Showing posts with label geocaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geocaching. Show all posts

I use Multi Million Dollar Satellites- Free Geocaching SVG

I use Multi - Million Dollar Satellites To Find Tupperware In The Woods
A Geocaching T-Shirt - Free SVG

FREE Geocaching Novels - The Cliff Knowles Series By Russell Atkinson


Quick Links:

Imagine that a retired FBI agent specializing in high tech crimes, who writes crossword puzzles, was the head cryptographer for the movie Red Machine, and was the president of the American Cryptogram Association, happened to also be a geocacher.  And then imagine that this geocaching, puzzle writing, former FBI agent wrote a series of mysteries.  And THEN, imagine if he offered those books for free.

Oh happy day.  You can stop imagining now.  This is real.

This is the only book in the series you can also find as an audiobook (not free)

Cached Out is book two in the Cliff Knowles series.  It appears to be the first book in the series to introduce geocaching, but not the last. 
  In book two - 
"Newly retired from the FBI and alone after the tragic death of his wife, Cliff Knowles takes up geocaching. While looking for a cache in the mountains he comes across a human skeleton and reports it to the sheriff's office. ".  In book 4, Cliff tackles the Fizzy challenge, and in book 8 - "Ten geocachers are invited to an exclusive all-expense paid adventure on a private island owned by the controversial new owner of the geocaching company. What could possibly go wrong? As it happens, plenty. Geocaches that are death traps. A raging storm. A friendly competition that turns not so friendly. A body. A murder? Some adventures can be too thrilling, as Cliff Knowles learns once again."  Geocaching is woven through the other books in the series as well.

These books are being offered as pdf files, which can be read on may devices, but if you are like me, and prefer epub versions, they are easy to convert! (I do tnhis a lot with old genealogy books that are only available as pdf files)


Go here to download the free program Calibre

Once it is downloaded and installed, open the program and choose add books from the top left, and browse to add all of the Cliff Knowles PDF files that you downloaded from Russell Atkinson's site.

This is optional - but I like my books to have covers and metadata - 
Right click on the first book, choose "edit metadata" and then choose individually.

This allows you to add a cover, a description, the number in the series, etc.  You can find all of this information on the series site here - http://cliffknowles.ackgame.com/index.htm

But even faster, and more comprehensive, simply click on the download metadata at the bottom of the screen.


This will work best if you change the author name from "Russ" to Russell Atkinson - that should make it easier for the software to locate the information for each book.

Now your book has a cover, a description, and even a number in the series.

Now with all the covers and metadata added, you can convert to epub or mobi 

Just select all, and choose "convert books" on the upper left.  I do not change any settings, I just use the default.  In the top right of the screen that popped up, you can choose the output format.  I like epubs, but some ereaders use Mobi.

To read them on my phone, I use the Aldiko App (although any book app will work!)


Looking for more mysteries that include geocaching?

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Geocaching Themed Novels - Part Two

Books To Read When You Can Be Caching - Part Two
Last year I compiled a list of geocaching themed fiction. This year when I went to update the post with the additional books that have been published, or that I have since learned about, there were just too many to add to the original post.  You can see last years list here:
I've updated that post with my opinions of the ones I have read - my two favorites from that list were The Advocates Geocache by Teresa Burrell & To Cache A Killer by Karen Nortman
I also have a list of Young Adult Geocaching themed novels here:

If plucky heroines had their own secret society, Marina Koneyshna, Stephanie Plum and Bridget Jones would all know the handshake.
Life has gone to H-E-double hockey sticks for event planner Marina Konyeshna. A break up has forced her to move into her mom's basement, and her credit scores forecast she's going to stay there. When she meets Arman, a handsome client from Turkey, she jeopardizes her job for a date. Discovering the body of a young girl on the bank of the Susquehanna furthers her downward spiral.

When Arman invites Marina and her friends to participate in a geocaching competition, it's hard for her to pass up the possibility of prize money. As the competition unfolds through the backwoods, abandoned mines, and culm heaps of rustbelt, Pennsylvania, Marina discovers the link between her client and the murdered girl...and realizes what will happen if their team doesn't win.
 



