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    Haunted Island
    Haunted Island
    Haunted Island
    Ebook103 pages1 hour

    Haunted Island

    By Joan Lowery Nixon

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    About this ebook

    On an island in the Mississippi River, a ghost and his dog stand guard
    When their aunt buys an old, run-down inn on the banks of the Mississippi, Chris and Amy Holt go south to help her fix up the place. They lend helping hands during the day, but at night, they wonder about the island in the middle of the river—a mysterious place where the townsfolk will not set foot. The island was created by an earthquake which shook the ground so fiercely that the river ran backwards, destroying the house of a bitter old miser named Joshua Hanover, and carrying away his precious hoard of silver coins. And according to legend, Hanover’s ghost still roams the island, his phantom dog, Shadow, at his side, searching eternally for his lost treasure. Unable to resist the treasure’s lure, Chris and Amy journey to the island to find out if the stories are true. There they find danger, and a mystery that is far more frightening than they could have ever imagined.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateOct 16, 2012
    ISBN9781453282670
    Haunted Island
    Author

    Joan Lowery Nixon

    Joan Lowery Nixon (1927–2003) was a renowned author of children’s literature, best known for series like the Orphan Train Adventures and Casebusters. Born in Los Angeles, she began dictating poems to her mother before she could read. At the University of Southern California, Nixon majored in journalism, but took a job teaching the first grade upon graduating. In 1949, she and her husband moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, and in 1964 she published her first novel, The Mystery of Hurricane Castle. Nixon became a fan of mystery fiction when she was a child, and many of her most popular series incorporate elements of sleuthing. She won four Edgar Awards for best young adult mysteries, including prizes for her novels The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore (1979) and The Name of the Game Was Murder (1993). In addition to writing more than 140 young adult novels, Nixon also co-wrote several geology texts with her scientist husband.      

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    • 4/5
      4.5 stars

      This series gets better and better! There is such great world and character building, it feels so real. The heroine, Kelsie, used to be a real mean girl in every sense of the word. So I shouldn't even like her but I absolutely adored her. The author did a great job of showing how she has changed and why. And the hero, Zach, is so down to earth and rough around the edges. He doesn't feel comfortable at social gatherings and always a bit out of place which makes him act stupidly sometimes. He's got such a big heart but hides that from most people and lets them think he is a dumb jock. I loved those two together.

