The Duck Creek Mysteries
Duck Creek Village, Utah sits high on Cedar Mountain, where the air is thin, the pines grow thick, and the legends have a way of turning out to be true.
The Duck Creek Mysteries are clean, wholesome adventures recommended for 7th grade and up — the kind of stories where small-town life hides surprisingly big secrets. Each book weaves together three threads that make Duck Creek unlike anywhere else: the ancient lore of the mountain itself, a grounded “cozy” mystery rooted in everyday village life, and the beloved local businesses whose owners, recipes, and hidden histories turn out to be exactly what the heroes need.
Trail-expert Finn, aspiring filmmaker Chloe, skeptical scientist Maya, and the rest of the crew didn’t set out to be detectives. But in Duck Creek, trouble has a habit of finding people — and so does community.
Whether the mystery involves a film reel buried in a split pine tree, a drowned village beneath Navajo Lake, or a legendary gold mine that may or may not be cursed, every adventure ends where it begins: with good people, a tight-knit mountain town, and the quiet conviction that the truth is worth finding.
Grab a warm scone, unfold your map, and welcome to Duck Creek.
Book 1 The Mystery of the Starlet's Shadow
When a lightning strike splits an ancient pine tree in their sleepy Utah mountain town, Finn and Chloe uncover a film canister buried for seventy years — tied to a starlet who vanished without a trace in 1954. The lost reel turns out to be more than a Hollywood mystery; it may hold the key to saving their town from a developer with a bulldozer and big plans. History has a way of making itself heard.
Ebook: ASIN B0GSS5R74L (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-252346-96-0
Hardcover: 979-8-252347-53-0 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-40-1 (elsewhere)
Book 2 The Mystery of the Navajo Neptune
When Maya returns to her favorite Utah mountain village, a stolen rubber duck ritual and dropping lake levels expose something far older and stranger beneath the surface of Navajo Lake. With wilderness guide Finn at her side, she's pulled into a tangle of folklore, small-town grudges, and environmental sabotage — all before the first snow falls. In Duck Creek, even the quirkiest traditions run deeper than they look.
Ebook: ASIN B0GSS5M233 (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-252348-72-8
Hardcover: 979-8-252349-33-6 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-39-5 (elsewhere)
Book 3 The Mystery of the Sasquatch Shadow
When a family of cryptozoologists arrives in Duck Creek with a vintage map and Bigfoot fever, Maya and Leo get pulled into the backcountry — and after a suspicious burger at the local pub, their senses are suddenly, inexplicably dialed up to something primal. What starts as a quirky creature hunt turns deadly serious when they realize something very real is lurking in the lava tubes beneath Cedar Mountain. The tracks may be a distraction, but the danger isn't.
Ebook: ASIN B0GTBQHQKP (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-252998-85-5
Hardcover: 979-8-252999-20-3 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-41-8 (elsewhere)
Book 4 The Mystery of the Hermit's Hideout
When someone starts sabotaging the beloved salad bar at Aunt Sue's Chalet with foraged forest ingredients, Finn finds himself tangled up with a spirited local naturalist — just as a pair of van-life influencers roll into Duck Creek hunting for a hermit who's spent fifty years earning his silence. With cryptic notes, donkey basketball, and a retaining wall feud adding to the chaos, Finn and Leo must solve the culinary mystery while keeping a fragile secret buried deep in the woods. In Duck Creek, some puzzles are better left unsolved.
Ebook: ASIN B0GTJZ534K (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-253264-14-0
Hardcover: 979-8-253264-94-2 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-42-5 (elsewhere)
Book 5 The Mystery of the Lost Rhoades
When a flashy Las Vegas couple claims to have found the legendary Lost Rhoades Mine and gold starts turning up in Duck Creek Village, Maya and Chloe smell a con — and head into the wilderness to prove it. Their investigation leads them to a country store with unusually wise owners and suspiciously helpful tools, and deeper into a tangle of fake artifact auctions, treasure hunters, and a very real curse. Some legends are better left alone, but modern-day greed is a mystery they can't ignore.
