A Silver Medallion
by James R. Callan
Series: A Crystal Moore Suspense, Book 2
Genre: Suspense
Release Date: June 15, 2016
Young, bright, unadventurous Crystal Moore comes face-to-face with slavery in today’s Dallas, Texas. A woman is held, not by chains, but by threats to her two small children left behind in Mexico. Should she escape, or even tell anybody of her situation, her children will be killed.
Crystal would like to walk away and forget she ever heard this. But her conscience won’t let her. Her parents were killed when she was just seven. She knows the heartache these children suffer. She can’t sleep without hearing the cries of the two young girls and their mother.
Crystal knows the woman will never try to escape as long as her children are held hostage. Crystal realizes the only way to free her is to go to Mexico and rescue the girls first, for only if they are safe will the mother ever be free.
Crystal goes to Mexico and secures the help of the mysterious Juan Grande. After several abortive attempts, they rescue the children and spirit them to safety. Crystal returns to Dallas and now is able to help the mother escape. Soon, the mother and children are reunited.
But now, two powerful and ruthless men want Crystal dead. She will need all the help she can get from a former bull rider, Crystal’s streetwise housemate, and her seventy-six year-old, feisty grandmother.
Blocking her path was a scruffy Mexican sitting on a large black horse. “Senorita must look where she walk.”
“Excuse me, ah, lo siento,” she said.
“Maybe I help. You like see big hacienda?”
The blood drained from Crystal’s face. She tried to smile. “Thank you, but not today.”
She moved to go around the horse, only to find another horse and rider blocking her way. The man moved his mount closer, forcing Crystal to retreat. A third man, round with a skimpy mustache, sat astride a burro there, leering at her from under a large sombrero.
“You ride with me,” the first man declared.
James R. Callan took a degree in English, intent on writing. But when that did not support a family, he returned to graduate school in the field of mathematics. Upon graduation, he worked as a research mathematician, and vice-president of a database company.
He has received grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Data Processing Management Association. He has been listed in Who’s Who in Computer Science, and Two Thousand Notable Americans.
When his children were grown and self-supporting, he returned to his original love—writing. For two years, Callan wrote a monthly column for a national magazine. For six months, he wrote a weekly column that appeared in newspapers in four states. Callan has published ten books: four non-fiction books, plus six mystery/suspense novels. All have been published in print, seven were also published as e-books and four have been published in audio.
One of his mystery/suspense books ranked as high as number seven in its category on Amazon. The audio version of another book rose as high as number six on the Books in Motion list. He has had shorter works published in five anthologies. His eleventh book, a suspense, is scheduled for publication in 2016.
In addition to writing books, Callan gives workshops on writing in Texas and Mexico.
For fourteen year, Callan served as director of a respected writers’ conference. He belongs to writers’ groups in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He and his wife split their time between homes in east Texas and Puerto Vallarta. They have four children and six grandchildren.
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