If you enjoy the action of Indiana Jones or the audacity of The Monkey Wrench Gang, you'll love the gripping outdoor adventure and humor of Raptor Canyon. Meet "Relic," the moonshining recluse of Canyonlands (Utah's red rock country) as he and a young lawyer flee con men and murderers through whitewater rapids, phobic-inducing caves, and ancient archaeological ruins of the pueblo people. Are there really dinosaur petroglyphs in Raptor Canyon? Mystery, murder, and mayhem make this a suspenseful and fast-moving ride!
A moonshining hermit. A big-city lawyer. A $35 million con job.
A gin-brewing recluse, Relic watches from afar as three men reveal a panel of petroglyphs that include the yawning jaws of a flesh-eating dinosaur. When one of the men murders the other, Relic is on the march to uncover what's going on in Raptor Canyon.
As a fresh graduate, Wyatt is anxious to make his mark among the army of lawyers in a respected Denver law firm. When his boss invites him to tour a client's development project bordering Canyonlands National Park, Wyatt jumps at the chance, but his boss is not what he seems...
When a treacherous security chief tries to kill Relic, Wyatt is caught in the deadly chase.An unusual pair, Wyatt and Relic must tolerate each other while fleeing through white-water rapids, remote gorges, and hidden caverns. Relic devises a plan to save the treasured canyon but Wyatt must come to terms with the cost to his career if he fights his powerful boss...
A college student with secret ties to the site,Faye joins the kitchen crew so she can spy on the enigmatic project. She catches Relic and Wyatt red-handed,preparing for action. But when she hears their desperate plan, she has a decision to make...
Armed with a full box of toothpicks (and a little dynamite), can the unlikely trio monkey-wrench the corrupt land deal and recast the fate of Raptor Canyon?
Reader's Favorite has awarded 5 Stars to all four of his novels in the "Relic" series, calling Raptor Canyon "a hoot of an adventure." An avid backcountry hiker, canoer, and whitewater enthusiast, the author takes his readers on adventures in ancient lands that shape the motives and spirits of his characters.
A graduate of Wright State University and the University of Idaho School of Law, Baldwin has practiced law for more than 35 years. He began his career with a poverty law fellowship award on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, where he later became a staff attorney and then Executive Director of Wind River Legal Services, a legal aid program serving the Reservation and southeastern Wyoming. After successful civil rights and class action lawsuits, the Northern Arapaho Tribe hired him as in-house counsel from late 1988 to 1992, when he established a private firm that continues to represent tribes in the Rocky Mountain West. He has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, Ninth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal, and other Federal, Tribal, and State Courts. He won the right of the Northern Arapaho Tribe to operate (and self-regulate) the full gamut of casino-style gaming without state control. He has successfully litigated First Amendment religious liberties, voting rights, Tribal sovereignty, and for environmental justice. He earned his private pilot's license in 1997.
A.W. Baldwin finished his first novel, Desert Guardian, in 2017. His second novel, Raptor Canyon, builds on a character introduced in Desert Guardian, a moonshining hermit living deep in the remote canyons of Utah. His third novel in the series, Wings Over Ghost Creek, was published in 2019. Sandstone monuments, sheer canyons, and startling vistas provide the unique settings for these thrillers. Adventure, mystery, and personal challenge combine in a world surreal in its scope and deeply rooted in American history.