Dead Place by Stephen Booth
I don't know exactly where geocaching fits in, as I haven't read it yet, but apparently this book does have geocaching in it.  :-) 
"This killing will be a model of perfection. An accomplishment to be proud of. And it could be tonight or maybe next week. But it will be soon. I promise."
The anonymous phone calls indicate a disturbed mind with an unnatural passion for death. Cooper and Fry are hoping against hope that the caller is just a harmless crank having some sick fun. But the clues woven through his disturbing messages point to the possibility of an all-too-real crime … especially when women begin to disappear.
This spine-chiller is perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Robert Crais.

What begins as an exciting challenge turns into a countdown to save a young girl's life... As seventeen-year old Aril Ousby, the son of a renowned astrophysicist, embarks on a geocache treasure hunt in Britain, a series of kidnappings takes place in the United States. How are these events connected? Is Aril right to trust the enigmatic architect of the treasure hunt - or is he being led into an elaborate trap? Is the puzzle master motivated by altruism - or greed? And why has he chosen to involve Aril in his scheme? Aril and his friend Unity are drawn into a mystery that leads them to look at the Earth from a new perspective and to address a fundamental question: can future generations avoid the mistakes their parents made?

Harry Bronson is a retired detective drawn into investigating a case that has haunted him for over twenty years. The murder of Casey Secrist had been Bronson's first case. Her boyfriend was eventually implicated in her murder; however, Bronson never fully believed he was guilty. Bronson begins receiving mysterious notes and finds himself the host of a murder-mystery convention with an all too familiar plot. Following the murder of a convention member who appeared to have information about the case, Bronson finds himself with a group of suspects containing both familiar and unfamiliar faces. As Bronson becomes a suspect in the murder, his wife disappears and he must find a series of geocaches to find her and solve this decades old murder before the killer kills again.

Who wouldn't love the character of Harry Bronson? He is a smart, competent man who loves his wife and loves solving crimes. Throughout his career he was infamous for bending the rules slightly and he hasn't stopped now that he is retired. Drawn in from the first page, I was reluctant to put the book down until the very end. In "Why Casey Had to Die," L. C. Hayden has created a suspenseful tale full of interesting characters that will keep readers guessing. Every twist and turn adds depth to this well crafted story. All fans of whodunit mysteries will find a new series to devour. I am already anxiously awaiting the next Harry Bronson mystery.




I'm not sure how much geocaching plays a part in this book, but it is part of the book, and the series reviews very well.
The food truck craze has reached the charming coastal town of South Cove, California, but before Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More—can sample the eats, she has to shift gears and put the brakes on a killer . . .

Now that Kacey Austin has got her new gluten-free dessert truck up and running, there’s no curbing her enthusiasm—not even when someone vandalizes the vehicle and steals her recipes. But when Kacey turns up dead on the beach and Jill’s best friend Sadie becomes the prime suspect, Jill needs to step on it to serve the real killer some just desserts. 



Well Oiled By Reuben Johnson
It's 2041 in the potentially oil-rich southern California town of Mayberry. Cousins and triathletes, Joey and Frank, are in the throes of deciding about colleges and careers.  At a triathlon, they make a new friend, Kodi, a triathlete and geocacher. Their world is rocked when they stumble on information that may explain the mysterious death of Frank's father ten years ago.

Follow the cousins on two distinct campbellian journeys through California, Mexican caves, and cyberspace as they try to unravel a mystery. Be thrilled as they try to follow the money through arcane bitcoin cyber-currency transactions involving mysterious foundations. Ponder the impact of Stabilization of Life unit medical technology. Check out how new drilling technology and oil money create havoc in an idyllic small town.



Serial Finder by David Klug
This is a novella that was originally posted online.  I've heard a lot about it, but the  online geocaching site it was originally published on no longer exists - So I was pretty excited to find it on amazon.  


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Although not specifically about geocaching, this one may be interesting for those of us who do geocache:


Maphead by Ken Jennings
It comes as no surprise that, as a kid, Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings slept with a bulky Hammond world atlas by his pillow every night. Maphead recounts his lifelong love affair with geography and explores why maps have always been so fascinating to him and to fellow enthusiasts everywhere. Jennings takes listeners on a world tour of geogeeks from the London Map Fair to the bowels of the Library of Congress, from the prepubescent geniuses at the National Geographic Bee to the computer programmers at Google Earth. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of map culture: highpointing, geocaching, road atlas rallying, even the "unreal estate" charted on the maps of fiction and fantasy. He also considers the ways in which cartography has shaped our history, suggesting that the impulse to make and read maps is as relevant today as it has ever been. From the "Here be dragons" parchment maps of the Age of Discovery to the spinning globes of grade school to the postmodern revolution of digital maps and GPS, Maphead is filled with intriguing details, engaging anecdotes, and enlightening analysis. If you're an inveterate map lover yourself-or even if you're among the cartographically clueless who can get lost in a supermarket-let Ken Jennings be your guide to the strange world of mapheads.

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Read More About Our Geocaching Adventures & Tips Here
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/geocaching.html


The Adventures Of Molly Mouse


I've had an idea for awhile, for a book about Molly and her geocaching adventures.
In my head, it's actually a series of books.

But on paper (or more accurately, in a digital file) there currently IS one book - I wrote one!
I'm working on the illustrations now.  Because this has been an idea for awhile, I've been taking photos of Molly to use in the book.  With some creative photo editing, I think these just might work.

The above image is the first draft of the cover.

I'm not exactly sure where I am going with this yet.  I know I will at least self publish a few copies for my grandson, nieces and nephews, and maybe a few extra to take to geocaching events, to see if there is any interest.  

No matter what I end up doing with the final project, I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun putting it together.  

If you'd like to see more of what Molly is up to, you can see her adventures on Instagram under the hashtag #TheAdventuresOfMollyMouse

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/theadventuresofmollymouse



YA Geocaching themed Novels


While compiling a list of geocaching themed mystery novels, I came across several YA novels also with a geocaching theme.  


Code by Kathy Reichs
Tory and the rest of the Virals are put to the ultimate test when they find a geocache containing an ornate puzzle box. Shelton decodes the cipher inside, only to find more tantalizing clues left by "The Gamemaster." A second, greater geocache is within reach—if the Virals are up to the challenge. But the hunt takes a dark turn when Tory locates the other box—it contains a fake bomb, along with a sinister proposal from The Gamemaster. Now, the real game has begun: another bomb is out there—a real one—and the clock is ticking.

The Birthday Cache by Amanda Zieba
"While twelve year old Mason Miles and his parents love their nomadic lifestyle living and working across the nation in their RV, his twin sister Molly is craving a normal life and scheming to put an stop to their endless road trip. For their twelfth birthday the twins open a GPS receiver and fall in love with the sport of geocaching. When they stumble upon a mysterious puzzle cache will their travels become interesting enough to change Molly's mind?"

Decrypting The Cache by Jennifer Kirsch
Two "young adult adventure" books, with a geocaching theme,  have been written by Jennifer Kirsh, Decrypting The Cache & The Limiteds

Description of Book One, from Amazon
Thirteen-year-old Erin jumps at any chance to go geocaching — using GPS technology to locate hidden caches. But family outings seem as likely as finding a cache in an active volcano after Erin’s unemployed dad relocates to another state. When her parents then stop talking to each other and they lose their house, Erin feels about as secure as a fault line during an earthquake. Setting out with her friend Dev, Erin discovers a mysterious note inside a geocache. Convinced it leads to valuables that could help her family, she and Dev track down geocaching clues. Besides cryptic messages, they face secret tunnel networks, gobs of chewed bubblegum, and woods bristling with vengeful wasps. Chess team bullies, scheming geocachers, and self-doubt also threaten their mission. Meanwhile, Erin’s dad extends his remote stay, and financial worries take up permanent residence at home. Will Erin and Dev unravel the mystery before her family falls apart?


