Ardis Cole

This is book #1 in the new Ardis Cole mystery series. Ardis is an archaeologist (a female Indiana Jones), and in this adventure she travels to Egypt to help excavate a minor tomb of ancient origin recently discovered by her mentor, Jane Darvin. When Jane is murdered, Ardis must assume responsibility for the project.

In Book 2 of the Ardis Cole mystery series, Ardis travels to Scotland to do a facial reconstruction on a skull her friend Bruce McBrier has discovered in the woods outside his ancestral castle. Because of an ancient ax buried in the skull, Bruce presumes the skull to be a historical relic, possibly the remains of a medieval ancestor murdered in battle. When Ardis makes the shocking discovery that the remains are that of a more recent murder, Constable Mark Ridley asks for her help.

Ardis travels to China to help her elderly friend, Dr. Yong Po, locate a Han dynasty cave tomb. Her American associate, Grant Merlin, fails to join her as planned. Grant had fallen out of favor with the University when a small jade miniature was stolen from a traveling exhibit under his charge. Sheri, Grant’s ex-wife joins Ardis instead of Grant. When Sheri is attacked by someone wearing a crimson mask, she swears Grant has followed her to China to seek revenge.

When Ardis is sent to South Dakota to handle a bequest of pioneer and Sioux artifacts left to the University of Chicago by wealthy private collector Anthony LaMoine, she gets a load of trouble that she hadn’t expected - a stolen ruby, a friend’s missing son, and a skeleton in the cellar! Ardis learns that Anthony had an adopted son. For reasons unknown to Ardis, his son ran away from home during his teenage years. “Find the son,” the housekeeper tells her, “and you’ll find the thief.”

Ardis Cole braves a sudden blizzard on her way to the isolated Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to help her friend, Ella White Owl, locate her missing niece. Carrie, an art teacher at Shadow Pass High School, appears to have simply vanished without a trace. Medicine man Jim-Walks-Alone shares with Ardis his disturbing vision about a “killer of eagles”, which to the Sioux represents an evil person, and a destroyer of all that is good. Ardis soon finds the girl’s wrecked car deep in the canyon, a dead man who was shot through the head was behind the wheel. But there is no sign of Carrie.

When Ardis Cole’s colleague, Red Michels, meets with a fatal accident, she volunteers to take over his project. Ardis flies to Galveston, Texas, where in 1858 the old clipper ship, The Fortune, wrecked in a hurricane. Known to be aboard the sunken ship is a fabulous gem - the Sea Star Emerald - once stolen by the infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte. Ardis soon discovers that modern-day treasure hunters are determined to beat her to the jewel.