Published 9/14/2026 & the 28th novel published – Available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook. Look below for links. Book 1 of Tales of the Southwest.

For years, stories have circulated around the Superstition Mountains about an old hermit who seems to have been there forever.

University of Arizona graduate student Matt Hayden has always been fascinated by the stories, but fascination isn’t enough for a historian. When the opportunity arises to investigate the legend for his final graduate paper, Matt sets out to find out what is fact, what is folklore, and whether the mysterious hermit ever existed at all.

He finds the answer sooner than expected. What begins as a simple research project soon becomes something far stranger as the man that Matt talks to shares memories of an Arizona that no longer exists, stories gathered over a lifetime, and hints of a past that raises more questions than it answers. The deeper Matt looks, the harder it becomes to separate the truth from the legend.

Some stories are true, while some aren’t, and some may be better left unexplained.