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Challenge for Two: A Dave and Katie Adventure
A series of difficult circumstances have forced Dave and Katie Parker into early retirement. Searching for new life and purpose, the Parkers take a wintertime job house sitting an old Victorian mansion. The picturesque river town in southeastern Minnesota is far from the climate and culture of their home near the Alabama Gulf Coast.
But dark secrets sleep in the mansion. A criminal network has ruthlessly intimidated the community since the timber baron era of the 19th century. Residents have been conditioned to look the other way.
The Parkers’ questions about local history and clues they discover in the mansion bring an evil past to light and create division in the small community. While some fear the consequences of digging up the truth, others want freedom from crime and justice for victims. Faced with personal threats, the Parkers must decide how to respond for themselves and for the good of the community.
But dark secrets sleep in the mansion. A criminal network has ruthlessly intimidated the community since the timber baron era of the 19th century. Residents have been conditioned to look the other way.
The Parkers’ questions about local history and clues they discover in the mansion bring an evil past to light and create division in the small community. While some fear the consequences of digging up the truth, others want freedom from crime and justice for victims. Faced with personal threats, the Parkers must decide how to respond for themselves and for the good of the community.
- GenresMystery
366 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 20, 2018
8 people are currently reading
1165 people want to read
About the author
Kit Coons
12 books10 followersKit and Drew Coons met while doing humanitarian work in Africa in 1980. Drew was an engineer bringing clean water to nineteen cities and towns. Kit taught in a teacher's college. “Kit was living in a mud house with a metal roof and no running water or electricity,” Drew recalls. “She is as tough as a hickory nut.”
Drew received honors degrees in engineering from both Auburn and Georgia Tech. He worked on the Delta Rocket program and designed critical components for the Space Shuttle. Later he served as a researcher for BASF Corporation and received twenty-three US and several international patents.
Kit has an honors degree in education from the University of Minnesota. She is a gifted teacher and blogger with an undaunted spirit regardless of the circumstances.
As humorous speakers specializing in strengthening relationships, the Coonses have spoken in every part of the US and in thirty-nine other countries. For two years they lived and taught in New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji. They are keen cultural observers and incorporate their travels into their writing. Readers say, "I feel like I've visited the novel locations."
For decades, the Coonses wrote written how-to manuals distributed around the world. In the US they have had articles and stories published in twelve periodicals that reached about a million readers in 2021. Kit and Drew received several cash prizes as part of a writers association and had two stories published in an anthology by the Columbia Writer’s Guild.
Kit and Drew have authored seven wholesome novels with fish-out-of-water themes. Their characters, who frequently perceive themselves to be ordinary, find within themselves courage and ability in desperate situations. The Coonses are unusual in that they speak and write as a team. Readers thereby get both a male and a female perspective.
Drew received honors degrees in engineering from both Auburn and Georgia Tech. He worked on the Delta Rocket program and designed critical components for the Space Shuttle. Later he served as a researcher for BASF Corporation and received twenty-three US and several international patents.
Kit has an honors degree in education from the University of Minnesota. She is a gifted teacher and blogger with an undaunted spirit regardless of the circumstances.
As humorous speakers specializing in strengthening relationships, the Coonses have spoken in every part of the US and in thirty-nine other countries. For two years they lived and taught in New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji. They are keen cultural observers and incorporate their travels into their writing. Readers say, "I feel like I've visited the novel locations."
For decades, the Coonses wrote written how-to manuals distributed around the world. In the US they have had articles and stories published in twelve periodicals that reached about a million readers in 2021. Kit and Drew received several cash prizes as part of a writers association and had two stories published in an anthology by the Columbia Writer’s Guild.
Kit and Drew have authored seven wholesome novels with fish-out-of-water themes. Their characters, who frequently perceive themselves to be ordinary, find within themselves courage and ability in desperate situations. The Coonses are unusual in that they speak and write as a team. Readers thereby get both a male and a female perspective.
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October 13, 2023charming book by local authors
January 25, 2019
Fun and enjoyable reading. I have to pace myself as I read their books because I like to savour them!
November 18, 2024
This is an enjoyable action adventure mystery book. Dave and Katie are newly retired, newly empty nesters and recovering from some medical and work issues. They are feeling a little lost and decide to take a job house sitting a mansion in Minnesota for the winter. They are from Alabama. They arrive in Minnesota around Thanksgiving and get a quick tour of the mansion from the owners before they depart for the Caribbean for the winter. Dave is interested in history and begins to look into the history of the mansion. It was built and owned by the McReady family who started out with a successful logging and milling operation and then branched out into other businesses. They family business when bankrupt in the 1980's and the mansion was sold as is. During his exploring, he comes across a bunch of boxed with old ledgers from the McReady businesses. As a former accountant, he finds them fascinating to study. As he studies them, he finds some interesting discrepancies. Meanwhile, both Dave and Katie are making new friends in the community and with the mansions resident cat. As Dave and Katie dig more into the McReady history, bad things start happening to them. When the mansion is sprayed with bullets, they go to the police and discover that there has long been an underground crime gang in the town thought to be linked to the McReadys. Dave and Katie use their expertise and insights to help the police unravel the McReady crime gang that has been operating since the 1920's.
September 20, 2023
What a charming read!
Dave and Katie have retired, and their new adventure in housesitting begins over the winter in Minnesota along the Mississippi river - FAR from their home in Mobile, Alabama. When they arrive, the owners of the Big River mansion are quick to hand over basic instructions, the keys, and are quickly out the door before Dave and Katie know what hit them.
They make friends quickly with folks in town, but are warned early on that 'strange things are afoot' related to the mansion they are housesitting. it isn't long before they begin to experience some of what their new friends are talking about...and it eventually escalates to where they fear for their very lives!
As I was reading, I felt like Dave and Katie were the kind of people I would love to be friends with. They go out of their way to help out the people in their temporary home town. I like the slow-burn of the unfolding of the mystery, and the way the cat helped move the story along was especially endearing to me.
Dave and Katie have retired, and their new adventure in housesitting begins over the winter in Minnesota along the Mississippi river - FAR from their home in Mobile, Alabama. When they arrive, the owners of the Big River mansion are quick to hand over basic instructions, the keys, and are quickly out the door before Dave and Katie know what hit them.
They make friends quickly with folks in town, but are warned early on that 'strange things are afoot' related to the mansion they are housesitting. it isn't long before they begin to experience some of what their new friends are talking about...and it eventually escalates to where they fear for their very lives!
As I was reading, I felt like Dave and Katie were the kind of people I would love to be friends with. They go out of their way to help out the people in their temporary home town. I like the slow-burn of the unfolding of the mystery, and the way the cat helped move the story along was especially endearing to me.
February 4, 2025
2.5. Cute, albeit unbelievable story by local authors. Likable characters and a great cat.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews