The Nighthawk has landed!

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

The newest Wings of the West book is here!

Arizona Territory
September 1899

Sophie Ryan’s dream of working for a newspaper has come true. Accompanied by her cousin, Lucas Blackmore, a newly appointed U.S. Deputy Marshal, she arrives in Jerome, one of the richest mining towns in America. And one of the most remote. Although she’s been hired to report for the Jerome Mining News on education and cultural issues, she soon finds herself immersed in something more serious when she finds an enigmatic injured man in the Black Hills claiming to be an ornithologist.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Benton McKay is undercover tracking the notorious train robbing Weaver gang, and the trail ends in Jerome. When he’s injured in the Black Hills and found by a determined and beautiful young woman, he must gain her trust to keep his identity a secret. But keeping her out of trouble proves a challenge, especially with her cousin assigned to assist him. As they track down the band of outlaws, another agenda emerges—the renegades are searching for lost gold believed to have been left behind by the Spanish Conquistadors. And Sophie Ryan is determined to report on it.

The Nighthawk is a fast-paced romantic adventure filled with humor, treasure hunting, a tenacious heroine, and a hero harboring a secret. It has light steam, a happily-for-now ending, and can be read as a standalone.

Sophie is the daughter of Logan and Claire from THE DOVE.

Available in digital and paperback. Find more info here.

Read an excerpt

Sophie pulled free. “What are you doing here?” she whispered.

“I could ask you the same, but I don’t have time.”

McKay went to the barn door as Bromley’s light disappeared around the house. He stepped into the storm, searching the ground for Xander’s path. It became futile quickly, the ground a muddy slop. And he couldn’t keep lurking around the Bromley house. The man might see him.

When he stopped abruptly, Sophie slammed into his backside. He grabbed her shoulders before she fell, her duster slick with rain. “We need to go,” he said.

Grabbing her hand, he dragged her behind him, not stopping until they got to her horse.

“Were you following me?” she demanded.

He ignored her, grabbing her waist and hoisting her onto Roger. He took the horse’s reins from her.

“I can ride on my own,” Sophie said loudly above the din of rain.

McKay walked Roger to his own horse. Once mounted, he continued to hold Roger’s reins, not wanting to lose Sophie in the storm. It was slow going, but he finally got them to the livery where they left the animals for the night. Then McKay took her hand again and led her to his hotel.

“Where are we going?” Her voice was exasperated.

“We need privacy,” he said, taking a back way, entering the Connor Hotel through a rear entrance.

When the way was clear of employees, they went through the kitchen and took the stairs. He unlocked his door but when he stepped inside, Sophie refused.

“I’m not going into your room,” she whispered. She was dripping water all over the carpeted floor.

“Now’s not the time to play hard to get, Sophie.”

He pulled her inside and shut the door.

Connect with Kristy

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The Wren - A 20th Anniversary Special Hardcover Edition

By Kristy McCaffrey

In 2023 I celebrated a milestone - the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Wren. It was the first book I wrote and published (in 2003), and I've been so grateful over the years for how readers have loved and embraced the story of Molly Hart and her return home after a childhood spent with the Comanche. I knew I wanted to do something special to commemorate the event and so this hardcover edition was borne.

I published the new edition at the end of 2023 but am only now announcing it because it took weeks for my author copies to arrive, and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect before I shared the news. And I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out!

Su at Earthly Charms did an absolutely amazing job on the cover (which includes a dust jacket - squee!!). My daughter-in-law, Alex, did the interior illustrations, and she brought to life elements of the story so beautifully. My many thanks for her fabulous contributions. When I finally held a copy in my hands, I cried because a huge dream of mine had been achieved.

There are other fun additions - two short stories featuring Matt and Molly that until now were only available in digital to my newsletter subscribers, a new forward by me, and three essays previously published on my blog about the making of the Wings of the West series (The Wren is Book 1).

