Glacier Fires and Ornaments of Value

Combining adventure and mystery, author Donald F. Averill offers two distinctive novellas in one volume—Glacier Fires and Ornaments of Value: A Christmas Story. In Glacier Fires, University of Washington students Tim Michaels and Art Daniels get more than they bargain for when they travel to Mt. Baker in northwestern Washington State to test out their new telescope. With the sight trained on the glaciers, the two discover a young woman in distress; they rescue Mikka Morgan, a student from the rival Washington State University. But their adventures continue when they, Mikka, and Samantha Ashford embark on another mission to save Sam’s forest ranger father, and Otto, an Austrian mountain climber, from a deep crevasse. Rogue climbers have left Otto and the ranger in the crevasse to die. A heartwarming Christmas story, Ornaments of Value follows widow Karen Ekstrom as she tries to care for her three small children—Susan, Larry, and John—during difficult economic times. Karen dreams of using her artistic talent for the betterment of her family, and she is hired by Evan Finely, a glass blower, to decorate his store windows. Her good fortune continues as an anonymous benefactor leaves money, concealed in holiday ornaments, at Karen’s apartment door. Karen is stymied as to whom the Good Samaritan might be.