The Gold Bugs
- Category: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths
- Published: July 22, 2011
- Words: 99,900
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781465999139
Dennis Powers started writing in the seventh grade, when his first poem, “Nature’s Sculptor,” was published. His life since then has been devoted to writing, adventure, and the outdoors, although taking a few detours to earn his living. After earning a B.A., J.D., and M.B.A., he first worked for large corporations in financial areas, while he dreamed about another life. Establishing a law practice on the California coast in Santa Barbara, he was a single dad, and began writing poetry, newspaper and magazine articles, fiction, and nonfiction books, earning his keep during the day while writing at night.
Deciding that teaching would give him more time to write, he joined the faculty at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, to teach business law for nearly fifteen years and recently retired. His non-fiction book, “The Office Romance,” was his publisher’s lead book and he was on a national book tour. After writing ten nonfiction books, Dennis has returned to his first love, which is writing fiction—including a few that came to the proverbial “close, but no cigar” to being published by New York City publishers.
He also writes for regional public radio with over 100 stories aired over the last few years. Whether fishing for salmon, white-water kayaking, or wilderness hiking, his interests are with the outdoors—and his writing. Dennis resides in Southern Oregon, with his wife Judy, two cats and libraries of books. Having adventure traveled to over 75 countries, he journeyed to Costa Rica four times, the setting for his fictionalized adventure piece, “The Gold Bugs” at Smashwords.
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Reviews of The Gold Bugs by Dennis Powers
This is a great story - full of suspense and adventure. Would make a blockbuster movie!!!
What an adventure! I loved the immediacy of the story-telling that felt like I had packed my bags and joined Ceci Dunaway, insurance investigator for Firestone. However, it would be much safer to wait for this one to show up on HBO. And it deserves to show. The vivid character descripions are surely based on real people, and the interactions are so in keeping with that description that this book must surely be based on a real experience.
Combining a vacation of sorts with a business trip, Ceci brought her boyfriend Jeff and her adult son Timmy to Costa Rica; she's down there to investigate the theft of jade artifacts from a museum in Miami, and to find Angela Moreno, a friend and fellow insurance investigator who was last seen in Costa Rica checking out the disappearance of some pre-Colombian artifacts.
The story opens with two black-market thieves removing priceless Mayan artifacts from glass display cases. They have tender emotions towards the tiny treasures cast in gold as insects---thus the Gold Bugs---as they discuss which ones would be least likely to be discovered by the security guards at Costa Rica's Gold Museum.
In a moment of panic, they stash their loot in Ceci's luggage hoping the gringos will be caught and tortured by the secret police who incidentally have connections in organized crime---and thus further discourage Americanos from coming down there "messing with their business". The real adventure starts when the thieves try to recover their loot.
This book is quite a departure from the series of stories about ship wrecks and sunken treasure that Powers has published over the past few years, and while Gold Bugs is fiction (the sea stories were not), the treasure hunt seems to be a thread linking his more recent work.
I'm taking this book on a cruise to read again.
What an adventure! I loved the immediacy of the story-telling that felt like I had packed my bags and joined Ceci Dunaway, insurance investigator for Firestone. However, it would be much safer to wait for this one to show up on HBO. The vivid character descriptions are surely based on real people, and the interactions are so in keeping with that description that this book must surely be based on a real experience.
Combining a vacation of sorts with a business trip, Ceci brought her boyfriend Jeff and her adult son Timmy to Costa Rica; she's down there to investigate the theft of jade artifacts from a museum in Miami, and to find Angela Moreno, a friend and fellow insurance investigator who was last seen in Costa Rica checking out the disappearance of some pre-Colombian artifacts.
The story opens with two black-market thieves removing priceless Mayan artifacts from glass display cases. They have tender emotions towards the tiny treasures cast in gold as insects---thus the Gold Bugs---as they discuss which ones would be least likely to be discovered by the security guards at Costa Rica's Gold Museum.
In a moment of panic, they stash their loot in Ceci's luggage hoping the gringos will be caught and tortured by the secret police who incidentally have connections in organized crime---and thus further discourage Americanos from coming down there "messing with their business". The real adventure starts when the thieves try to recover their loot.
This book is quite a departure from the series of stories about ship wrecks and sunken treasure that Powers has published over the past few years, and while Gold Bugs is fiction (the sea stories were not), the treasure hunt seems to be a thread linking his more recent work.
I'm taking this book on a cruise to read again.