The Silver Lake Cozy Mysteries Series

This summer Sylvia Reynolds comes to visit her aunt, famous documentary film maker Asia Reynolds. Fifteen year old Sylvie is in no mood for anything new and her aunt's barn load of animals is way exactly NOT what Sylvie is in any mood for. Although compared with adults, Aunt Asia's livestock quickly becomes more appealing. After being shunted from her best friend's house to her grandfather's to her aunt's she is a little too open to being accepted by the wrong crowd. That wrong crowd being Bertram Thomas, son of an abusive father. Bert and Sylvie have something in common, both were raised without their mothers. This forms a very strong bond between the two teenagers. Bertram responds positively to the love of pretty, little Sylvie Reynolds. There trying to end that relationship is bad cop, Officer Carlton Thomas, the father of her new boyfriend, converted "bad-boy bully" Bert Thomas -- a former town troublemaker. That's where our story begins...it is no wonder that Bert has an attitude, his dad restricts the talented boy to the point of abuse. Officer Carlton Thomas comes under constant suspicion for several local crimes. It is the responsibility of his son and Carlton's old friend, the Chief of the Silver Lake Police, to delicately and safely try and round him up. As Asia helps with the investigation, her new animal menagerie increases from a pretty brown and tan donkey with huge ears, named Pumpkin (or Punkin) and a red, long-haired Chihuahua named Fuzzy Bud, to two new very fiesty, cute goats -- Thelma and Louise, as well as a quickly growing St. Bernard puppy named "Junior", a couple of baby chicks, a duckling and a gosling (adopted from Frankie Franklin's private animal rescue). Seems that Asia cannot help adopting new animals that tickle her fancy. Officer Thomas is also a professional poker player, but an aggressively unfriendly one. We visit the "High Rollers" Casino in Silver Lake during an increasingly antagonistic game of "Texas Hold 'Em" where the local cop is becoming agitated because he met his match while trying to "take" a few naive tourists in a high stakes game. After this poker match his reputation becomes increasingly under scrutiny, until Dr. Rainier Voss (a former hacker and FBI agent and now a NASA computer expert) is called in again and the chase for Thomas ensues after Asia Reynolds digs up some dirty facts in Thomas's back story and former homes in the Midwest. The story increases in intrigue as Officer Carlton Thomas rampages around the sleepy hamlet of Silver Lake, threatening and annoying many of its residents.The book ends with a whirlwind chase around the Mississippi river and several shocking revelations that set Silver Lake's laconic summer image on edge.

Literally, life has driven Jacob Wheeler to ground level. A year ago (See: Snow Angels: Book 2), Jake lost altitude off the cliffs of one of the Hebrides islands, possibly the Isle of Lewis. A ferocious wind storm knocked his personal helicopter into the very edge of a cliff. He teetered there until he managed to escape with his survival backpack and a bottle of Glenlivet whiskey. He was to need both. There is a dark side to the bucolic, rural peace that is Silver Lake. That is the inner workings of this book. Again, we shall meet the brilliant Scotsman, computer programmer and former criminal hacker, Jacob Wheeler. Now a changed man. Travel with us again to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland to find out why the politico-hacker organization "Anonymous" helps him on the dangerous path he must follow. Hold your breath as two Cyber Vigilantes chase down the FBI and murderous code writers trying to kidnap Jake. This is the sequel to our cyber crime novel "Snow Angels: Silver Lake Mysteries, Book 2" a deep look at computer hacking for profit versus computer hacking for protecting freedoms.

This is the 1st book in the series. The 2nd book is "Snow Angels or No Angels" by Sophia Watson. The third book is "(That) Summer in Silver Lake". See silverlakemysteries.weebly.com for links, synopsis & updates. Set in the East Cape Girardeau area of Illinois across the Mississippi river from Missouri and the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Silver Lake is an extreme eco-tourist resort and farming area (mostly corn). Our main character, Asia Reynolds, is an internationally known documentary film maker & photographer who grew up with Elise Snuggles (African-American cable newscaster-lady that types the little yellow info banner on the bottom of the TV screen) and Sergeant Sheila Rodriguez, tough, beautiful, Mexican-American motorcycle cop in the Silver Lake Police Department. Asia disappears in this first book, local Patrolman "Chico" (Ignacio Gonzalo) Almonte, super buff boyfriend of Sgt. Rodriguez, sets out to track her on Nino his midnight black stallion with Asia's rescued 120lb. Husky-German Shepard, Zucchini, guiding the way. Asia's politics cause more than one problem with the conservative farming community, especially her documentary on the sharing of irrigation water rights during droughts. When Elise can -- between bouts of jealous rivalry with fellow news person at the KANU cable station, Alphonsine LaDuque, a "prettier-than-thou" irritant around the news station -- she researches leads about Asia's disappearance. Meanwhile, a local financier is found dead on his new property, complicating everything. If that isn't enough, an Illinois Congressman is shot dead during a small cavalcade into town. What connects all of this? Perhaps it is the bungee jump, local hot air balloon rides, gliders, carnival ride area, white water rafting, private plane hangars or international jet setters that make the small town its money and tend to bring trouble with them? Find out by reading this First Book in the Silver Lake Cozy Mystery Series by Sophia Watson. The second book in the Silver Lake series is "Snow Angels or No Angels" also by Sophia Watson (see silverlakemysteries.weebly.com for links), which features wild Europe, the Outer Hebrides, underground London and true facts about international computer hacking set in a fictional context. Book three is in the works for this summer of 2016 entitled -- "(That) Summer in Silver Lake" which features a deep scandal inside the Silver Lake Police Department and trouble in Asia Reynold's household -- see above website for updates.

Jacob had begun life as a lonely boy, small for his age and too intelligent to be popular. He was socially inept. Being bullied in school and his neighborhood, he took solace in his computers. As an adult, his skill at programming brought him into contact with the wrong crowd. He became an ace hacker. His life was about to change. Fly to London and travel the secret passages of the London Tube, Our chase continues in the Chalk caves of the surrounding English countryside. To see Jake's exciting capture and life transformation, read Book #4 in the Silver Lake Series, Solstice.