David Ian Groves Knihy

A rumour re-emerges about the fabled King Solomon's mines, a legend about fabulously rich gold mines in Africa, immortalized in novels and movies. James Buchanan, an exploration geologist in Tanzania, who has already solved the mystery of the 'plagues' in America to help US President Caitlin Custer to prevent a national disaster, sets out to investigate. James soon realizes from his research on gold mines in the Middle East and North Africa that there were no major gold deposits that could have been King Solomon's mines during his lifetime. James works on the assumption that the legends refer to King Solomon's Gold, a golden treasure hidden somewhere in Africa. Using his geological knowledge, he progressively eliminates the possibilities, but discovering the real location is more difficult and hazardous. Can he do it alone, or will he have to call in a favour from President Custer to seek her political help?

In 2023, a series of extraordinary events, with unclear religious terrorist connotations, unfold at iconic USA locations. US President Caitlin Custer forms a team from the new Bureau of Anti-Terrorism (BAT) to identify and apprehend the instigators. As even more serious incidents hit across the USA, the resultant media frenzy centers on the predictions of an evangelical preacher that a series of biblical plagues will punish an increasingly Godless nation. This initiates panic as the population starts to believe that the plagues have descended.The BAT team are baffled by the lack of forensic evidence and a clear motive for the ‘plagues’ and cannot identify the instigators. As they investigate, the action swings across the globe with assistance from an unexpected quarter. The key question remains: Will the perpetrators be identified and apprehended in time to thwart the threat to national security and to ensure continued support for Caitlin Custer’s presidency?

Daisy Dikdocks and her best friend, Murray, are off to Australia to stay with her aunt and uncle, Suzanne and David, in Canberra. Their farewell with the members of their gang involves an exchange of gifts which results in railway and airport dramas that even reach the TV news. Daisy and Murray enjoy their Qantas flight from Singapore without Daisy's mum but cannot resist playing pranks on their fellow passengers while always appearing so innocent. In Australia, they cause mischief wherever they go: in their hotel, in the koala enclosure at the zoo, on the golf course, at the parliament house and in Aunt Suzanne and Uncle David's house, but their clever detective work also catches a burglar in the act. To their surprise, when they have to attend school before going home to England, Sister Thelma, the principal at their school in Brighton, comes to their Canberra school as a temporary replacement for the principal while she is away. Daisy enlists the help of some schoolgirls to play clever tricks and pranks at school and outwit Sister Thelma again, this time in Australia. Although she has caused lots of mischief, Uncle David loves the new fun in his life and will miss her badly when she goes home.

It is Spring 1988. The Chinese government is hungry for mineral resources in order to provide infrastructure to an awakening industrial global giant and for gold that will help fund it. Professor Qiu sets his postgraduates, Liang and Xinhua, the task of developing a small exploration team to discover new gold deposits in the mountainous Jilin Province, near the Korean border.Their literature research leads them to a promising gold district with an ancient ‘Head of the Dragon’ gold mine. On arrival at the local village, they find that the mine-tunnel entrance on the hillside was sealed by an earthquake-induced landslide 500 years earlier and also buried half the village with many casualties. The superstitious villagers have never uncovered the landslide and reopened the mine because they hear strange sounds emanating from the hillside, which is why they have renamed it the Magic White Mountain.By studying the location’s geology, Liang and Xinhua believe they could discover the Tail of the Dragon gold mine, but first they must explore and map the old one. They open the tunnel and enter the mine, never in their wildest dreams imagining what they will encounter and how their experiences will forever change their lives and fulfil their pre-ordained destinies.