In the Shadow of Diablo

In the Shadow of Diablo – Mystery of the Great Stone House alternates between a local teacher's present day adventure and the historical accounts of the brutal murder of Dr. John Marsh, one of the most important figures in California history. Harrison Barrett is a Brentwood science teacher who is compelled to investigate the sudden and tragic suicide of one of his high school students.

When foreign language teacher Celeste Scott is asked by police to help translate a strange note found on a mummified corpse, she and science teacher Harrison Barrett are drawn into the intriguing history of the Byron Hot Springs Resort. Their present-day mystery alternates with the desperate journey of Baron Leopold von Haas, who flees post-World War I Austria and winds up at the famous resort, a half-a-world away.

Wedding plans for high school teachers Harrison Barrett and Celeste Scott are put on hold after finding a murder victim’s cryptic message scrawled on a pioneer cemetery headstone. As the couple investigates the mysterious warning, Celeste becomes inescapably linked to a centuries-old legend rooted in Pythagorean philosophy and a sinister quest for power.

The Great Quake of 1906 left San Francisco in ruins. The destruction not only paralyzed the city, it also devastated California’s burgeoning wine industry as more than two dozen of downtown San Francisco’s wine warehouses burned to the ground. Vowing to rebuild, the California Wine Association settled on Contra Costa County’s western shore as the new home for Winehaven the largest winery in the world.