Copyright Alexandra McCaffrey

Copies are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart.com, and Booktopia. Autographed editions can be ordered on my Etsy shop and will include a new bookmark, a sticker of Molly's slingshot, and a cup coaster. I'll drop the links at the end of this post.

Copyright Alexandra McCaffrey

A 20th Anniversary Special Hardcover Edition

(Includes two bonus stories not published anywhere else - The Shiny Penny and Song of the Wren)

Captured by Comanche as a child, Molly Hart was assumed dead. Ten years later, Texas Ranger Matt Ryan finds a woman with the same blue eyes.

Such a little sprite she’d once been, stirring up emotions within him he’d never expected—affection, fondness, protectiveness. Such a resolute woman she’d become, stirring … he really didn’t want to dwell on that. Nothing good would come of it.

“A rousing, spicy story of long lost love in the gritty Old West. The Wren will make your pulse flutter and your heart sing.” —Ann Charles, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Award-winning Deadwood Mystery Series

Ten years have passed since Molly Hart’s ranch was attacked, her folks murdered, and she was abducted. Now, at nineteen, she’s finally returning home to North Texas after spending the remainder of her childhood with a tribe of Kwahadi Comanche. What she finds is a deserted home coated with dust and the passage of time, the chilling discovery of her own gravesite, and the presence of a man she thought never to see again.

Matt Ryan is pushed by a restless wind to the broken-down remains of the Hart ranch. Recently recovered from an imprisonment that nearly ended his life, the drive for truth and fairness has all but abandoned him. For ten years he faithfully served the U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers, seeking justice for the brutal murder of a little girl, only to find closure and healing beyond his grasp. Returning to the place where it all began, he’s stunned to encounter a woman with the same blue eyes as the child he can’t put out of his mind.

A sensuous historical western romance set in 1877 Texas.

  

Bonus Content

THE SHINY PENNY - A Short Story
Christmas Eve 1878
Molly Hart Ryan and her sister, Emma Blackmore, return to the abandoned Hart Ranch to visit the gravesites of their folks. While confronting the past revives a deep heartache and sadness that has long been buried, it also offers an unexpected gift.

SONG OF THE WREN - A Novella
October 1879
Matt Ryan finds more than rustlers when his cattle begin disappearing. Forced to confront an enemy he thought long gone, he must ready for a fight, but he’s never faced a battlefield like this before, and only his wife, Molly, can save him this time.

Also included are three essays by the author about creating the series:
Naming A Series After Birds
The Psychology Behind the Wings of the West Series
Fun Facts about the Wings of the West Series

Reading order of the Wings of the West Series:

The Wren (Book 1)
The Dove (Book 2)
The Sparrow (Book 3)
The Blackbird (Book 4)
The Shiny Penny (Short Story 4.1)
Song of the Wren (Novella 4.2)
The Bluebird (Book 5)
The Songbird (Book 6) - Novella
Echo of the Plains (Book 7) - Short Story
The Starling (Book 8)
The Canary (Book 9)
The Nighthawk (Book 10) - Preorder Now

 Now Available

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

Barnes and Noble

Walmart

Booktopia

Kristy's Etsy Shop

Jerome, Arizona

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

Happy 2024! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends. This year brings a new addition to my Wings of the West series. THE NIGHTHAWK is Book Ten and will be released July 17, 2024. You can pre-order a digital copy today. The story takes place in Jerome, Arizona Territory, in 1899. It’s a lovely little town with great views of the red rocks of Sedona in the distance.

 

Today Jerome is known for its art scene and wineries, but in the 1800’s it was called the “Wickedest Town in the West.” Built on Cleopatra Hill, it sat on a vast deposit of copper.

Jerome 1897

Prehistoric Native Americans were the first miners. Later, the Spaniards came seeking gold, followed by an influx of Americans, Mexicans, Croatians, Irish, Italians, and Chinese. It was a raucous town filled with miners, freighters, gamblers, bootleggers, saloons, prostitutes, and preachers. The copper deposits discovered here are among some of the richest ever found.