    • 4/5
      While Craig Johnson is still a favorite of mine and this is a very good read this book is more about man vs nature as it is Walt vs the forces of evil. I prefer the stories with the full cast of characters.
    • 5/5
      One of my all-time favorites! Told from multiple points of view, but it isn't confusing. When Cap enters public school for the first time, the other middle school students make him a target for their amusement. To their disappointment, Cap thinks everyone gets treated this way. He gets into crazy situations and starts changing how everyone else thinks. Well - almost everyone. FUNNY!
    • 5/5
      I liked this book a lot because its a mystery and i do like mysterys but this was a great one and to who ever likes mysters this is the book for you. Also, you can go on line and go to a website in the book it tells you somewhere in the book and there are vidoes on the site but have to type a password there are sevral in the book. But these are really good vidoes and this is also a very very good mystery.
    • 5/5
      A brother and sister are taken from their village to become acrobats for the high king.They encounter many obstacles, one of them being that the sister won't talk because she can only tell the truth.making new friends and facing extreme dangers, this story is wonderfully capturing and inspiring. I couldn't put it down.
    • 3/5
      Downie's series continues to be a kind of poor man's version of the Lindsay Davis's Marcus Didius Falco books. It mines the same veins of humor and culture while attempting to show the similarities between people then and now -- but only half as successfully. The mystery in this book is spoiled by a very misleading prologue that seems to point toward the guilt of one particular character; since the information is never known to Ruso or Tilla and the character is never suspected, it dupes the reader to no purpose. My main problem with the book is one that I had with the earlier books in the series. I don't buy the relationship between Ruso and Tilla at all -- for all this great love they supposedly share, they never talk to each other or understand each other at all. And I continue to find Tilla in particular extremely dislikeable.
    • 5/5
      MG was an emotional book about two very damaged people and the healing power of love. Both of them were unloved growing up and their story was heart wrenching and uplifting. Eleanor Dinsmore is a pregnant widow with two small boys living on a rundown farm. Will Parker is an ex-convict just fired from his job when he answers Ellie's advertisement for a husband in the local newspaper. The way these two grow to love each other over time was wonderful.The secondary characters were three dimensional and vividly real. I especially loved Miss Beasley, the town librarian, who was crusty on the outside but had a heart of gold. My only quibble on this book was that I found it hard to believe that they could sleep together in the same bed for all those months and not have sex. But Will is such a beta hero that thinking about it further made me realize that this would be realistic for his character. And when they finally consummate their relationship it was rather subtle but nice just the same. I wanted some hot steamy sex! *sigh* Spencer just doesn't write that way. But I'm keeping this book to share with a few of my friends and my sister. They gotta love it. (Grade: A-)
    • 5/5
      Beautiful alternative to the classic Arthurian Legend. The characters are brought to life in a new captivating version that still seems to fit in nicely with the story we know. The Mordred and Morgause characters are particularly compelling!
    • 5/5
      James M. McPherson’s masterpiece justifiably won the Pulitzer in 1988. It is volume six in the Oxford History of the United States. McPherson is obviously a good scholar; he is also an excellent writer. His narrative style is serious, but clear. The book works in both conception and execution.The observations McPherson brings to light on the effectiveness of different Presidents dealing with the divisions in the country were really interesting, especially given the atmosphere of ‘no compromise’ we are seeing out of Washington today. Andrew Jackson and Zachery Taylor were effective while Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan were awful.While some of the history may be well known to many readers, there is certainly something new here for most of those who have not read this book. Reading Battle Cry of Freedom was fun.
    • 5/5
      A Match of Wits by Jen Turano is a most delightful story that had me laughing out loud several times in each chapter. Agatha Watson is an investigative reporter for the New York Tribune and is now in Colorado hoping to outwit someone in New York who wants her dead. To Agatha’s dismay, the newspaper has provided her with a bodyguard and she tries daily to shake him and go off on her own. Her dear friend, Zayne Beckett, is also in Colorado but neither of them wants to run into the other. Agatha does run into Zayne in a saloon where he is drunk and looks as if he has not bathed, shaved, or washed his clothes in months. She know that she is the one that must get him back home to New York and his family. Zayne does not want to go home but Agatha insists and when they arrive in New York after many trying situations, he finally realizes that Agatha is in real danger. He tries to become her protector but she rejects his efforts and what follows is a royal battle of wills that makes for some exciting moments and sometimes a good laugh.Jan Turano did an excellent job in developing all the characters in this story. They were so well written that they definitely came to life on the pages of the book. They were so realistically portrayed that I was right there beside them in every adventure. The description of the scenes made them come to life and pulled me right into the middle of what was happening. I cannot remember reading any book in which the dialogue gave me so many laughs. And there were many twists and turns to the plot line and these kept me guessing until the end of the book. There was enough suspense to keep me reading when I should have been doing other things.I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys an historical novel that is filled with lots of laughs. I also think that men might also enjoy the book.Bethany House provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

    Book preview

    Haunted Island - Joan Lowery Nixon

    HAUNTED ISLAND

    Joan Lowery Nixon

    Contents

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    1

    CHRIS HOLT LEANED ON the railing of the wide porch that stretched across the length of his Aunt Jennie’s Island View Inn. He stared at the carpenter who stood below him, talking to Aunt Jennie.

    The man tugged at a strap on his bib overalls and twisted his shoulders as though he’d like to squirm out of what he had to say. Nobody’s going to work on your island, ma’am. Not a man in these parts is willing to set foot on the place.

    Amy, Chris’s twelve-year-old sister, tiptoed to the rail and nudged his arm. You shouldn’t be listening to someone else’s conversation, she whispered.

    Go away, Chris whispered back, missing whatever Aunt Jennie had said to the carpenter.

    Just because you’re a year older than me— Amy began, but Chris interrupted her.

    They’re talking about the island, he said.

    Oh. She automatically looked up and across the wide stretch of the Mississippi River to the small, wooded island near the middle of the river.

    The carpenter was speaking again. You may think you own that island, Miz Parker, he said.

    But I do own it! Aunt Jennie’s voice became higher-pitched. The island came with this property the Island View Inn is on. I have the papers to prove it!

    The carpenter shook his head. What I’m trying to say, ma’am, is that you may own the paper on the island, but it don’t really belong to you. It belongs to the ghosts of Joshua Hanover and that monstrous black dog of his—the one called ‘Shadow.’

    That’s—that’s ridiculous! Aunt Jennie sputtered. How can you possibly believe in ghosts?

    Because they’re there, he answered. Now, you want me to fix that broken gutter on the north side?

