National Park Mystery Books

"A terrific debut novel." —C.J. BOX, New York Times bestselling author of Stone Cold Canyon Sacrifice brings the rugged western landscape, the mysterious past of the ancient Anasazi Indians, and the Southwest's ongoing cultural fissures vividly to life. A deadly struggle against murderous kidnappers in Grand Canyon National Park forces archaeologist Chuck Bender to face up to his past as he realizes every parent's worst nightmare: a missing child. SCOTT GRAHAM is the author of the acclaimed National Park Mystery series, featuring archaeologist Chuck Bender and Chuck's spouse, Janelle Ortega. In addition to the National Park Mystery series, Scott is the author of five nonfiction books, including Extreme Kids , winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Scott is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys backpacking, river rafting, skiing, and mountaineering. He has made a living as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, radio disk jockey, and coal–shoveling fireman on the steam–powered Durango–Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. He lives with his spouse, who is an emergency physician, in Durango, Colorado.

"A fast–paced mystery with dozens of quirks and turns…" — THE DENVER POST In the riveting second installment of the National Park Mystery Series, archaeologist Chuck Bender finds himself and his young wife and stepdaughters in the crosshairs of an unknown killer when he defends his brother–in–law from false accusations of murder in the brutal slaying of a resort worker in Rocky Mountain National Park. SCOTT GRAHAM is the author of the acclaimed National Park Mystery series, featuring archaeologist Chuck Bender and Chuck's spouse Janelle Ortega. In addition to the National Park Mystery series, Scott is the author of five nonfiction books, including Extreme Kids , winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Scott is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys backpacking, river rafting, skiing, and mountaineering. He has made a living as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, radio disk jockey, and coal–shoveling fireman on the steam–powered Durango–Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. He lives with his spouse, who is an emergency physician, in Durango, Colorado.

"One part mystery, one part mysticism, and one part mayhem—Scott Graham's Yellowstone Standoff is all parts thrilling." —CRAIG JOHNSON, author of the Longmire Mysteries Yellowstone Standoff takes readers deep into the backcountry of a wildly popular national park. When Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears and gray wolves suddenly and inexplicably go rogue, archaeologist Chuck Bender teams with his old friend, Yellowstone Chief Ranger Lex Hancock, to defend the suspect members of a group scientific expedition. Soon, Chuck finds himself defending the lives of his family as an unforeseen danger threatens in the storied national park's remote wilderness. SCOTT GRAHAM is the author of the acclaimed National Park Mystery series, featuring archaeologist Chuck Bender and Chuck's spouse Janelle Ortega. In addition to the National Park Mystery series, Scott is the author of five nonfiction books, including Extreme Kids , winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Like most visitors to America's first national park, Graham was awestruck by Yellowstone as a child. His fascination with the park has continued in the years since, with numerous visits to Yellowstone's geyser– and wildlife–filled front country and its incomparable wilderness. Graham is an avid outdoorsman and amateur archaeologist who enjoys mountaineering, skiing, hunting, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting with his wife, who is an emergency physician, and their two sons. He lives in Durango, Colorado.

"An exciting, rewarding puzzle." — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Archaeologist Chuck Bender arrives with his family in Yosemite Valley to study the 150–year–old murders of a pair of gold prospectors in the midst of preparations for the annual Yosemite Slam rock–climbing competition and a reunion with his old climbing buddies. The trip quickly turns threatening when one climber never shows up, climbing equipment fails, and Chuck and his spouse, Janelle Ortega, are suspected in the shocking, present–day death of one of Chuck's former rock–climbing partners. Together, Chuck and Janelle race against time to solve the dual mysteries and prove their innocence—all while facing down a ruthless killer on the loose. SCOTT GRAHAM is the author of eight books, including the National Park Mystery Series from Torrey House Press, and Extreme Kids , winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Graham is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys mountaineering, skiing, hunting, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting with his wife, who is an emergency physician, and their two sons. He lives in Durango, Colorado.