The Nighthawk

Sophie Ryan’s dream of working for a newspaper has come true. Accompanied by her cousin, Lucas Blackmore, a newly appointed U.S. Deputy Marshal, she arrives in Jerome, one of the richest mining towns in America. And one of the most remote. Although she’s been hired to report for the Jerome Mining News on education and cultural issues, she soon finds herself immersed in something more serious when she finds an enigmatic injured man in the Black Hills claiming to be an ornithologist.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Benton McKay is undercover tracking the notorious train robbing Weaver gang, and the trail ends in Jerome. When he’s injured in the Black Hills and found by a determined and beautiful young woman, he must gain her trust to keep his identity a secret. But keeping her out of trouble proves a challenge, especially with her cousin assigned to assist him. As they track down the band of outlaws, another agenda emerges—the renegades are searching for lost gold believed to have been left behind by the Spanish Conquistadors. And Sophie Ryan is determined to report on it.

Come along with Sophie and McKay as they find adventure, mystery, and love.

Sophie is the daughter of Logan and Claire from THE DOVE.

Pre-order The Nighthawk

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

Apple Books

Nook

Kobo, Google Play and Paperbacks will be coming.

A Mirthful Wish is out!!

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

Long before Santa and his magical reindeer, there were tales of a female reindeer who drew the sleigh of the sun goddess at the winter solstice. Unlike male reindeer who shed their antlers in the winter, it is the larger and stronger doe who retains hers to help forage for food for her young. And it's she who leads the herds throughout the winter months.

Santa Claus is a Christianized version of the pagan traditions of winter, which included stories of the ancient Deer Mother. She flew through the winter's darkest night with the life-giving light of the sun in her horns. There are many winter goddesses in the Nordic countries. In one tale, Saule, the Lithuanian and Latvian goddess of the sun, flew across the heavens in a sleigh pulled by a horned reindeer and threw pebbles of amber—symbolizing the sun—into chimneys.

In Finnish lore there exists the story of the Vaadin, a female reindeer crafted from bones of stone, a flesh of moss, and skin made of birch bark. She was used by shamans in journeys of knowledge to create magical items.

In my new Christmas romance release, I play with the mythology of the Vaadin. If a couple sees her, they're granted true love.

A Mirthful Wish is now available in eBook and paperback.

The Thatcher-Adler feud goes back generations. Despite this, Ellie Thatcher befriended Liam Adler when she was a girl. She even managed to get a job at the Adler Reindeer Farm while in high school, the very farm that had once belonged to her family. Now, with college and a stint working overseas behind her, she’s returning home to Reindeer Pass to open a photography studio. But the feud has been reignited and Ellie and Liam are about to get dragged into the middle of it.

Liam Adler has returned to the Colorado town where he grew up to take over the family business after the sudden death of his father. It wasn’t the life path he’d planned, and now he must convince old Eustace Hapgood to sell his land to the Adlers and not the Thatchers. And his opponent is none other than Ellie Thatcher—no longer the sweet and funny little girl he remembers, but all grown-up and strikingly beautiful. 

Years ago, Eustace told a young Ellie and Liam about the Legend of Reindeer Pass, where a rare Arctic reindeer herd is rumored to have lived since the first Thatcher and Adler men settled in the valley in the 1800’s. When Ellie and Liam appear before the old man, Eustace tells them he will sell to the first to see the Vaadin, the largest of the elusive female reindeer. But there is more to the legend … only the pure of heart are presented with such a gift. And to a special few, true love is granted.

When Christmas comes around, everyone has their own special wish. For some, those wishes are as simple as getting the perfect gift for that special someone. For others, those wishes are much bigger. Especially, when they wish for love.

Everyone deserves the gift of love, but sometimes that's more complicated than it should be.