Hide & Seek by Katy Grant
When a teenage boy on a high-tech treasure hunt inadvertently stumbles into the middle of a crime, he finds himself in a dangerous situation that could turn deadly.

After a summer cooped up in his family's store selling bait, tackle, and soft drinks to tourists, fourteen-year-old Chase finally gets a chance to go on his first solo geocaching adventure.

Using his GPS, he uncovers the geocache-a small metal box-hidden deep in the woods in some undergrowth. Inside, with a few plastic army men and a log book, is a troubling message for help in a child's handwriting.

When Chase returns later, he finds another message in the geocache box, this time asking for food. He is curious -and worried-about the mysterious individuals leaving the messages. What if they are hopelessly lost or hiding from something-or someone?

Before he can turn to the adults around him for help, Chase is pulled into a complex, dangerous drama and a chilling confrontation with an unstable father who will stop at nothing to hold on to his children.
A YA geocaching novel from the author of Cache A Predator

Eclair Goes Geocaching by M. Weidenbenner

When seven-year-old Éclair goes geocaching for the first time, she finds a treasure that isn't the one she imagined. 

Young readers will discover what geocaching is all about through Éclair's journey with her eccentric grandma.

A boxcar Children book, with a geocaching theme!
The Box That Watch Found

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Read More About Our Geocaching Adventures & Tips Here
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/geocaching.html

Geocaching Novels - Mysteries To Read When Not Out Caching



While updating my already unrealistically long to read list today, I decided to look at Geocaching themed mysteries.  There are a lot more than I realized!  Some are written by established authors, some by geocachers.  I have no idea how good any of them are until I read them..  let me know if you have read them, what you think!  And let me know if there are any I have missed!



 

First To Find by Morgan Talbot
Morgan Talbot has written a series of geocaching mysteries.
You can find all three books for $8.99 on Amazon
Book 1 - Death is the hardest puzzle to solve.

Margarita Williams escaped death at a young age, but its shadow has followed her all her life. Now, amidst the chaos of a new Australian roommate and mysterious, menacing neighbors, Death has set the puzzlemaker a puzzle of her own. Someone is killing her fellow geocachers, one by one.

Supersmeller Bindi Ryan left Australia to marry a man who abandoned her the minute her plane landed in Oregon. When thieves steal a local sculpture and a teenage friend is blamed, Bindi and her nose must prove him innocent and find the real culprits. But are she and Margarita working on two mysteries, or one?


I got this one for FREE by signing up on his website - 

Cache 72 – A Jaxon Jennings Thriller

72 hours. That's what the note said. 72 hours and the girl would be dead. Jaxon held the paper in one hand and the severed finger in the other. It was not a hoax. A day with his new hobby had turned into something he hadn’t seen coming.

GeoCaching—a modern scavenger hunt—was now a race against time. A woman he had never met was praying he wouldn't fail.

72 hours. Three days. A life hanging in the balance and the clock ticking. The killer's game deadly. Jaxon Jennings, retired cop and private eye, knew the girl had only one chance…

And he was it.



(I could not find a digital version of this book, it appears to only be available as a paperback)
Despite the poorly written description on Amazon, this book reviews well - 
"Players of a treasure hunting game called geocaching uncover the grisly and obscure clues left by a spree murderer. Players find these clues scattered around the country and write about them online. A couple in Austin, Texas begin to pull the clues together and a horrific picture begins to emerge. Will they identify and apprehend the killer before he kills again? Not before the killer joins their game. . ."



I read this one  - it's a very nice cozy mystery.  This is a really light, easy read.
To Cache a Killer (The Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries Book 5)  by Karen Nortman
Geocaching isn't supposed to be about finding dead bodies. But when retiree, Frannie Shoemaker go camping, standard definitions don't apply. A weekend in a beautiful state park in Iowa buzzes with fund-raising events, a search for Ninja turtles, a bevy of suspects, and lots of great food. But are the campers in the wrong place at the wrong time once too often?



