Showing results by narrator "Rusty Nelson" in All Categories

Sheriff Martin Holman of the Posadas County Sheriff's Department didn't like flying, much less at night, with bad weather. So why he took a plane ride over a nearby mesa under those dangerous conditions is a question as disturbing as why somebody shot the pilot dead from the ground - causing the plane to crash. Undersheriff Bill Gastner, a 60-something warhorse just months away from retirement, now has a murder on his hands.

Life in the wilderness of the Rockies is filled with dangers, some natural, some man-made. Any man who hopes to survive there soon has to learn to face these dangers and battle them head on. That’s a lesson frontiersman Nate King learned long ago. So when a savage war party abducts his wife and daughter, Nate isn’t about to surrender to despair.

What do you do when you inherit $330 million after taxes? If you're New Mexico rancher Miles Waddell, you build a dream. A flat-topped mesa and a third of a billion dollars equals Nightzone Zone, an astronomy-based theme park, complete with giant radio telescope, a bank of smaller scopes linked to a theater, five-star dining in a restaurant with retracting dome ceiling, a hotel/resort, tram car access, and a narrow gauge steam locomotive to carry tourists to the mesa top. Glorious. And too ambitious for many residents of Posadas County.

A well-seasoned 69, Sheriff Bill Gastner knows his Posadas, New Mexico, territory as well as he understands the foibles of the human condition. So when a backhoe crushes a man to death, it's more instinct than fact that leaves him feeling there is more to this "accident" than meets the eye.

This is the fifth audiobook in the "Wilderness Series". In America's Black Powder Days, fierce Indians and rough mountain men fought a never ending fight for survival in the Rocky Mountains. When newcomer Nathaniel King loses his partner who is captured by the Blackfeet, King's survival skills will be severely tested.

Jules Verne achieved a triumph when his imagination, fired by Rudolph Wyss’ The Swiss Family Robinson was impelled to carry the story a step farther in The Castaways of the Flag. An island was ever his spiritual home; and no one was ever happier upon one. The Castaways of the Flag is a satisfactory sequel to The Swiss Family Robinson because it is the production of Jules Verne, an original genius, set in motion by Rudolph Wyss. Wherever The Swiss Family Robinson is heard, The Castaways of the Flag should also be heard.

This is the third audiobook in the "Wilderness Series". Mountain Man Nathaniel King must prove his innocence when accusations of multiple murders and theft could land him in a "civilized" prison cell for the rest of his natural life.

It's 1870. A fugitive from Yankee justice, Confederate veteran Sandy Thompson looks for peace and solitude in the expanses of the untamed West. His quest is complicated by his reluctant, low-down business partner and an orphaned Indian girl entrusted to his care. Somehow, together, the three drifters must find a home in a land where thieves, Yankees, vengeful Indians, and forces of nature constantly threaten their survival.

Nate and his young family journey to the southern Rockies, only to have the child and woman taken by the Apache. With the help of his friend Shakespeare McNair, Nate will save his loved ones or die trying.

Hawk Haynes was proud of Porterville, Texas, a town he had founded. He had left it to go on a long honeymoon with Elizabeth Trudy, his new bride. When he returned a black cloud had ascended upon the town. The peace and harmony was gone, and so was his best friend. Hawk was sure Lank Lankford didn’t leave of his own accord. Luke Tanner, an old army buddy had left with Lank, and that told Hawk things weren’t right. Lank would never partner up with the likes of Luke Tanner, a born killer.

Michael O'Halloran is the charming Gene Stratton-Porter novel of an orphaned newspaper seller who asks nothing of the world except to "be square". The book presents a vivid description of American life in 1914 and, though the characters suffer many hardships, the overall tone is so upbeat that it's easy to see why this book outsold Pollyanna in 1916. Stratton-Porter's skills as a naturalist make the country scenes especially vibrant. Her ear for dialogue is unsurpassed, demonstrating to the listener that, if life in America wasn't like this, it should have been.

This is the story of the “Hawk” family who were caught up in the bitterness and aftermath of the American Civil War. Jubal Hawk served four years as a captain in the Confederate cavalry. He returned home to find his home burned to the ground, his father hanged, and his family missing. Night-riders sympathetic to the Union cause, and backed by a land hungry rancher, were extracting their own brand of “justice.” Will Jubal be forced to fight the war all over again?

Nathaniel King left New York City in 1828 to venture into the vast unexplored regions beyond Mississippi. He heads west, lured on by dreams of wealth based on his uncle's promise to share with him "the greatest treasure in the world".

This is the second audiobook in the "Wilderness Series". Up in the Rockies, where a man could live free, Nathaniel King and a rugged mountain man named Shakespeare McNair head for a rendezvous of trappers and fur traders.

It's 1986. Undersheriff Bill Gastner is enjoying his usual insomnia alone inside his old adobe when jolted by a horrendous noise. Dreading what he will find, he hastens to the nearby interstate exit where a violent crash has occurred. Three teens are dead. The first deputy to join him at the scene is rookie Robert Torrez, the department's newest hire. Before Gastner can head him off, Torrez sees that the dead boy is his spirited younger brother. But were the three dead kids running from someone - or something - rather than speeding?

Bill Gastner, the reluctant sheriff of Posadas County, New Mexico, anticipates his last few days in office will be uneventful. That is, until local teen Matt Baca drives drunkenly into the back of Gastner's cruiser and flees into the night. His eventual capture turns tragic when the boy becomes irrationally violent and takes a fatal tumble into oncoming traffic. Adding to the tragedy, Matt's father is found dead in his tiny kitchen. Is this all a terrible coincidence, or is something more sinister afoot?

This is audiobook #6 in the Wilderness Series. In 1828, few white men dared to venture into the immense, unsettled region west of the Mississippi. And of those who did, only courageous men like Nathaniel King had the skills and strength to survive the harsh, frozen wilderness.

When Nate King chose a new valley in which to build his home, he wanted to get away from all civilization and the inevitable trouble it brings. But Nate can't duck trouble for very long. A hostile band of Indians has also laid claim to the Kings' valley, and they've made it clear they're not willing to share. In a desperate act to punish Nate and his family, they capture his daughter, Evelyn. And Nate will do anything it take - even if it means sacrificing his own life - to get her back.

Wesley Crocker is accused of the murder of young Maria Ibarra, who was found near the "camping place" of the drifter. Crocker's account of the previous night leads Undersheriff Bill Gastner to more troubling questions.

Undersheriff Bill Gastner knows that the dead bodies on Reuben Fuentes' ranch cannot point to the old man. Gastner summons former deputy Estelle Reyes for help.