This year is different.

For those pure of heart, their wishes, even their wishes for true love, just might be granted.

Wishing for Love is a heartwarming series about Christmas wishes of love coming true for those who have the purest of hearts. If you're looking for a feel-good read this holiday season, pick up A MIRTHFUL WISH to meet the authors of this heartwarming holiday romance series and find your next happy ever after.

Don't miss more books in the Wishing for Love series. Check them all out here.

Read a prequel to A MIRTHFUL WISH in the FREE anthology, Stocking Up For Christmas.

Download your copy here.

Excerpt from A Mirthful Wish

Without warning, Ellie kissed him, bold and hungry. Wrapping his arms around her, Liam shifted her out of sight. There was nothing soft and chaste about them finally coming together, the contact escalating quickly to a heat level he was unprepared for.

He’d anticipated this going differently—slower and more private—but nothing with Ellie ever seemed to go to plan.

Ellie broke contact first, her breath fast and hot against his lips. A lingering taste of marinara sauce and sexy Ellie remained.

He didn’t know what to say.

“There was mistletoe,” she whispered, looking as stunned as he felt.

Her eyes flicked upward. A green sprig hung from a hook above their table.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, then left him standing alone in the nook, too shocked to speak, a cold wave engulfing him after the loss of her heat.

Liam scrubbed a hand down his face, waiting for his heartbeat to slow to a reasonable rate.

When Ryan joined him, his brother frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I’ve underestimated Ellie Thatcher.”

A Mirthful Wish is available at

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

Amazon IN

Apple Books

Kobo

Nook

Google Play Books

Paperback

Add it on Goodreads

Find it on BookBub

Find more info at Kristy's website

Don't Miss This Christmas Story Collection

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

I'm excited to be part of a multi-author holiday project this year. While each book will begin releasing in December, we have a special treat for readers - a collection of prequel short stories you can download now for FREE!

In this limited-edition Christmas romance collection love blooms underneath the mistletoe as holiday wishes of the heart come true. Get snowed in with these stories where anything can happen through the magic of Christmas—and love.

This multi-author holiday romance collection features these stories by the following authors:

A Gingerbread Wish by Kari Shuey

I’ll Be Home for Christmas by PG Forte

Christmas Hero by Quinn Marlowe

Home for the Honeymoon by Sharon Wray

A Christmas Cowboy Crush by Megan Ryder

The Best present Ever by Debra Deasey

Magda’s Gift by TK Eldridge

Spelled In Wonder by Jaelle Keyes

Someone Like Him for Christmas by Susanna Eastman

Tinseltown Dreams by Kristen Fray

The Reindeer That Got Away by Kristy McCaffrey

The Buck Eye Cowboy by Jamie K. Schmidt

Holly’s Christmas Miracle by Pandora Snow

It includes my short story THE REINDEER THAT GOT AWAY

The Thatcher-Adler feud goes back several generations and is well known in Reindeer Pass, Colorado. When a teenaged Liam Adler befriends young Ellie Thatcher, he’s amused by her tenacious curiosity to find the white reindeer rumored to be living in the nearby mountains. As they continue to cross paths through the years, Liam’s fondness turns to something more. But there’s still the issue of the family feud …

DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY HERE.

The story will continue in A MIRTHFUL WISH, available December 14, 2023!

The Thatcher-Adler feud goes back generations. Despite this, Ellie Thatcher befriended Liam Adler when she was a girl. She even managed to get a job at the Adler Reindeer Farm while in high school, the very farm that had once belonged to her family. Now, with college and a stint working overseas behind her, she’s returning home to Reindeer Pass to open a photography studio. But the feud has been reignited and Ellie and Liam are about to get dragged into the middle of it. 

