The Chumash Circle (The Rose Doolittle Mystery Series, 1)

Writer and master storyteller Daniel Phalen entertains pre-teens with THE CHUMASH CIRCLE, an all-new mystery adventure about people and ideas never before printed.

Magic, not the wand-waving kind but an enduring trust in the unknown, propels this story of a showdown between a young girl and organized crime.

In a new twist on “girl power,” eleven-year-old Rose Doolittle takes on a gang of ex-cons after discovering their skimming operation at the county fair. Armed only with her faith in a Chumash animal tale and a fetish she crafted by hand, plucky Rose defies the bad guys, a raft of doubting adults, and an evil force she knows only as “Dark Hunter.”

Set in the oak hills of the California Central Coast, THE CHUMASH CIRCLE describes the exploits of Rose Doolittle as her summer vacation turns into a nightmare of threats, glimpses of a mystical world, a Chumash ghost from 1840, and an adobe ruin full of stolen cash. Rose becomes the focus of powerful forces combating for her will, when everyone she knows, even her doting grandfather, turns against her.

The author’s lively imagination keeps readers turning pages, as he weaves local lore with compelling action: An owl bearing a silent message only Rose understands. A night at the Fair that’s scarier than the House of Horrors. Stern warnings from a Chumash ghost woman agonizing over her past. Visits from a Sisquoc ghost who wants to be a surfer dude but fears water. An ex-convict who threatens her with a knife, and then a gun.

Despite encouragement from her Chumash friends living and dead, Rose is afraid she’s losing her mind. Kidnapped and alone with a terrible secret, Rose must lose her doubt, or lose her life.

THE CHUMASH CIRCLE is the first of seven books planned for the Rose Doolittle Mystery Series.