Lee Phillips, a pistol toting cowboy-historian stumbles on five vulture-eaten bodies and a dangerous and deadly mystery in a remote canyon of Big Bend National Park, Texas. The canyon harbors two deadly secrets. In an abandoned mine U.S. and Mexican conspirators have hidden a hoard of refined mercury--enough to poison and murder hundreds of thousand of innocents.Nearby, the Ark of the Convenant rests in a camoflaged adobe vault--placed there by the 7 Guardians of this holiest of holy relics. Mariscal is a killing ground and Lee becomes a target.Lee must use all his academic training, his outdoorsman skills and his marksmanship to solve the twin mysteries before the conspirators kill him or commit heinous crimes. This "page turner" is a must read.

Phil Hewitt and his wife Linda Gravatti live in Austin, Texas.They have traveled extensively in Texas, New Mexico, Mexico and the deep South. He has written or edited numerous non-fiction works and is currently employed by a "major state parks system." Mariscal is his first work of fiction. It is set in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park where the protagonist is the first "Writer in Residence." Phil and Linda enjoy kayaking and walking on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Alabama, Florida and Mexico. He is an avid, but mostly inept kayak fisherman. Phil grew up in Memphis where he actually met Elvis(who bought a Sunday paper from Phil for $5 while driving his purple Cadillac). Phil holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin and has a CDL(Commercial Drivers License--just in case he needs honest work). A truck driver mystery/detective series is planned.