Dean L Hovey

Hurricane Harvey lashed North Padre Island National Seashore exposing tons of silver coins lost since three Spanish Galleons sank in 1554. News about the coins, located in a Park Service archaeological protection area, goes viral on internet treasure hunting sites. Swarms of treasure hunters, arriving by car, truck, and boat, leave the Park Service law enforcement team of Doug Fletcher and Rachel Randall struggling to enforce the treasure hunting...

Excitement runs high in the Whistling Pines Retirement community as the first annual Two Harbors Buccaneer Days celebration approaches. The city asks local fraternal clubs and city band to move their summer events to the weekend of the festival.To entertain the expected throng of tourists, the city announces a Norwegian lutefisk toss, band concerts, food vendors, and a Lake Superior sailing regatta. Peter Rogers, the Whistling Pines recreation director,...

When Hagstrom's bait store burns down, arson rumors fly among the residents of Whistling Pines senior living facility. When Peter Rogers, the recreation director speaks with residents he discovers there have been numerous suspicious business fires over the years. Torn between two sets of Halloween preparations and the arson investigation, Peter finds himself drafted as an unwilling judge for Two Harbors Halloween competitions, while the police chief...

As alcohol lubricates the conversation at a 30th high school reunion, Judy Bloom lets slip that she had an intimate relationship with a teacher while she was a student. More revelations follow, along with the news that the teacher kept a video camera hidden in his closet. When two classmates get to the retired teachers house, they find it abandoned with evidence he’d been dragged away. Pine County deputies Floyd Swenson and Pam Ryan work their way...

Summoned from his comfortable Toronto college life, Christopher Pokaik returns to visit the grandfather who raised him. Surprised by the evolving culture of the newly created Nunavut Territory, he's befriended by an Inuit RCMP Special Constable who helps him understand his Inuit roots. Despite her guidance, he finds himself chased by both earthly demons, and those in the northern lights. Will they lead him back to Toronto, to a new life in Iqaluit,

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When Whistling Pines resident Alf Palluzzo learns about a missing family treasure, he remembers the gold coins his parents squirreled away when he was young. Alf asks everyone for help as he tries to figure out the arcane clue to where the coins are hidden. Peter Rogers, recreation director for the assisted-living center, wants to help Alf, but other people also require his attention. Peter's wedding to Jenny is fast approaching, and his elderly neighbor,...

Park Service Investigator Doug Fletcher moves to Padre Island National Seashore to investigate hazardous waste dumping during the Hurricane Harvey clean up. While orienting himself to Texas and the waste dumping investigation, Doug and his rookie partner recover a body from the surf. After they identify John Doe, they coordinate kidnapping and murder investigations with the Corpus Christi Police. Doug's search for the waste dumpers takes an unexpected...

US Park Service investigators Doug and Jill Fletcher are dispatched to Hawaii when the bodies of two hikers are discovered near the Kīlauea volcano. Initially reluctant to accept the assignment, Doug becomes intrigued when he learns that the investigating ranger’s report of lost hikers overcome by volcanic gasses disagrees with the autopsy findings. As the investigation progresses, the Fletchers find themselves entangled in more than the investigation...

Ted Palmquist’s mother finds him in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor and calls an ambulance. Violently ill after a night with his high school friends, Ted’s incoherent rants in the ER mention Tammi, who’s been missing for six months. As the Pine County deputies investigate his mysterious illness, they encounter a group of teen misfits whose dysfunctional families are oblivious to their truancy and illegal activities. Deputy Charlene (C.J.)...

A murder mystery, set in rural Minnesota. Protagonist Dan Williams, Undersheriff of Pine County, must solve the case of a missing woman who has apparently been operating a "disorderly house" involving prominent citizens of the area, including a state senator. The customers aren't talking, and the senator is attempting to squelch the investigation. Has the woman been murdered?