By: LuAnn M. Rod
Format: Available in Paperback, ePub, and MOBI
Genre: Historical Western Mystery
Maddie McDowell and the Missing Mustangs
Award-winning author LuAnn M. Rod brings young rodeo star Maddie McDowell back in a high-flying historical western adventure full of action, mystery, and heart.
Thunderation!
The Monte Decker Rodeo has rolled into Bear Creek, Montana, for the 1919 Fourth of July celebration, and twelve, nearly thirteen-year-old cowgirl Maddie McDowell is raring to compete. But on her way there, she finds an orphan newborn foal, which leads to a brand-new, high-flying mystery for this young Pinkerton in training.
Something, or someone, has spirited away the valley’s Ghost Mountain wild horses, and Maddie and her friends are on the hunt to find out what happened. Not only does she have to keep her promise to the young colt that she’ll find his mother, but she also must return the missing historically unique herd to its home.
All the usual suspects from Maddie’s first rodeo go-round are there. But this time, a World War I flying ace barnstormer has also soared in. The pilot’s familiar face sends Maddie reeling as years of betrayal make her question everything about the man in the airplane – her brother Robert. Will family secrets and hurts prove too much to forgive and forget?
The stakes are life and death for both the mustangs and Maddie as she races to save the
horses, win the rodeo, and maybe even learn that family sometimes means risking all.
Meet LuAnn M. Rod,
the author of Maddie McDowell and the Missing Mustangs
Elizabeth Raum –
What a fun and intriguing mystery. Maddie McDowell, who is twelve, “almost thirteen” is preparing for a rodeo when she finds an abandoned colt. She is determined to find the colt’s mother. Her friends Bertha and Roy are eager to help. The mystery expands when Maddie realizes that a herd of wild Ghost Mountain Mustangs is missing. Maddie McDowell and the Missing Mustangs is set in a small Montana town in the summer of1919. Although the mystery takes priority, readers are transported to the early 1900s, when communication, transportation, and even crime was vastly different from today. Author LuAnn Rod uses evocative language set the scene. For example, Rod describes a difficult task as being “as useless as trying to get a mule to jump in a bathtub.” She describes the bad guys are “lower than the belly on a fat hog.” And when Maddie is upset, she often cries, “Thunderation.” Maddie McDowell and the Missing Mustangs is a horse story, yes, but it also provides readers with a unique view of friendship, family, and U.S. history. The language, the characters, and the mystery will pull readers into the fascinating world of rodeos, wild horses, and characters determined to do what is right despite the dangers.