Bad Moon Rising(TM): 4 (Parker McLeod)

Ex-Army Intel Officer Parker McLeod is enjoying a lazy day running The Garhole Bar, the favorite watering hole for locals and weekend fishermen out among the desolate salt marshes and cord grass flats on the far west end of Galveston Island. At the other end of the island, the Secretary of Homeland Security is making a routine inspection tour when a bomb is set off by Islamic terrorists with a personal vendetta, sworn to kill him. As the Secretary lies severely injured in a Galveston hospital, federal and local law enforcement enlist Parker’s help to identify the mastermind. The clock is ticking as the terrorists, determined to complete their plot, embroil a beautiful scientist, the Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Level 4 Bio Laboratory, home to the world’s most virulent viruses and pathogens. Parker must race through a twisting trail of deceit and betrayal to rescue the scientist and avoid a cataclysmic event for the sun-filled city.

As a fourth generation Texan and Galveston resident, A. Hardy Roper writes from a wealth of knowledge about the island's storied past and vibrant present. Mr. Roper's great grandparents arrived from Germany in the 1852 and entered through the Port of Galveston, at the time, second only to New York for immigrant destination. Today's Galveston is an eclectic mixture of 'old money' and Victorian mansions checkered among indigent neighborhoods of African Americans and Hispanics, all weaved tightly together, as if huddled against the onslaught of the next storm like the epic 1900 hurricane that claimed 6,000 lives. From its 19th Century past of pirates and buried treasures, to its 20th Century lifestyle of bootlegging, bawdy houses and gambling, Galveston Island offers an endless setting for mystery and intrigue. A. Hardy Roper has studied its culture and its history. His Parker McLeod thrillers weave an intricate path of deceit and mayhem as the city struggles to balance its colorful past with the inevitable collision of sleepy 'island life' and the hurried weekend rush as the playground of Houston's wealthy baby-boomers. Contact Hardy on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheGarholeBar