It is a vast, varied, and unforgiving terrain: water-starved deserts, steep-sided mountains, deep canyons, and swift-running seas-it is the Sonoran Desert, whose stories are interwoven with 13,000 years of human lives and more than 2,500 unique wild animals and plants across the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. Within this renowned stage Jonathan Hanson has written four engrossing tales that combine suspense, drama, humor, and even a bit of the supernatural-along with heavy doses of factual natural and human history. Can a gripping fictional story also be educational, or an educational essay be, at the same time, heartbreakingly sad? Discover for yourself as you read:

Ghost Dog A rancher loses his border collie after 14 years of companionship-but then begins to experience strange phenomena that make him doubt his sanity and wonder if the dog is still, somehow, continuing to shadow him.

The Last Seri of San Esteban Island A Seri Indian living on a remote desert island in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez must fight for his life after the rest of his tiny clan is wiped out by Mexican troops. Can he turn the tables on the hunters and become the hunter himself, outnumbered six to one and armed with only a bow?

Trust An FBI sniper, who is assigned to intercept and kill a terrorist carrying a biological weapon across the international border, sets up an ambush point in a desert cave-and then discovers the cave is already occupied. But by what?

The Grave An amateur anthropologist fulfills a 20-year quest when he discovers the mountain tomb of the greatest Apache chief in history-but then makes an additional, astounding discovery that might solve another 130-year-old mystery.

Hanson writes with the authority of a Sonoran Desert native, award-winning author, serious scientist, and accomplished outdoorsman and explorer.

Visit Jonathan’s Amazon page at Amazon.com/author/jonathanhanson

You can follow his publications and explorations on his popular overland adventure blog at ExploringOverland.com.