Beech River Books

Rick Davidson is a public school teacher, award-winning professional photographer and sometime guitar player. For many years, Rick wrote a popular newspaper column about photo tips and operated Davidson Photography and Video along with his wife, Jane. He holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College in philosophy, with a minor in English Literature. Rick and his wife have traveled extensively throughout Europe and lived near Stuttgart, Germany for over seven years. They now enjoy their rural home in Freedom, N.H. For more information visit www.rick-davidson.com.

Catamount, A North Country Thriller (Beech River Books, 2008) is an action thriller set near the Canadian border in northern New England.

Man’s sacrilegious infringements on Nature’s delicate balance calls down a forgotten Indian curse and releases a raging mountain lion, a catamount, into the North Woods. This creature is not supposed to be here and is not supposed to prey on humans, but two young children and their dog pick up its trail behind an isolated summer camp not far below the Canadian border. The children do not return and a search and rescue party sets out after them, but the rampages of the malevolent, ghostlike cat hinders their efforts and a violent storm sets off a serious fire in the tinder-dry forest.

The children manage to survive their first encounter with the stalking catamount because of the heroism of their dog, Virgil, but the rapidly spreading wildfire drives them through a treacherous bog and other dangers, and some of their would-be rescuers become further victims of the mysterious black apparition. Their distraught parents, Ed and Marty Rollins, are part of the search party, but Marty’s recent brief affair with a local fish-and-game officer, Rob Schurman, who is acting as their guide, has set off tensions that must be resolved or set aside in order for their efforts to be effective.

The catamount is wounded but this only serves to make it more vicious and unpredictable. Shifting winds threaten to endanger towns in the North Country and drive the children, the search parties, and the angry cat to a final confrontation on the edge of Lake Mackapaque.

Murder at Stillwater Lodge (Beech River Books, 2014) is murder mystery that evolves into an action thriller set in a hunting and fishing lodge near the Canadian border in northern New England. Several of the characters from Catamount: A North Country Thriller are featured in new roles.

Roger Harris, a guest at Stillwater Lodge in northern New Hampshire, is violently killed at the start of a holiday weekend. Powerful spring storms wash out access roads and isolate the fly fishing enthusiasts and married alternative lifestyle couples gathered at the lodge. A flood of accidents and murders plunge them into murky waters, but the bold proprieters attempt to unravel the mystery and curb the violence.

Retired Fish and Game officer Rob Schurman and local curmudgeon Ike Roberts are at the heart of it all as this exciting story shifts gears from a whodunit to a thriller in fictional Clifford, New Hampshire (also the setting of Rick Davidson's Catamount: A North Country Thriller). Once again all is not at it seems in the peaceful, idyllic lakes and woods of the North Country.