Blue Darkness

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Schanilec, Ernest Francis

Mystery

Xlibris, Corp.

FIRST IN A SERIES OF HASTINGS BOOKS.....  This tale of warm relationships and chilling murders takes place in the lake country of central Minnesota. Normal, daily activities in the quiet and peaceful, small town of New Dresen are disrupted when local resident, ex-CIA agent Maynard Cushing, is murdered in his country home.  His killer, Robert Ranforth also an ex-CIA agent, had been living anonymously in the community for several years. Earlier in his career, Cushing was instrumental during the investigation and subsequent arrest of Ranforth by the FBI for espionage. Ranforth vanished before the trial began.  Tom Hastings, a neighbor and friend of the victim, becomes a threat to the anonymous ex-agent. Stalked and attacked at his country home, he employs tools and people, including neighbors, a deputy sheriff and Allan Burnside of the FBI, to mount a defense and help solve crimes.  Frightening and tragic events take place during attempts to expose the ex-agent. Who is Ranforth?  Is it Floyd Pella, the barber? Floyd Pella notices most everything, from his barbershop window, transpiring up and down Main Street.  Is it Kyle Fredrickson, one of the local Realtors? He is observed in the Cushing neighborhood many times, has some enemies.  Is it Fred Cook owner and operator of the Vacuum Cleaner shop? He is unhappy and is in conflict with the local bankers.  Is it Sylvan Tullaby, a lake side neighbor of Hastings? He has the most expensive boat on the lake.  All four have mysterious past histories and moved to the community in recent years.  Perhaps the killer is none of the above. It could be Hastings' closest neighbor, Pete Smilie. He hangs around the fields and is usually armed with a rifle.  None of the neighbors of Cushing and Hastings had a darker past than Steve Wytorrek, who resides at a farmstead adjacent to the Hastings property.  Who?

FIRST IN A SERIES OF HASTINGS BOOKS..... 
 This tale of warm relationships and chilling murders takes place in the lake country of central Minnesota. Normal, daily activities in the quiet and peaceful, small town of New Dresen are disrupted when local resident, ex-CIA agent Maynard Cushing, is murdered in his country home. 
 His killer, Robert Ranforth also an ex-CIA agent, had been living anonymously in the community for several years. Earlier in his career, Cushing was instrumental during the investigation and subsequent arrest of Ranforth by the FBI for espionage. Ranforth vanished before the trial began. 
 Tom Hastings, a neighbor and friend of the victim, becomes a threat to the anonymous ex-agent. Stalked and attacked at his country home, he employs tools and people, including neighbors, a deputy sheriff and Allan Burnside of the FBI, to mount a defense and help solve crimes. 
 Frightening and tragic events take place during attempts to expose the ex-agent. Who is Ranforth? 
 Is it Floyd Pella, the barber? Floyd Pella notices most everything, from his barbershop window, transpiring up and down Main Street. 
 Is it Kyle Fredrickson, one of the local Realtors? He is observed in the Cushing neighborhood many times, has some enemies. 
 Is it Fred Cook owner and operator of the Vacuum Cleaner shop? He is unhappy and is in conflict with the local bankers. 
 Is it Sylvan Tullaby, a lake side neighbor of Hastings? He has the most expensive boat on the lake. 
 All four have mysterious past histories and moved to the community in recent years. 
 Perhaps the killer is none of the above. It could be Hastings' closest neighbor, Pete Smilie. He hangs around the fields and is usually armed with a rifle. 
 None of the neighbors of Cushing and Hastings had a darker past than Steve Wytorrek, who resides at a farmstead adjacent to the Hastings property. 
 Who?

McCleery & Sons Publishing

SECOND IN A SERIES OF HASTINGS BOOKS.... 
 Tom Hastings has moved from the lake country of central Minnesota to Minneapolis. His move was precipitated by the trauma associated with the murder of one of his neighbors. 
 After renting an apartment on the 20th floor of a high-rise apartment building known as The Towers, he’s met new friends and retained his relationship with a close friend, Julie, from St. Paul. 
 Hastings is a resident of the high-rise for less than a year when a young lady is found murdered next to a railroad track, a couple of blocks from The Towers. The murderer shares the same elevators, lower-level garage and other areas in the high-rise as does Hastings. The building manager and other residents, along with Hastings are caught up in dramatic events that build to a crisis while the local police are baffled. Who is the killer? 
 Is it Vito Manchino? He’s a regular at O’Leary’s bar &amp; grill where he’s seen visiting with the first victim. 
 Is it Marcil Huggins? He hangs around the nearby bike-trail and spends a lot of time gawking at the skaters and joggers. 
 Is it Carlos Valdez? He always hides one of his hands in a pocket. He and his wife wear expensive jewelry. 
 Is it Jack Billings? He lives alone in the high-rise and drinks a lot. 
 Is it Phil Bartron? His behavior appears peculiar to Hastings when he shows up in mutual places such as O'Leary's bar&amp; grill. 
 Is it Richard Fallon? He lives in The Towers with his wife but is attracted to other women. 
 Is it someone else? 
 Hastings finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of others while armed with a claw hammer in one incident and a baseball bat in another.

The Towers

McCleery

Tom Hastings is looking forward to a month's vacation in Florida. While driving through Tennessee, he witnesses an automobile leaving the road and plunging down a steep slope. He stops and assists another man in finding the car. The driver, a young woman, survives the accident. Tom is totally unaware that the young woman was being chased because she had chanced coming into possession of a valuable gem, which had been heisted from a Saudi Arabian prince in a New York hotel room. After arriving in Key Marie Island in Florida, Tom checks in and begins enjoying the surf and the beach. He meets many interesting people, however, some of them are on the island because of the Guni gem, and they will stop at nothing in order to gain possession. Desperate people and their greedy ambitions interrupt Tom’s goal of a peaceful vacation.

Danger in the Keys (Third in a Series of Hastings Books)

Gray Riders is a flashback to Schanilec’s Hastings Series mystery novels where Tom Hastings is the main character. Tom’s great-grandfather, Thomas, lives on a farm with his family in western Missouri in 1861. The local citizenry react to the Union cavalry by organizing and forming an armed group of horsemen who become known as the Gray Riders. The Riders not only defend their families and properties, but also ride with the Confederate Missouri Guard. They participate in three major battles.

Gray Riders

History

Americas

McCleery & Sons

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Schanilec, Ernest Francis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Schanilec, Ernest Francis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Schanilec, Ernest Francis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Blue Darkness

Blue Darkness

Blue Darkness

The Towers

Danger in the Keys (Third in a Series of Hastings Books)

Gray Riders

Gray Riders