A woman’s corpse is discovered in a peaceful Austrian meadow. More disturbing, a strange combination of letters and numbers has been tattooed on the soles of her feet. Detective Inspector Beatrice Kaspary from the local murder squad quickly identifies the digits as map coordinates. These lead to a series of gruesome discoveries as she and her colleague Florin Wenninger embark on a bloody trail―a modern-day scavenger hunt using GPS navigation devices to locate hidden caches. The “owner” of these unofficial, unpublished geocaches is a highly calculating and elusive fiend who leaves his victims’ body parts sealed in plastic bags, complete with riddles that culminate in a five-stage plot. Kaspary herself becomes an unwilling pawn in the perpetrator’s game of cat and mouse as she risks all to uncover the motives behind the murderer’s actions.
Ursula Archer’s Five is a disturbing roller-coaster ride through the madness and mayhem of a serial killer’s psyche, and a detective’s desperate attempts to thwart it. Filled with twists and mind-bending turns, this masterful debut is not to be missed.




I've read this one.  It's very puzzle cache based, and the ending is a VERY nice touch for puzzle cachers.  Quick read.  
A Novella
After a vicious robbery at a theme park, callous gang leader, Greg Armstrong blows up a roller coaster to aid their escape, resulting in eighty-seven deaths. Months later, Kurt Vaughn and his family are enjoying a day out geocaching, but Kurt is about to discover that there’s more to the treasure hunt than he realizes as the caches supposedly lead to the stolen money, and the crooks are on the trail. Now Kurt and his family find themselves pawns in a far more deadly game. 

Of the books on this list that I have read, this is definitely one of the better ones!
Attorney Sabre Brown is having a great time geocaching, the Internet’s version of a treasure hunt. The fun ceases when she “caches” a container with an official death certificate citing “Murder by Poison” as the cause of death. Even more disturbing is that the date of death is ten days in the future. 

Sabre is forced to search cache after cache, each revealing more clues, until they take an unexpected twist and shockingly point to one of her court cases. Is the murderer a rejected child, a well-known plastic surgeon, a scorned ex, a crooked lab technician, or a politician in line for the highest office in the land? Or is someone playing Sabre in an ugly geocache of life and death?



Porcupine City is a peaceful little town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The residents enjoy a quiet life far removed from the comings and goings of larger cities. The kind of town where everyone knows everyone else and good-natured gossip is a prime source of entertainment. It's certainly the last place anyone would think of using as the backdrop for a high-tech, high-thrill treasure hunt.

Until the first gruesome clue is found: a headless corpse wrapped in plastic.

Deputy Steve Martinez--Lakota Indian by birth, Porcupine City native by association--has investigated many crimes, but none more surprising than the case before him now. When clues at the first crime scene lead to the discovery of a second headless corpse, it becomes clear to Steve that it's someone's twisted idea of a game. And these events couldn't come at worse time: the election for county sheriff is fast approaching and the sudden rash of corpses is just the sort of ammunition Steve's opponent is all too eager to use against him. Luckily Steve's longtime love, beautiful redhead Ginny Fitzgerald, is still by his side, but even that relationship becomes strained as Steve searches for a way to connect with her foster son, Tommy.

This is Steve's toughest investigation yet--one that spreads from secretive internet chatrooms into Chicago's seedy underbelly and even takes to the air above Porcupine City. It will take all of Deputy Martinez's patience and cunning to catch a sociopath who's after the next forbidden rush. It might also force him to face some unpleasant truths about the locals he has sworn to protect.


"Geogirl is a novel separate from the Cassidy Callahan Adventures. In this book Gwendolyn Brody is a college student at Franklinburg University and summer vacation is coming up. When a friend invites her to go with him to participate in a geocaching contest Gwendolyn jumps at the chance to do something besides going home, and working the summer at a fast food joint. It doesn't take her long to find more adventures that she thought possible while looking for hidden geocaches. Follow Gwen and Tony on a rollicking fun adventure across the U.S."



The Cliff Knowles series has seven books so far.  They are all available on amazon for about $2.99 each. Written By Russell Atkinson, with the geoname The Rat, a former FBI agent who has been geocaching since 2002.

From his bio page "The Cliff Knowles Mysteries can be enjoyed by anyone who likes a good mystery novel, but geocachers especially enjoy the way geocaching is woven into some of the books. The author is an experienced geocacher, having begun caching in 2002. He geocaches under the name THE RAT. He has found over 2000 caches and has placed over 90 caches. He has completed the original Well-Rounded Cacher (The Fizzy Challenge) (GC11E8N) and over 400 favorite points have been awarded to his caches."



Hello Traveler, a short story by Steve Armstrong
Six friends find a box hidden in the woods. Inside is a flashlight, and this peculiar message:
Hello Traveller, and congratulations! You have found the first box. There’s nothing valuable inside, just a random, everyday object. Somewhere out there are four more boxes with four more random everyday items. Together these five objects tell the story of my life up until now. Each item symbolizes something essential about who I am, where I have been, and what I have done. Can you put these pieces together, to solve the puzzle of my life?
As the friends locate the boxes and attempt to figure out what each hidden object means, the mystery takes on an unexpected dimension for one of them.




A beautiful woman stands by the side of the road, barefoot and bleeding, a child in her arms. Someone just tried to kill her, but she wouldn't recognize him if she saw his face. She doesn't even remember her own name. A suburban cop surveys a kitchen in disarray--a woman and child missing, a chilling note. This crime scene is unlike any he has ever seen. The man who calls himself Gideon waits and plans. He sees himself as a destroyer of evil, one who rids the world of abominations. He has already killed five. He will kill again. And somewhere in the wilderness, in a secret geocache near where the wild swans gather, lies the unspeakable clue that links them all together. Michigan's rugged and beautiful Upper Peninsula is the setting for this absorbing tale of love and loss, beauty and terror, grievous sins and second chances. A deftly woven thriller from the popular author of the Rock Harbor novels.


Mallory has just made a series of disastrous decisions that may destroy her career. In the aftermath, she just wants a long hike, maybe to find a geocache, and to be left alone to sort out her troubles. Instead, she finds herself on a madcap chase through the Utah desert with an aging hippie and a dusty old treasure map as her only guides. Chased by unknown strangers, lost in a maze of bewildering rock formations, and running out of time, can Mallory find her way out, find the mythic treasure of the Lost Frenchman, and maybe find a solution to her problems before it all catches up with her?



I read this while at the ASPGB 2017. I would not recommend this if you are looking for a geocaching mystery.  It's actually about a town where almost everyone is a registered sex offender, or a victim of an offender.  One of the victims is cutting of the, uhm, "male parts" of registered sex offenders, and hiding those parts in geocaches.  It's much more about sex offenders than about geocaching, the geocaching is just kind of awkwardly thrown in there and doesn't make much sense.

Geocaching mystery. (Note: This novel is hidden in cache sites around the US and Canada.) Officer Brett Reed will do anything to gain custody of his five-year-old daughter, Quinn. But when a judge grants Brett’s drug-addicted ex-wife custody and slaps him with a protective order for losing his temper, he fears for Quinn’s safety. Who will protect her now?
When Quinn is found abandoned on the streets, the child is placed in a temporary foster home until Child Protective Services can complete an assessment. It should only take a few days. But a lot can happen in a few days.Especially when there’s a deranged psychopath on the loose, someone who’s attacking pedophiles, someone who wants to protect children like Quinn, and someone who’s planting body parts in geocaching sites. M. Weidenbenner plants the emotion of one vigilante's mission into the cache boxes of a gripping tale that will leave readers locking their doors and pedophiles sleeping with their eyes open.

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More Mentions:

Neal Stephensons REAMDE has a paragraph on geocaching. One of the best lines being:
“But geocachers had been at work planting Tupperware Containers and ammo boxes of random knick-knacks in tree forks and under rocks in the vicinity of that turnaround, and people keep visiting these sites and leaving their droppings on the Internet, making cheerful remarks about the nice view, the lack of crowds, and the availability of huckleberries.”



Possibly about geocaching -
Book 8 in the Passport To Peril Series
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15844412-bonnie-of-evidence

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Read More About Our Geocaching Adventures & Tips Here
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/geocaching.html