"A winning blend of archaeology and intrigue, Graham's series turns our national parks into places of equal parts beauty, mystery, and danger." —EMILY LITTLEJOHN, author of Lost Lake A famed sandstone arch in Utah’s Arches National Park collapses and takes a woman atop it to her death , ensnaring archaeologist Chuck Bender and his family in lethal questions of environmental monkeywrenching and political intrigue. As more deaths follow, Chuck and his wife Janelle race to uncover the killer even as they become murder targets themselves. SCOTT GRAHAM is the author of the acclaimed National Park Mystery series, featuring archaeologist Chuck Bender and Chuck's spouse, Janelle Ortega. In addition to the National Park Mystery series, Scott is the author of five nonfiction books, including Extreme Kids , winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Scott is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys backpacking, river rafting, skiing, and mountaineering. He has made a living as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, radio disk jockey, and coal–shoveling fireman on the steam–powered Durango–Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. He lives with his spouse, who is an emergency physician, in Durango, Colorado.

"An absorbing archaeological mystery, rich in historical detail and local atmosphere. With its colorful characters and fast–paced plot, Mesa Verde Victim is a fascinating find." —AUSMA ZEHANAT KHAN, author of A Deadly Divide Hounded by false accusations of murder, archaeologist Chuck Bender and his family risk their lives to track down an unknown killer on the loose in a rugged canyon on the remote western edge of Mesa Verde National Park, where ancient stone villages and secret burial sites, abandoned centuries ago by the Ancestral Puebloan people, harbor artifacts so rare and precious they're worth killing over. SCOTT GRAHAM is the National Outdoor Book Award–winning author of the six–volume National Park Mystery Series for Torrey House Press, including Canyon Sacrifice , Mountain Rampage , Yellowstone Standoff , Yosemite Fall , and Arches Enemy , and five other books. He is an avid outdoorsman who lives with his wife, an emergency physician, in southwestern Colorado.

"A confluence of thrills, history, and mystery as twisty as the Colorado River." —MICKI BROWNING, author of Shadow Ridge When suspicious deaths befall a whitewater rafting expedition through Cataract Canyon in Canyonlands National Park, archaeologist Chuck Bender and his family recognize evil intent lies behind the tragedies. They must risk their lives and act before the murderer makes an already deadly journey on the Colorado River through Utah's red rock wilderness even deadlier—or turns on them instead.

Janelle Ortega and Chuck Bender are drawn deep into a threatening web of hostility and deceit in Saguaro National Park in this page-turner of a mystery. "A winning blend of archaeology and intrigue, Graham's series turns our national parks into places of equal parts beauty, mystery, and danger.” —EMILY LITTLEJOHN, author of Lost Lake When Janelle Ortega’s cousin from Mexico is found brutally murdered at a remote petroglyph site in Saguaro National Park, she and her husband, archaeologist Chuck Bender, are drawn deep into a threatening web of hostility and deceit stretching south across the US-Mexico border and back in time a thousand years, to when the Hohokam people thrived in the Sonoran Desert. Book 8 in Scott Graham's National Park Mystery Series introduces readers to the landscapes and cultural histories of Saguaro National Park in southern Arizona, providing an inside look at the wonders of the wildly popular national park and its archaeological and cultural complexities.

In the ninth book in Graham's National Park Mystery Series, an archeologist must stop a century-old crime to save his daughter. “Death Valley Duel is a taut, smart, and propulsive thriller that will keep you spellbound. Scott Graham has written a love letter to the California desert, and to parenthood, and to the athletes who push themselves past limits most of us cannot even imagine. This novel is a steady, dangerous, and addictive race toward justice.” —NINA DE GRAMONT , New York Times bestselling author When archaeologist Chuck Bender makes a stunning discovery of a century-old crime, he believes it may be related to a series of deadly accidents plaguing the Whitney to Death 150, the world's toughest ultra trail-running race. While Chuck's teenage stepdaughter Carmelita races to win the competition, Chuck races to uncover the wicked intent lying behind the tragedies—before Carmelita becomes the next victim.