Liam Adler has returned to the Colorado town where he grew up to take over the family business after the sudden death of his father. It wasn’t the life path he’d planned, and now he must convince old Eustace who lives in the Buckley Cabin to sell his adjacent land to the Adlers and not the Thatchers. And his opponent is none other than Ellie Thatcher—no longer the sweet and funny little girl he remembers, but all grown-up and strikingly beautiful. 

Years ago, Eustace told a young Ellie and Liam about the Legend of Reindeer Pass, where a rare Arctic reindeer herd is rumored to have lived since the first Thatcher and Adler men settled in the valley in the 1800’s. When Ellie and Liam appear before the old man, Eustace tells them he will sell to the first to see the Vaadin, the largest of the elusive female reindeer. But there is more to the legend … only the pure of heart are presented with such a gift. And to a special few, true love is granted. 

When Christmas comes around, everyone has their own special wish. For some, those wishes are as simple as getting the perfect gift for that special someone. For others, those wishes are much bigger. Especially, when they wish for love. 

Everyone deserves the gift of love, but sometimes that's more complicated than it should be.

This year is different.

For those pure of heart, their wishes, even their wishes for true love, just might be granted. 

Wishing for Love is a heartwarming series about Christmas wishes of love coming true for those who have the purest of hearts. If you're looking for a feel-good read this holiday season, pick up A MIRTHFUL WISH to meet the authors of this heartwarming holiday romance series and find your next happy ever after.

Pre-order your copy now!

Read the first three chapters of A MIRTHFUL WISH.

The Canary is now available!

Paleontologist Jack Brenner enters a fake marriage with Sarah Ryan to protect her in the Arizona wilderness ...

Read now in eBook or paperback at Amazon, Apple Books, Nook, Kobo, and Google Play Books.

Read Chapter One and find buy links here.

*****

Arizona Territory
1899

Sarah Ryan grew up in Texas digging up animal bones and potsherds, but she always dreamed of searching for the extraordinary dinosaur fossils in the American West. When a wealthy benefactress gives her the opportunity to join the team of esteemed paleontologist Dr. Allan Brenner, she eagerly accepts. But when she arrives in the wild and wooly town of Holbrook, Arizona Territory, ready to start digging, she’s faced with the very real obstacle of being a female in a world dominated by men.

Dr. Jack Brenner is looking for his father who disappeared into the Painted Desert two months ago. Mounting an expedition to find him, Jack is suddenly saddled with Sarah Ryan, a young paleontology student hired as an intern to his father. When Jack’s guide refuses to let Sarah accompany them into the wilderness without a chaperone—and a colleague threatens her—he finds himself in a pretend marriage to protect the determined woman whose passion for paleontology was something he once possessed. But he has bigger problems than his beautiful new wife—his father is pursuing a controversial theory about the origin of birds, and it’s attracted the attention of men who would rather destroy evidence than excavate it. 

Sarah is the daughter of Logan and Claire from THE DOVE.

The Wings of the West Series Reading Order

Book One: The Wren
Book Two: The Dove
Book Three: The Sparrow
Book Four: The Blackbird
Book Five: The Bluebird
Book Six: The Songbird (Novella)
Book Seven: Echo of the Plains (Short Story)
Book Eight: The Starling
Book Nine: The Canary
Book Ten: The Nighthawk (Coming Soon)

*****

Read an excerpt

(Jack and Sarah are searching for Jack's father, Dr. Allan Brenner. Isaac Dearborn was Allan's assistant for many years.)

“Allan thinks the birds can be traced back to the theropods,” Isaac said.

Sarah’s mind raced with the possibilities, and Jack’s silence signaled the same.

Finally, she spoke. “Because of Archaeopteryx?”

“Yes,” Isaac said, his face its usual somber self.

She knew that fossils of Archaeopteryx, found over thirty years ago in Germany, were of a primitive bird-like dinosaur with evidence of feathers.

“But not everyone believes that birds were dinosaurs,” she said. “Some say Archaeopteryx is a missing link between the two but that doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Jack said, “Dinosauria is divided into two clades: Ornithischia and Saurischia. And everyone has always believed the birds to have evolved from the first, not the theropods of the second. But if it’s true ….”