Ebook: ASIN B0GTJQ334T (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-253640-45-6
Hardcover: 979-8-253640-63-0 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-43-2 (elsewhere)
Book 6 The Mystery of the Stone People
When a high-strung wedding party arrives at a luxury canyon retreat chasing Paiute legends, Leo and Sophie discover that the real threat has nothing mystical about it — someone is running a high-tech theft operation out of the forest, and the trail leads straight back to their pristine cabins. Armed with an unexpected gift from the canyon and backup from a line-dancing DJ, they have to crack the case before the Stone People of the hoodoos take matters into their own hands. Even a peaceful seasonal gig has its complications on Cedar Mountain.
Ebook: ASIN B0GTJSDXCP (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-253700-18-1
Hardcover: 979-8-253700-37-2 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-44-9 (elsewhere)
Book 7 The Mystery of the Golden Talon
When Cedar Mountain's rarest peregrine falcons start disappearing, lifelong local Leo and data-driven naturalist Cody make an unlikely team — until an artifact from a dusty antique shop gives Cody the ability to literally see through the eyes of the birds he's trying to save. Tracking a clever poacher through lava beds and limestone caves, they find themselves shadowed by the legend of the Golden Talon, a spirit-bird said to guard the high ridges. On Cedar Mountain, the line between myth and evidence has a way of disappearing.
Ebook: ASIN B0GX2VH9WG (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-257453-81-6
Hardcover: 979-8-257454-94-3 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-45-6 (elsewhere)
Book 8 The Mystery of the Ghost of the Iron Horse
When mysterious engine failures start plaguing Duck Creek's most trusted ATV shop, tech-obsessed Carl and mountain-native Jillian discover that some problems can't be solved with better software — especially when a legendary golden wrench lets them hear the machines speak. Chasing a modern saboteur through lava beds and ancient forest, they're haunted by the legend of a Concord stagecoach that vanished in an 1886 blizzard. The mountain has a long memory, and something is finally ready to talk.
Ebook: ASIN (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback:
Hardcover:
Coming soon!
Book 9 The Mystery of the Coyote's Ember
Someone is leaving deliberate fires on Cedar Mountain — cedar bark burning in careful circles at the plateau's most ancient spots, cold before anyone arrives — and the trail they mark follows a Southern Paiute legend that's been carried by this landscape for centuries. Leo and Cody will solve the mundane mystery hiding alongside it. The other one belongs to the mountain.
Ebook: ASIN (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback:
Hardcover:
Coming soon!
Book 9 The Mystery of the Golden Eagle
A Duck Creek JUNIOR Mystery! When a stolen trophy and missing radio headsets threaten to derail Labor Day weekend at Swains Creek Pines, thirteen-year-old Sadie and fifteen-year-old Caleb are the only ones paying close enough attention to notice. Chasing flickering lights, strange underground sounds, and a trail of clues through the lava tubes of the Dixie National Forest, the Junior Detectives have to crack the case before the first planes touch down on the dirt runway. The adults are busy with the BBQ — good thing the kids aren't.
Ebook: ASIN B0GHT45TSY (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-253955-21-5 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-47-0
Book 10 Cedar Mountain Campfire Stories
Twenty campfire tales rooted in the real history and folklore of Southern Utah's Markagunt Plateau — from Pioneer tragedy to Indigenous legend to modern-day monster sightings. Blending historic Gothic with supernatural lore, these stories are built for dramatic reading aloud under the pines. Every shadow has a story, and every story ends with a jump.
Ebook: ASIN B0GT74VXC6 (available on Kindle Unlimited)
Paperback: 979-8-252915-75-3 (Amazon)
Hardcover: 978-1-953645-46-3
copyright © 2026 Don Gannon-Jones.