Inspired by Historical Events 

Denver, 1882. Henry Jordan didn't ride into the city looking for trouble — he came looking for the man who caused it. Five years after a slanderous newspaper article nearly ruined him, Henry's finally tracked down the writer responsible: a reporter who goes by N.J. Hawk.

But before he can settle the score, a violent earthquake traps him in the newspaper's cellar archive — with a striking stranger fiercely guarding a box of old files like her life depends on it.

As the city burns above and the ground refuses to stay still, Henry and Josie Sinclair have no choice but to wait out the danger side by side. To pass the hours, Josie shares a story handed down through her family: of another earthquake, seventy years earlier, that shattered a California mission and buried the truth of what happened to the Acjachemen people who died there.

It's a story of erasure and survival — of who gets remembered, and who doesn't. And by the time help finally arrives, Henry realizes the ground isn't the only thing capable of shifting beneath him.

Tremors of the Past is a stand-alone short story set in the world of the Caleb Marlowe Series.



May McGoldrick, Nik James, and Jan Coffey are pen names for USA Today bestselling authors Nikoo Kafi and Jim McGoldrick. Together, they have crafted over fifty historical, contemporary, and Western novels, as well as two works of nonfiction.

Garnering numerous awards over the years, their work has been published in print, digital, and audiobook form by Penguin Putnam, HarperCollins/Avon, MIRA Books, St. Martin's Press, Heinemann, Sourcebooks, Macmillan Audio, Dreamscape Media, and Tantor Audio. Their stories have also been translated into over a dozen languages.

Jim holds a PhD in sixteenth-century Scottish and English literature. As a tenured Associate Professor of English at DeSales University, he taught literature and creative writing before pursuing a full-time writing career. Despite her love of writing, Nikoo's education and training were in engineering, and she worked in robotics and submarine shipbuilding before her change in career. In addition to writing, Nikoo served for seven years as the State of Connecticut Education Connection Writer-in-Residence, developing and teaching an inclusive creative writing program for middle school students.



Trapped by an earthquake, bound by a hidden truth—some histories refuse to stay buried.