running Loose

Dead Man’s Hand (Dry Bones Publishing, 2020)

★ Selah Award Winner for Middle-Grade Fiction ★

This is an authentic old west ghost town, son. Around these parts the dead don’t stay dead.Sheriff Wyatt Earp. Will Deadwood’s desperate need for tourists’ income bury the haunting truth about souls, spirits, and the destiny of those who die? …  And bury Nick in the process?

Nick Caden’s vacation at Deadwood Canyon Ghost Town takes a deadly turn toward trouble when the fourteen-year-old finds himself trapped in a livery stable with the infamous outlaw Jesse James. The shooter whirls, aims and… vanishes. Great theatrics, Nick thinks, except now he’s alone in the hayloft with the bullet-riddled body of someone playing the part of Billy the Kid. By the time the sheriff arrives, the body disappears.

Soon Nick is caught in a deadly chase—from an abandoned gold mine, through forbidden buffalo hunting grounds, and across Rattlesnake Gulch. Around every turn, he finds another suspect. Will Nick solve the murder before his family leaves Deadwood? Or will the town’s desperate need for tourists’ income bury the haunting truth about souls, spirits, and the destiny of those who die?

Complete the “Official Criminal Inquiry” to see if you can solve the case before Nick. With questions at the back of the book, you can fill in the answers while you read. When finished, your book report should be thorough enough to catch a crook!

Parents can trust the Caden Chronicles to be safe reading for children. There is no sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language, only a wee bit of humor and stories that point readers to the best-selling book of all time. 

Dead Man’s Hand is an excellent book for tween, teens, and young adults who love a good mystery adventure.

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4.2 out of 5 stars
114 global ratings