“Archaeopteryx was a theropod that lived during the Jurassic,” Isaac said, “so Allan kept thinking … what came before? Could he prove a connection to something in the Triassic?”

“Has my father spoken about this?” Jack asked.

“Not publicly, no. He wanted to find proof. But I’m guessing he has in private, which is how Dr. Pierce no doubt heard about it.”

Sarah was a bit stunned, and for the first time since arriving she wondered if she was in the wrong place. She had admired Dr. Allan Brenner and the work he’d done in the quarries in Wyoming and the fossils he’d excavated from this area, but was she now to be associated with a man who might be committing career suicide?

Copyright © 2023 K. McCaffrey LLC

 

 

Holbrook, Arizona

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

Holbrook is the perfect place to launch a visit to the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park, the Grand Canyon, and the Navajo Nation in general.

Holbrook, Arizona

Located on the banks of the Little Colorado River, Holbrook was founded in 1881 when the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was built. The town was named after chief engineer Henry Randolph Holbrook and the railroad sold a million acres to a Boston investment group which established the Aztec Land and Cattle Company—known as the Hashknife Outfit—making Holbrook its headquarters.

Historic Holbrook, Arizona Territory

The constant presence of outlaws along with endless cattle and horse rustling made the area quite lawless. Holbrook was known as “the town too tough for women and churches.” The Pleasant Valley War was a long, bloody skirmish that took place in the 1880’s, with many of the confrontations in and around Holbrook. However, in 1895 the town became the county seat of Navajo County. By 1902 the Hashknife was bankrupt, and the land was sold to the Babbitt brothers.

Petrified Forest

President Theodore Roosevelt named the Petrified Forest a National Monument in 1906. In 1926, the Beale Wagon Road became Route 66, passing through both the Petrified Forest and Holbrook, and tourism began taking over the economy.

In my upcoming book, THE CANARY, Sarah Ryan arrives in Holbrook in 1899 to meet with esteemed paleontologist Dr. Allan Brenner. But instead, she finds herself in the company of his son, Jack.

Excerpt

(Sarah initially confuses Jack with his father, Allan, whom she's never met.)

Sarah hadn’t expected Dr. Brenner to be so young. Or tall, his stance beneath his hat and duster exuding self-assurance. She had never met the esteemed paleontologist in person, but he was … different than she had imagined. Her smile slipped a bit. Could he have possibly written all those papers in the last four or five years he was credited with? He appeared to be around thirty years old, and that would mean he’d been doing extensive field work while earning his doctorate. It stretched credibility.

Dr. Brenner was looking at her as if he didn’t know who she was. Well, obviously he didn’t, since they had never met, but it appeared he hadn’t been expecting her.

“Did you get the letter from Mrs. Parks?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh, good. Then you knew I was coming.” He was here, so he was awaiting someone. She relaxed a little. Traveling alone from Boston had a been a bit nerve-wracking, but she had kept reminding herself that she was made of sterner stock than most. She was a Ryan after all. A daughter and niece of the well-known Texas Ryans, Blackmores, and Walkers.

“You’re a woman,” Dr. Brenner stated, his brows furrowed in a way that reminded her of her favorite horse, Chip, when he wanted another carrot, but she wouldn’t give him one.

“Last time I looked,” she replied cheerfully. She’d been given the break of a lifetime when Mrs. Parks had hired her for this dig. She wasn’t going to let anything get her down.

When consternation remained on his quite-handsome face, she added, “Is that a problem?”

“I was told to meet an S. Ryan. I’d assumed you were ….”

When he paused, she waited, but when he didn’t finish the sentence, it became clear what he was going to say. “A man,” she said.

He sighed and looked away. “Yes.”

 

The Canary release July 25, 2023! Pre-order the eBook here.