    I—I suppose so. Yes, Aunt Jennie answered.

    The carpenter looked up at Chris and Amy and gave them a quick twist of a smile. Your kids look a lot like you with that black hair, he said. Tall like you, too. Sure handsome children you got there, ma’am.

    My children? She glanced at Chris and Amy with surprise, and Chris realized she hadn’t known they were on the porch. Oh, you mean Amy and Chris. They’re my niece and nephew. They’re visiting here with my sister, Elizabeth Holt. They’re all helping me put this inn together.

    She introduced them, and the carpenter nodded. Good luck to you, ma’am, he said, and headed for the north side of the inn.

    Good luck, my foot! Aunt Jennie grumbled, as she plopped down on the bottom step of the stairs to the porch, her elbows propped on her knees, her chin resting in her hands.

    Chris and Amy raced each other to join her on the steps.

    I can’t believe this is happening, Aunt Jennie said. I loved this old house the first time I saw it, and I knew that with some imagination and hard work I could make it into a beautiful inn. But it had to have something special going for it to attract visitors who would want to stay a few days. She shook her head. When I found that the property included that lovely little island with the sheltered beach, I knew that was the answer, so I bought the property.

    Chris looked across at the island. It was too far away to make out many details, but he could see the strip of beach and the thick cluster of pines that covered the island. With the sun on the island he was able to make out a shape that looked like part of a roof with a chimney.

    There’s a house on the island, he said.

    But Aunt Jennie hadn’t heard him. He wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to them. I planned to have rowboats and sailboats and picnic excursions for guests at the inn, and summer beach parties—all sorts of fun that the big hotels near the city can’t offer. Since this part of Missouri is limestone country, there should even be small caves on the island to explore. But if no one will work on the island, my plans will fail.

    She gave a long sigh and added, The island fun was my one chance to attract guests away from the large hotels. If I can’t get enough guests, I could possibly lose the inn. All because the people who live here believe some silly stories about the island being haunted and even call it ‘Haunted Island!’

    Tell us the stories, Chris said.

    I can’t remember them, Aunt Jennie said. I was so busy making lists of repairs and supplies and all the things I had to do, that I really didn’t pay attention.

    If somebody told me there was a ghost on my property, I’d want to know all about it, Amy said.

    Sure you would, Chris said. And then you’d run screaming to Mom.

    I would not.

    Okay, Chris said, and leaned across Aunt Jennie toward Amy, curling his hands like claws and making his voice as deep as he could. It’s a monster ghost with eyes that glow in the dark and—

    Stop it! Amy slapped her hands over her ears.

    As a matter of fact, there did happen to be something about eyes that glow, Aunt Jennie said. Wait! I know! The ghost is supposed to have fiery eyes.

    And his name is Joshua Hanover, Chris said.

    How would you know? Amy asked.

    That’s the name the carpenter said. And he also told us the ghost had a big black dog named Shadow.

    Amy shivered. I’d hate to meet a dog ghost!

    Don’t worry. If he’s a ghost, you won’t meet him. There aren’t any such things as ghosts, Aunt Jennie said. She stood up and stretched. Back to work. Your mom and I are determined to finish wallpapering the bathrooms before dinner. She sighed. We’ve had so much rain it’s delayed all the repair work, and there’s still so much to do.

    Let us help, Chris said.

    Not with the wallpapering, Aunt Jennie said. That’s too tricky. How would you like to put a coat of white paint on the porch railings? I don’t think it will rain again for another couple of days. The paint should dry.

    Sure, Chris said, We can do that.

    You’ll be very careful?

    We’re always very careful, Aunt Jennie. Chris and Amy jumped up at the same time, bouncing off each other and flopping down to the steps again.

    Well, most of the time we are, Amy said, rubbing her shoulder and laughing.

    We promise to do a good job, Chris said.

    Thanks, Aunt Jennie said. And maybe tomorrow you could tackle these old wicker rockers. If they’re painted white, too, they’ll look lovely lined up on the porch where visitors can sit and admire the view.

    Chris and Amy helped Aunt Jennie get the paint, brushes, rags, and turpentine, and they set to work.

    The porch was long, and the top rail had many supports, each of them carved round and round with intricate loops and whorls and tiny cutouts—all of which had to be carefully painted, making the job of painting last much longer than Chris and Amy had expected.

    The river glowed red and gold, mirroring the setting sun, by the time Chris stood and admired the gleaming railing. That’s that, he said. We did it.

    "And without getting

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