A forgotten African war. A missing treasure worth killing for.
German South West Africa 1906, Australian horse trader Cyril Blake is executed in cold blood by the Kaiser’s soldiers.
Sydney, the present day. Blake’s great-great nephew, recently widowed Nick Eatwell, is approached by South African journalist Susan Vidler who is investigating his ancestor’s mysterious demise.
Intrigued and looking for distraction, Nick discovers a long-lost manuscript which tells how Blake stayed in South Africa after serving in the Anglo Boer War and joined the Nama people in their rebellion against the Germans in South West Africa, modern-day Namibia.
In Munich, historian Anja Berghoff, researching the origin of the wild ‘ghost’ horses of Namibia, stumbles across intriguing letters from Irish-German spy Claire Martin, with whom Blake had an affair.
As Nick and Anja’s paths cross, they find themselves racing through southern Africa and time on the trail of a legend.
But they’re not alone. Someone else is chasing these ghosts of the past, looking for clues to a hidden treasure worth killing for.
Ghosts of the Past is based on a true story.
Mercenary Sonja Kurtz is brought out of retirement to blow up a dam and save an African wildlife paradise. Retired mercenary Sonja Kurtz is recruited to blow up a dam that threatens the existence of Botswana's premier wildlife area, the Okavango Delta. A coalition of environmentalists and safari lodge owners, including Sonja's former lover, Stirling Smith, are determined to see the dam destroyed, at any cost, but there are deals and double crosses going on behind the scenes. Well-meaning American wildlife researcher turned reality TV star, 'Coyote' Sam Chapman stumbles into the middle of the conflict and Sonja finds herself having to babysit a film crew while planning her daring raid. Old flames and new ones, a rebellious teenage daughter, and her estranged father are all in Sonja's sights as her mission to save The Delta turns into a full-blown civil war and a race to protect the one person she really cares for.
Modern day pirates on a quest to save an African treaure Ivory Alex Tremain is a pirate in trouble. The two women in his life – one of them his financial adviser, the other his diesel mechanic – have left him. He’s facing a mounting tide of debts and his crew of modern-day buccaneers, a multi-national band of ex-military cutthroats, are getting restless. They don’t all share his dream of going legit, but what Alex really wants is to re-open the five-star resort hotel which once belonged to his Portuguese mother and English father on the Island of Dreams, off the coast of Mozambique. A chance raid on a wildlife smugglers’ ship sets the Chinese triads after him and, to add to his woes, corporate lawyer Jane Humphries lands, literally, in his lap. Another woman’s the last thing Captain Tremain needs right now – especially one whose lover is a ruthless shipping magnate backed up by a deadly bunch of contract killers. What Alex really needs is one last, big heist – something valuable enough to fulfil his dreams and set him and his men up for life. When the South African government makes a controversial decision to reinstitute the culling of elephants in its national parks, Alex finds the answer to his prayers, but at what cost?
Only a bunch of heavily armed gardeners can save the world's most valuable plant. A priceless plant, a rare African cycad thought to be extinct and prized by collectors, has been discovered, then stolen. Joanne Flack, widowed and broke, is the prime suspect for the crime. While supposedly hiding out in London she single-handedly foils a terrorist plot, killing a lone-wolf gunman. Former mercenary turned CIA contractor, Sonja Kurtz, uncovers a link between the missing plant and the terrorist who tried to kill Joanne. The US Government thinks that if it can find the missing cycad it can foil an attack to rival 9-11. Hot on Joanne’s trail is retired US Fisheries and Wildlife Department special agent Rod Cavanagh who knows his plants and knows his target – he’s her former lover. Joanne is a member of the Pretoria Cycad and Firearms Appreciation Society. She, Sonja and Rod enlist the help of this group of ageing gardeners and gun nuts to find a plant worth a fortune and the traitor in their midst who is willing to kill for it.