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Nancy Wikarski is a fugitive from academia. After earning her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, she became a computer consultant and then turned to writing mysteries and historical fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Futures Magazine and DIME Anthology, while her book reviews have been featured in Murder: Past Tense and Deadly Pleasures. She has written the Gilded Age Mystery series set in 1890s Chicago. Titles include The Fall Of White City (2002) and Shrouded In Thought (2005). The series has received People's Choice Award nominations for best first novel and best historical. A member of Mystery Writers of America, she has served as vice president of Sisters In Crime - Twin Cities and on the programming board of the Chicago chapter. She is currently writing the seven book Arkana archaeology thriller series.

Where do you hide an ancient relic that has the power to change the course of history? As Cassie Forsythe and her Arkana team discover, you scatter clues to its whereabouts across the entire planet. Five artifacts buried among the rubble of lost civilizations point to the hiding place of a mythical object known as the Sage Stone. Psychic Cassie, bodyguard Erik, and librarian Griffin find their quest hampered at every turn by agents of a cult known as the Blessed Nephilim. The cult's leader, Abraham Metcalf, wants to exploit the power of the Sage Stone to win a war of religious genocide. Although keeping the relic out of Metcalf's hands is important, it is even more critical to keep him from finding the Arkana's troves of archaeological treasure. This cache, which has taken centuries to amass, proves the existence of advanced matriarchal cultures on every continent predating patriarchy by thousands of years. The Nephilim would like nothing better than to destroy the cache and its guardians. The global treasure hunt for the Sage Stone has put the Nephilim and the Arkana on a collision course. The only question is whether any of them will survive long enough to claim the prize... Volume One - The Granite Key: In a nightmare, nineteen year old Cassie Forsythe sees her sister attacked by a man in a cowboy hat who demands something called "the key." Her nightmare mutates into reality when she is called to identify her sister's body, murdered exactly as her dream foretold. Cassie dismisses her vision as a fluke until the night she catches the man in the cowboy hat ransacking her sister's apartment. He bolts with an odd-looking stone cylinder--the Granite Key. From that moment, Cassie's normal world evaporates. She learns that her sister led a double life retrieving artifacts for a secret organization called the Arkana. Cassie's sister had the psychic ability to touch an artifact and relive its past. Cassie has now inherited this gift. The leader of the Arkana wants the girl to take over her sister's role in the organization. She reluctantly agrees in the hopes that they might find her sister's killer. Teamed with librarian Griffin and bodyguard Erik, Cassie is sent to the Minoan ruins of Crete to decipher the key's code. Even as the trio rakes through megalithic tombs and Minoan palaces for clues, Nephilim operatives are closing in. Will Cassie And Company solve the mystery in time or fall victim to the cult's ruthless assassin? The Granite Key holds all the answers.

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Category: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense; Literature & Fiction; History

THE ARKANA SERIES: Where Alternative History Meets Archaeology Adventure... Volume Two - The Mountain Mother Cipher: Cassie, Griffin and Erik race to Turkey in search of the first artifact while still struggling to function as a team. Griffin frets about doing fieldwork, Cassie doubts her psychic abilities and Erik barely tolerates the other two. The treasure hunt leads them to ancient megaliths on the top of Mount Ida. There they square off against Nephilim operatives in a cliffhanger of a confrontation. At the worst possible moment, the Arkana team discovers that the Nephilim aren't their only competitors for the lost relic. Unforeseen obstacles and unknown enemies thwart their efforts to complete their mission and escape unharmed. This new crisis teaches Cassie where her real loyalties lie. Will all the members of the Arkana team make it home alive? That's only one of the many puzzles within the pages of The Mountain Mother Cipher.

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Category: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense; Literature & Fiction; History

THE ARKANA SERIES: Where Alternative History Meets Archaeology Adventure... Volume Three - The Dragon's Wing Enigma: Cassie is packing for the next leg of the treasure hunt when trouble comes knocking at her door. Trouble takes the form of fourteen year old runaway Hannah Curtis who happens to be the youngest wife of aged polygamist Abraham Metcalf. By seeking refuge with Cassie, she may have led the cult straight to the Arkana's cache of relics. The Arkana's elderly leader spirits the girl away to her farmhouse in the country, allowing Cassie and her teammates to resume their quest. The trio flies to Malta, hoping to unearth the second artifact among the ruined temples of a long-dead civilization. After a fruitless search of the archipelago, they turn northward to the Basque region of Europe. Meanwhile, Abraham's son Daniel is combing the same terrain and narrowing the gap between them. In an isolated mountaintop cave, the treasure hunters learn that the next relic can only be discovered if they "keep true to the dragon's wing." The clue baffles them. With Nephilim operatives closing in, will they even live to solve the riddle? Will the cult recapture Hannah and breach the defenses of the Arkana itself? More than the Sage Stone is at stake in The Dragon's Wing Enigma.

Kindle Price: $2.99

Category: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense; Literature & Fiction; History

THE ARKANA SERIES: Where Alternative History Meets Archaeology Adventure... Volume Four - Riddle Of The Diamond Dove: Two down, three to go. The quest for the next piece of the puzzle has led both sides to Africa. They must comb an entire continent--their only lead a riddle carved onto a mysterious dove sculpture. Even as the Arkana team struggles to decipher the clue, new dangers hover over their colleagues at home. Metcalf's child-bride Hannah has taken refuge at the home of the Arkana's leader Faye while mercenary Leroy Hunt creeps ever closer to her hiding place. Meanwhile, Metcalf's son Daniel recruits a clever ally who might be more than a match for the opposing side. When the forces of the Arkana and the Nephilim converge on a ruined city in a forgotten corner of the dark continent, the shocking outcome is beyond even Cassie's powers to foresee. The quest for the Sage Stone will veer in an unexpected direction once both sides solve the Riddle Of The Diamond Dove.

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Category: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense; Literature & Fiction; History

THE ARKANA SERIES: Where Alternative History Meets Archaeology Adventure... Volume Five - Into The Jaws Of The Lion: Hot on the heels of their victory in Africa, a new clue sends the Arkana team to India in a race to claim the third Minoan relic. Beating the Nephilim to the prize is the least of their worries. Abraham Metcalf's plan to release a deadly plague on an unsuspecting world moves one step closer to reality as does Leroy Hunt's recapture of Metcalf's child-bride. Every effort to throw the mercenary off the girl's trail only draws him nearer to his prey. A rift among the members of the Arkana team threatens to destroy the relic hunt altogether. Held captive on a frigid mountaintop in the Himalayas, they are forced to summon all their resources not merely to complete their quest but simply to survive the night. If you thought you knew where this saga was heading, be prepared for a shocking twist when Cassie, Erik and Griffin wander blindly Into The Jaws Of The Lion.

Kindle Price: $2.99

Category: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense; Literature & Fiction; History