First Mate’s Log

first mate's log, ship in fog

This new series, First Mate’s Log (Bitácora de la Primera Oficial), continues the South American adventures of Melissa Travis, now an adult near the turn of the millennium.

The Seahorse Patrol – Inspirational Romance. At long last, Melissa Travis settles into her new career as a missionary Bible teacher in the public schools of Chile’s Chiloé Islands. But to her consternation, her old love Nicolás Serrano is unexpectedly posted to the area’s Coast Guard unit, called the Seahorse Patrol. Though he walked away years ago, Nicolás wants to pick up their relationship again. Bitter and bewildered, Melissa refuses and buries her torn heart in her work. With the rise of violence over provincial autonomy, the discovery of an arms cache near her home, and her ban from several schools, Melissa struggles to find her port of peace. When she finally accepts God’s strange timing, Nicolás and the Seahorse Patrol have already sailed into peril. Read an excerpt… 

The Seagull Operation – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. Just as Melissa Travis finally decides to marry her long-time love, Nicolas Serrano, the rumors of war in the Chiloé Islands morph into harsh reality and conspire to keep them apart. Frantic to connect with Nicolás, Melissa links up with his brother Marcos’s Seagull Operation forces as interpreter for a pair of American doctors. Even after the storm of the first skirmish subsides, they must save the wounded, solve an ancient puzzle, win the locals’ support, and prepare for the next clash—before they can be together again. Then, incredibly, Nicolás faces court martial for his part in the operation to end the separatist insurrection. Read an excerpt from the first chapter…

The Sea-Silk Banner – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. Though the terrorist insurrection is presumed over, Melissa Travis’s worst nightmare comes to pass—her fiancé, Captain Nicolás Serrano, disappears in action, captured by guerrilla thugs. The one clue to his whereabouts leads his friends and crewmates in different directions. But after outsider Melissa succeeds in talking down a hostile teen, she searches for Nicolás in his home island of Chauquelín and ends up a hostage herself. In the final confrontation of the rebellion, she takes the lead and fights for her future, flagging down a rescue ship with a bolt of white silk and learning that while some refuse to repent, no one is beyond redemption. Read an excerpt from the first chapter…